Page 57 - 1975 BoSox

50 ’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL
list, Petrocelli tied for the team lead in home runs with 15 and nished second with 76 RBIs.
Although Petrocelli was in the Opening Day lineup for the Red Sox at the start of the 1975 season, it was apparent that he was still su ering from the after- e ects of the beaning. Although it was not public knowledge, he also had a severe inner-ear imbalance that caused him trouble with his sense of balance. While he continued to perform at a high level in the eld, he had di culty gauging the ball as it left the pitcher’s hand and his batting average dropped sig- ni cantly. Despite his shortcomings at the plate, his leadership ability came to the fore with a new group of young players who drove the Red Sox to their rst pennant since 1967. With the red-hot Baltimore Orioles coming on strong in the season’s nal month, Petrocelli again demonstrated his ability to come through in the clutch. His solo homer o Baltimore ace Jim Palmer on September 16 accounted for the winning run in Boston’s 2-0 shutout of the Orioles –a key victory that e ectively put the Red Sox in rm control of the pennant race.
anks to medication that treated his inner-ear imbal- ance, Petrocelli returned to his old form in time for the postseason. His seventh-inning homer o Oakland relief ace Rollie Fingers in Game Two of the American League Championship Series widened the lead in a one-run game and helped to propel the Red Sox to a three-game sweep of the defending champion A’s. His stellar play continued in the World Series against Cincinnati; he hit .308 and contributed some ne elding at third base as Boston came within a run of winning its rst World Series since 1918.
While Petrocelli’s play in the eld continued to be above reproach, his lack of productivity at the plate became an issue in 1976. He began su ering reactions to the medication he was taking to correct his inner-ear problems and he was forced to discontinue its use. e problems with his balance returned and severely hampered his ability at the plate. He hit a career-low .213 in 1976, and when Don Zimmer took over as manager shortly after the All-Star break, he gave rookie Butch Hobson signi cant playing time at third.
Petrocelli was tried brie y at second base, but with little success. In a move that shocked New England, he was released at the end of spring training in 1977, ending his 12-year playing career in Boston.
Out of baseball for the rst time in his life, Petrocelli decided to remain close to the sports scene in Boston by writing a column in the Boston Herald that followed the progress of the Red Sox. He was also one of the early pioneers of sports talk radio in Boston, co-hosting a show with Glenn Ordway. In 1979 he joined longtime Red Sox broadcaster Ken Coleman in the radio booth as the color commentator. On July 24 he had the privilege of calling former Red Sox teammate Carl Yastrzemski’s 400th home run in a game against the Oakland A’s at Fenway Park.
Petrocelli stayed in the radio booth only one year, and after several years in the business word he returned to uniform in 1986 as the manager for the White Sox’ Class A farm team in Appleton, Wisconsin. He stayed in the White Sox organization for three years, eventu- ally being promoted to manager at Double-A Birmingham (Southern League), but left to return home as the director of sports programs for the Jimmy Fund from 1989 to 1991.
Petrocelli was named manager of the Red Sox Triple-A a liate in Pawtucket in 1992. at began a six-year stay for him in the Boston organization as a roving instructor. On September 7, 1997, Petrocelli was rec- ognized when he and four other former players were inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame.
After leaving baseball, Petrocelli began the Petrocelli Marketing Group, based in Nashua, New Hampshire, where he resided with his wife, Elsie. ey have four sons; Michael, twins James and Bill, and Danny. Rico remained active in the Boston sports scene as a fre- quent guest on TV and radio sports programs and at the Legends Suite at Fenway Park. In 2013 he began co-hosting Remember When, a Sirius XM radio show.
Note
is biography originally appeared in the book e 1967 Impossible Dream Red Sox: Pandemonium On e