Page 28 - 1975 BoSox

Dwight Evans was the best Red Sox right elder I ever saw.
—Johnny Pesky
AMEMBER OF THE RED SOX Hall of Fame, Dwight Evans was voted Red Sox MVP four times by
the Boston Baseball Writers. It might not be a stretch at all to agree with Herb Crehan, who writes, “Dewey might be the most underrated player in the history of the Red Sox.”1
A three-time All-Star, Evans won eight Gold Gloves in the stretch running from 1976 through 1985. At one time or another, he led the American League in on-base percentage, OPS, runs, runs created, total bases, home runs, extra base hits, bases on balls, and times on base. He had a ri e of an arm, patrolling Fenway’s capacious right eld for 18 years from 1972 through 1989 (serving another year as the team’s DH), and three times led the league in assists — but runners quickly learned not to try to score on Dwight Evans.
Born Dwight Michael Evans on November 3, 1951, in Santa Monica, California, his family moved to Hawaii when he was still an infant and he spent his early years living in there, mostly before Hawaii was granted statehood on August 21, 1959. Hawaii was built on beach culture, and Dwight did not get involved with baseball until the family moved to the
Los Angeles suburb of Northridge at the age of 9. He attributes his passion for baseball to a Dodgers game his father took him to soon after they arrived in the area. Dwight joined Little League, pitched and played third base, and became all-star both in Little League and Colt League. At Chatsworth High School, though, “I tried out for the junior varsity
baseball team and I didn’t even get a uniform.”2 He was determined, though, and not only made the team his junior year but made All-Valley in the San Fernando Valley League. He won the league MVP award his senior year and found himself being scouted.
Boston Red Sox scout Joe Stephenson recommended Evans highly, and on June 5, 1969, the Red Sox selected Evans in the fth round of the 1969 amateur draft. e 17-year-old Evans was assigned to the Jamestown, NY farm club. e Sox had so many people coming into Jamestown at one time that he had to wait a week to get a uniform and worked out in his sweatshirt and jeans. He got in 100 at-bats, though, and a .280 average, enough to be promoted to Greenville, South Carolina for the 1970 season. He kept advancing, spending 1971 with Winston-Salem, and making it to Triple-A Louisville for 1972. It was the classic trip up the ladder, one year at a time.
Evans told Herb Crehan that it was Louisville manager Darrell Johnson who made the di erence when Dwight found himself outmatched at the Triple-A level. “You are my right elder whether you hit .100 or .300,” Johnson told him, imbuing the 20-year-old with enough con dence to turn his season around.3 He hit .300—on the nose—with 17 HR and 95 RBIs. Evans was named International League MVP for his 1972 season — and got a ticket to Boston to join the big league club in the middle of a classic pennant race.
Dwight Evans played his rst game for the Boston Red Sox on September 16, 1972, entering the game as a pinch runner for Reggie Smith in the bottom of the sixth in a game against the Indians at Fenway Park. He stayed in the game, playing right eld. In his one at-bat, he popped out to the shortstop. It’s an in- teresting tidbit that he batted out of order his rst time up, but since he had made
Dwight Evans
by Bill Nowlin
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