Page 249 - 1975 BoSox

242 ’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL
his ballplayers. In fact, he often suited up and took batting practice. He always treated his players well — to a fault, many observers felt. e Red Sox rarely had any salary disputes. Yawkey did not socialize with Ted Williams, but he treated him with deference during his long career of stardom and tantrums. Many in the press wanted Williams punished for his outbursts at them or the fans, but Yawkey generally did not punish his players — on the occasions when a manager would ne a player, it was said that Yawkey would not impose it. By the early 1970s, he was more of a grandfather gure — Carl Yastrzemski especially revered Yawkey, who was 36 years his senior.
Yawkey was criticized for the ring of manager Dick Williams in 1969, apparently over the objections of O’Connell. Williams believed he was red because the players didn’t like him, and because Yawkey typi- cally sided with the players. As players became more militant on labor matters in the late 1960s, the Red Sox players were less understanding of the con icts. Carl Yastrzemski, for one, was criticized for publicly suggesting that the players should back o over a pension disagreement in 1969, and again when the players struck in 1972. e Red Sox players liked Yawkey and felt they were treated well.
Yawkey witnessed a third and nal pennant in 1975, but once more he watched his team lose a seventh game, this time to the Cincinnati Reds. e organiza- tion had never been stronger than it was at that moment, with a great farm system and a team lled with young players sure to bring more pennants.
But there would be no more winning for Yawkey, who succumbed to leukemia on July 9, 1976, after a long battle. He was 73. Walter O’Malley of the Dodgers, a longtime fellow owner, said, “He was a good man and a good friend. I never remember anyone ever saying anything bad about him personally. ings just won’t be the same without him.”6 Bill Veeck, an owner who clashed with Yawkey over the years, said, “Mr. Yawkey stood for genuine class.”7 Ted Williams, on a shing trip in New Brunswick, said, “No one thought more of Tommie Yawkey than I did. I am really terribly sorry. I can’t put it into words.”8
e great writer Red Smith wrote a reminiscence in the New York Times. “He had little in common with other club owners,” said Smith, “and they were mysti- ed by him, if not downright suspicious, because he was a strange sh who was in baseball not to make a buck or feed his ego but because he happened to love the game.” He was a man, felt Smith and others, who never regretted a single moment or a single dollar he spent on the game.9
He was survived by his wife, Jean, who held a majority stake in the team until her own death in 1992. Jean spent most of the rest of her life adding to the family’s considerable legacy in starting or helping support charitable organizations.
After Yawkey’s death, the team originally passed into the hands of a trust. In 1977 a deal was struck to sell the team to the partnership of longtime team executive Haywood Sullivan and former team trainer Buddy LeRoux. Fearing that the team would be overly lever- aged, the American League originally rejected the sale, but approved it when Jean Yawkey joined up and became a third general partner. In 1983 LeRoux at- tempted to wrest control by cobbling together the shares of several minority owners; when his coup failed, he sold his share to Jean Yawkey, who then held two of the three voting shares and control of the team. Upon Jean’s death in 1992, her share of the team passed to the Yawkey Trust, managed by John Harrington. e trust bought out Sullivan in 1993, and sold the clubtoJohnHenry,TomWerner,andLarryLucchino in 2002, thus nally bringing to an end the 69-year Yawkey ownership of the Red Sox.
Upon his death, Yawkey’s 20,000-acre South Carolina estate was willed to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR), land that now comprises the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center. Consisting of two islands and part of a third, the land has been main- tained as a wildlife preserve and nature center, and is one of the largest conservation grants in US history. e land remains an undisturbed habitat for migratory birds, eagles, alligators, and many endangered species. Public access to the land is by boat or ferry only, and