Page 56 - 1975 BoSox

’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL 49
him to miss 39 games. Rather than continue to brood over his misfortune, he took on a positive attitude that winter. He changed his diet and gave up ice cream to help prevent the calcium deposits in his elbow from forming again. He also exercised his arms and wrists. By the start of 1969 he felt stronger than at any time before, and the results were very evident. Petrocelli began hitting home runs in bunches while hitting well over .300 for most of the season, dipping to .297 after the nal two games. He excelled in the eld as well, threatening the record for consecutive games without an error by a shortstop by going 44 straight without a miscue. He nished the season with a .981 elding percentage.
In July Petrocelli was the overwhelming choice as the starting American League shortstop in the All-Star Game — his second such selection in three years. At the time he was hitting .309 with a remarkable 25 home runs. In the last year before the All-Star vote was returned to the fans, Petrocelli earned more votes from his fellow players, managers, and coaches than any other AL player. With the Red Sox out of conten- tion since midsummer, his quest to break the American League record for home runs by a shortstop (39, by the Red Sox’ own Vern Stephens in 1949) became the big story in September. e record-breaker came on September 29 against the Washington Senators’ Jim Shellenback at RFK Stadium. Petrocelli nished the season with 40 homers and 97 RBIs. His .589 slugging percentage was second only to Oakland’s Reggie Jackson (.608) in the American League.
Petrocelli showed that 1969 was no uke when he came through with another solid season in 1970. He hit 29 homers and knocked in 103 runs, becoming the rst Red Sox shortstop to top 100 RBIs since Stephens in 1950. He played in a career-high 157 games, showing that his injury problems were a thing of the past. Over the winter, Red Sox general manager Dick O’Connell told Petrocelli the Red Sox had a deal on the table for Luis Aparicio, but that he wouldn’t make the deal unless Petrocelli would be comfortable moving to third base.
Rico readily endorsed the deal as being bene cial to the team and agreed to make the change. He reported early to spring training and worked for hours with former Red Sox All-Star third baseman Frank Malzone. e results were amazing. Petrocelli set a major-league record for third basemen with 77 straight games without an error. He led the American League in elding percentage with a scintillating .976 mark. He continued to produce on o ense at a healthy clip, hitting 28 home runs and knocking in 89 runs while leading the team with what the Red Sox calculated as 12 game-winning hits. From 1969 through 1971, Petrocelli’s 97 home runs and 289 RBIs were the most by any Red Sox player.
Although Petrocelli’sw power output dropped signi - cantly in 1972 (15 home runs) he continued to drive in runs at a consistent pace, leading the Red Sox with 75 RBIs despite hitting only .240. He was especially hot in August, hitting .344 with 23 RBIs to help the Red Sox surge into contention for the division title. ( ey nished a scant half-game behind Detroit.) He led the major leagues with three grand slams. (He nished his career with nine grand slams, good for third on the Red Sox behind only Ted Williams and David Ortiz.)
e injury problems that plagued Petrocelli early in his career returned with a vengeance in 1973. He missed the last 47 games of the season with chronic elbow problems, and his loss was keenly felt. Boston was only 21⁄2 games behind division-leading Baltimore when Petrocelli left the starting lineup after the August 11 game; without him, the Red Sox nished eight games o the pace. O season elbow surgery had Petrocelli back and t to start the 1974 season, but a series of new injuries set him back yet again. A nagging hamstring injury plagued him the early part of the season, and then disaster struck on September 15 when he was hit in the head by a pitch thrown by Milwaukee’s Jim Slaton. e beaning shelved Petrocelli for the rest of the season, and the Red Sox ended up squandering a 71⁄2-game lead near the end of August and staggering home in third place. Despite his time on the disabled