Page 34 - 1975 BoSox

’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL 27
fence. Another impressive home-run blast hit by Fisk in Bellows Falls cleared two out eld fences, and was for years marked by a simple white sign with an “X.”
ough he played in fewer than 100 games as an amateur, Fisk gained the attention of professional scouts. One thought he had potential but told Coach Ryan that his bat wasn’t quick enough—his power was mostly to right eld. Ryan’s response was typically self-e acing: “He’ll get better coaches in the minors who can teach him to hit to left.”7 But despite his success in baseball (or, more accurately, his all-around athletic prowess, as he was named Charlestown High’s most valuable player in soccer and basketball as well), Carlton accepted a basketball scholarship to the University of New Hampshire.
e decision to attend UNH was made easier by the presence in Durham of his older brother, Calvin, who was captain of the soccer team and an All-Yankee Conference sweeper. But soon Calvin was drafted by both the Baltimore Orioles and the military (whose o er held more sway). He was 25 by the time he re- turned from Vietnam, too old (according to the Baltimore front o ce) to embark on a career in profes- sional baseball. Carlton’s younger brother Conrad, considered the best pitcher of the Fisk clan, later signed with the Montreal Expos. Conrad was unde- feated and threw a no-hitter in the playo s during his senior year of high school, but an arm injury ended his career prematurely. Cedric, whose scholastic batting average was higher than that of any of his older broth- ers, didn’t pursue athletics beyond high school.
During the winter of 1965-66, Carlton led the UNH freshman basketball team to an undefeated season. While at UNH he also met his future wife, Linda Foust, a native of Manchester, New Hampshire. en, in January 1967, the Boston Red Sox drafted him in the rst round. Fisk was at rst suspicious, believing that he was the token New Englander the Red Sox had taken to pacify local fans. He ended up signing mainly because he realized, as he told D.W. Roberts in a 1987 interview, “I could never be a six-foot-two power forward and play for the Celtics.”8
Carlton Fisk’s baseball career almost came to an end at Waterloo, Iowa, Boston’s entry-level team in the Class-A Midwest League. Despite batting .338 with 12 home runs in 62 games in 1968, he was despondent. Pudge’s letters home revealed that the source of most of his frustration was the team’s losing record. e Waterloo Hawks nished 53-60, 14 games behind the league-leading Cedar Rapids Cardinals. For Pudge, competition was personal combat — winning was the source of individual inspiration and satisfaction; losing was utterly unacceptable, intolerable, and humiliating.
But Fisk persisted and in September 1969 the Red Sox called him up to Boston from Double-A Pitts eld. e 21-year-old Fisk made his major-league debut in the rst game of a doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles on September 18. His cup of co ee turned somewhat bitter — in two games he went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts — and Red Sox beat writer Bill Liston wrote in the Herald-Traveler, “ e word on Fisk is that he needs a year of Triple-A ball, especially to enable him to handle breaking pitches with the bat.”9
at year of Triple-A ball became one year with Double-A Pawtucket in 1970 and another with Triple-A Louisville in 1971; still Fisk remained upbeat and continued to improve. At Louisville his manager was Darrell Johnson, whom Fisk credited for making him a major leaguer. More than anyone else, Johnson taught Pudge how to be a leader, a eld general for the team. Playing with abandon and all-out aggres- siveness was one thing, channeling energy intelligently was another. “Johnson taught me to think about all the important facets of the catcher’s role, the things that help pitchers in various ways and those that let your teammates know you want to win,” he told an interviewer in 1973. Johnson also helped Fisk improve his hitting. “When I put the equipment on, my job is defense: to get the other team out, help the pitchers get the batters, help the elders — to run the game,” Fisk said. “Once I take the equipment o , however, I stop thinking defense and start thinking o ense.”10 at new concentration resulted in a .263 average at Louisville, 34 points higher than his average the previ- ous season at Pawtucket.