Looking for Pesky Poll-bearers

Johnny Pesky, the most beloved player in the star-crossed history of the Boston Red Sox, has died at the age of 92. He spent 73 of those years in and around the greatest game, 61 of them with the Sox. His last game with Boston was in 1952, but when the Red Sox handed out rings in April 2005 after ending their 86-year World Series championship drought, the loudest cheers were for Pesky – including cheers from the visiting hated Yankees – the team the Red Sox had rallied from 3 games down to win the 2004 ALCS. Players, coaches, managers and even owners came and went, but the only things at Fenway more permanent than Pesky were obstructed seats, overpriced beer and rats the size of dogs. He was one of “The Teammates” with Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr and Dom DiMaggio that came within a win of ending the Sox drought in 1946. In his first season in 1942, he led the league in hits, then after missing 3 seasons in the Navy earning the rank of lieutenant j.g. during World War II, led the league his first 2 years back, making him the only player to do so in his first 3 seasons. The promising start didn’t pan out, but he finished his career with a .313 average and 1,455 hits, among them 17 home runs, ironically only 6 of them at home, but Mel Parnell noticed Pesky had a tendency to hook them around the right field foul pole. First in common parlance and then by official decree in 2006, the yellow column oddly placed just 302 feet from home plate came to be known as Pesky’s Pole. He was traded to the Tigers in 1952, but returned to Red Sox Nation starting as a AAA manager in 1961, and serving as a coach, manager, announcer, all-around ambassador and even at his death was still listed as a special assignment instructor. He probably hit more fungoes than any man in history, but should not be held responsible for Mike Greenwell’s kamikaze approach to the outfield. He was part of the first class inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame, and in 2008 his number 6 was retired, the first time the Red Sox set aside their ridiculous team policy that the honor was reserved for members of the Major League Hall of Famers.