Fenway first-pitch-and-catch honorees it would be fun to see

The mayor belongs on the mound.

Everybody from Peter Gammons to John Farrell's housekeeper has dissected the Red Sox-Cardinals World Series match-up position by position, so at Fenway Reflections we thought we'd focus on another important aspect of any postseason contest -- the first-pitch throwers.

Sox VP Dr. Charles Steinberg and his crew have always done a great job trotting out honorees for this task, including 2004 heroes Dave Roberts and Bill Mueller during the last two ALCS games at Fenway Park. Tonight it's Hall of Famer and recent statue recipient Carl Yastrzemski handling the chore for Game 1, and it's hard to argue with that choice.

But if we could put pomp and circumstance aside, along with superstitions about past Series lost, wouldn't it be great to see some of these folks stride out to the mound and back behind the plate?

Dick Hoyt to Rick Hoyt

The Hoyts on the hills.

Well known to any true fan of the Boston Marathon, this father-son racing duo has inspired millions through the years. Who hasn't teared up watching Dick push Rick's custom-made wheelchair up Heartbreak Hill or across the finish line? When you learn the story behind their partnership, especially the accomplishments Rick has achieved off the course, your respect can only grow. These guys live "Boston Strong" every day.

Billy Rohr to Russ Gibson 

Not worth much, unless you know the story.

Gentleman Jim Lonborg was the big winner on the 1967 Red Sox, and the Cy Young Award winner has been justly honored as a first-pitch tosser on several occasions including Game Two of this year's ALDS. It was rookie right-hander Rohr, however, who first signaled to New Englanders that the '67 Sox might be worth watching when he came within one pitch of a no-hitter at Yankee Stadium in his very first major league game. Gibson, his catcher, was also making his big-league debut that day. That's the kind of stuff Impossible Dreams like 1967 -- and 2013 -- are made of.

Oil Can Boyd / Bob Stanley to Rich Gedman

Gedman tags out Gary Carter in the '86 Series.

Bill Buckner has gotten his moment of first-pitch redemption at Fenway -- actually, several of them, including Opening Day in 2008 before the '07 champions got their rings. He has received his standing ovations, and now it's time for three more members of the near-miss 1986 Red Sox to get theirs. 

Boyd, Stanley, and Gedman were all one strike away from World Series rings, and deserve some love to replace the angst they experienced during the meltdown at Shea Stadium. Stanley and Gedman are both New England natives who became All-Stars for the team they rooted for as kids, and the charismatic Boyd has settled down to make his home here. The Red Sox would not have won the '86 AL pennant without them, and now it's time to let them know they are appreciated. 

Jordan Leandre to Mike Andrews 

Leandre to Andrews would be a beautiful battery.

Leandre first gained Fenway fame as a 4-year-old cancer patient, singing the National Anthem before several games in the magic summer of 2004 and the next few years thereafter. Fans watched him progress from two full-leg casts to a wheelchair to a limp and then a triumphant run around the bases. He's since graduated from the Jimmy Fund Clinic to a healthy career as a teenage pitcher, including a no-hitter in summer-league play.

Andrews, a rookie Red Sox second baseman on the 1967 AL champions, devoted more than 30 years to fighting pediatric and adult cancer as chairman of the Jimmy Fund, and still looks like he could turn a double play at age 70. He's famously shunned the spotlight in the past, but honoring him would be a natural choice in this, the 60th anniversary of the Jimmy Fund-Red Sox partnership 

Bill Lee to Carlton Fisk 

A near-miss battery.

This battery started Game 7 of the 1975 World Series vs. the Reds at Fenway. Left-hander Lee was one botched double-play and one eephus pitch away from a championship toast at his beloved Elliot Lounge, while Fisk -- who had famously won Game 6 with his homer off the left-field foul pole -- just missed a title in his only Fall Classic of a 24-year catcher career. Polar opposites off the field, the stoic Fisk and iconoclastic were in perfect harmony on it.

Thomas Menino to Bill Russell

Russ knows rings.

Sure, he often gets poked fun at for his creative use of the English language, and he sometimes gets his sports facts wrong, but Menino has done much right for Boston during a record five terms as the city's mayor. As he readies to retire from office, this would be a great way to honor the man who stood Boston Proud after the Marathon bombings and many, many other times. 

Celtics great Russell is the greatest champion in Boston sports history and will be getting a statue in his honor here on Nov. 1 thanks in large part to Menino's lobbying. We know Russ doesn't have much of a throwing arm from watching a previous first toss, but it would be fun to see him crouch down for Menino's delivery.

Terry Francona to Jason Varitek 

Two of the great minds behind '04 and '07. 

Yeah, things ended badly for Tito here, but what better way to bury the hatchet? He received a nice Fenway greeting during his return with Cleveland this summer, but an appearance here would bring down the house.

Walpole Joe Morgan weighs in on 2013 Red Sox

Joe Morgan -- sill popular, and still watching.

No matter how the Red Sox finish up their surprising season, they will be hard-pressed to top the summer of 1988 for excitement. Those of us who watched 25 years ago as the Sox rebounded from a lackluster 43-42 start to go on the hottest stretch in team history will never forget the summer of Morgan's Magic.

Recently I had a chance to sit down with the architect of that incredible turnaround, former Red Sox manager and lifelong Walpole, Mass. resident Joe Morgan. He's been removed from the game at the big league level for more than two decades, since his very unpopular firing by Sox ownership after the 1991 season, but at age 83 he still has his sharp mind, quick wit, and the good sense that helped him win a record 12 straight games to start his managerial career.

The streak eventually reached 19 wins of his first 20 contests, which launched Boston into first place and to an improbable AL East title. Joe won another East crown in 1990, but the Sox were swept in the ALCS by the Oakland A's both years, who he admits now “were just a better team than us.” A second-place finish in 1991 led to his firing, after which Morgan warned that "these guys aren't as good as you think." He was right; the '92 Sox finished last under manager Butch Hobson.

Back in '88, the Pride of Walpole was in the zone.

These days Joe gets to a handful of Red Sox games at Fenway each season, and watches the rest of them in the basement of the modest ranch house he's shared with his wife, Dottie, since Ted Williams roamed left field at Fenway. Morgan has enjoyed watching the current Sox club exceed all expectations, and says it reminds him (gulp) of the 1986 team that racked up a number of weird, early-season victories en route to the AL pennant and an ill-fated World Series against the Mets. 

Remember, they did go 95-65.

He was a coach on that club under John MacNamara, and he remembers saying early on, “Mac, if we're winning games like this now, we're going to have a hell of a year.' And we did.”

Morgan isn't sure what will become of the 2013 Red Sox, but had some insights to offer:

On whether Clay Buchholz can come back

"I'm not counting on him, for one reason. Even if he comes back, you don't know if he is going to be successful right away. It's almost September, and this crazy thing he's got... He's had more problems. Every year it's something – stomach ache, back ache."

On Jon Lester's inconsistencies

"He doesn't get ahead of the hitters enough – that's one thing. I thought he started throwing too many cutters, and he lost that real good curve he used to have. He got to the point where he was trying to nit-pick all the time. Get ahead of the guys! If you send ten men to the plate in the big leagues today, maybe three of them will swing at the first pitch. So throw the damn thing in there with a little heat, and get ahead of them!"

On which current Sox pitcher would start a must-win game for him, if Buchholz wasn't available

"I haven't seen enough of [Jake] Peavy, but I'd be leaning toward him. Lester has been so inconsistent."

Morgan's must-win starter -- for now.

On popular infielder Jose Iglesias, traded after a surprisingly hot start at the plate

"I had not seen him play at all before this year. I watched him a lot in spring training, and I came away with one thing about him: he had enough bat speed to be a decent hitter and play in the big leagues every day. I still think that.

"I was little shocked by it [the trade]. But then you figure you've got [Xander] Bogaerts coming up, and [Stephen] Drew – a good fielder – who is going to be here the rest of the year. Plus you've got Middlebrooks is coming back at third, which is good."

On walk-off hits
"Those guys should be careful. They keep celebrating like that and somebody is going to get hurt. I notice that some guys now are doing a little stutter-step before they get smacked around, so nobody steps on their feet."

Better be careful...

On David Ortiz's comeback from injury

"Oh yeah, that showed me something, I was surprised his ankle was still hurting him when the season started, after all those months. He looked really doubtful. They pitch around him all right, but he's still got it going. Incredible."

On the “Morgan's Magic” reunion this year at Fenway

"Those guys who came back really had a great time. It was fun seeing them too. Big Lee Smith – he's a character. I like him a lot. Oil Can, Dewey, all of them. They were all glad they came, and so was I."

Morgan had a blast at his reunion.

How about your first pitch (or pitches) to current manager John Farrell?

"I've been having trouble with my right [throwing] arm, so I've had to use my left arm to raise it above my head. My son Billy told me to go sidearm – just sling it up there sidearm. Well I went about a mile left of John with that throw, so I said, 'Give me another one of those things.' This time I raised my arm up with the left hand, and I got it in there."

Does it feel like 25 years since 1988?

"No, but I've been lucky. I hear guys talking about the “golden years,” and they're sick all the time, or their wives are sick. I've had 25 great years.

"The thing was, I knew when my days with the Red Sox were over, that was it. I was going to roam around, not take another baseball job, and have fun in this life. I told [then-Red Sox president] John Harrington that if they didn't fire me, it was probably going to be my last year anyway. Planes, hotels, I had enough of that routine. There are only so many years you have left, and you want to enjoy them.

"Some guys [who retire] complain they have nothing to do. I have plenty to do. Gardening, golfing, seeing the kids and grandkids, going to the Kentucky Derby, whatever. I golf about two or three times a week, with whomever shows up. And of course I watch the ballgames."

Dewey to Youk: Best later-round Red Sox draft picks

Much was made of the fact that the Red Sox had a Top 10 draft pick for the first time in 20 years this week -- finishing last will do that for you -- but it's not always the top selections that pan out. For every home run pick like Jim Rice, Nomar Garciaparra, and Dustin Pedroia in the first round, the Sox have also struck out with the likes of Jason Place (2006) and Steve Ellsworth (1981).

Even more intriguing, however, are those later-rounders who almost slip through the cracks and wind up playing far above expectations. As Red Sox fans speculate the future of this year's top pick, lefty pitcher Trey Ball, take a look at some Boston post-fourth rounders who later starred for the team:

DWIGHT EVANS - 5th Round, 1969

The 17-year-old high schooler from the San Fernando Valley League (fur sure!) was in the majors by September 1972 and wound up notching 379 homers and eight Gold Gloves with the Sox. This was a pretty good draft for Boston, whose first selection Rick Miller was an outfield mate of Evans for several years at Fenway and later won a Gold Glove himself with the Angels.

WADE BOGGS - 7th Round, 1976

It took the Chicken Man six years and an injury to Carney Lansford to get to Fenway, but he was a star from the start with a .349 average as a rookie and five batting titles with Boston. This was a gold mine draft for the Sox, with eight future big leaguers including Bruce Hurst, John Tudor, and Glenn Hoffman.


DENNIS BOYD - 16th Round, 1980

The Red Sox don't make the 1986 World Series without Oil Can, who went 16-10 that summer and was Boston's winningest pitcher in the three-year span from 1984-86. The top Sox pick in '80, pitcher Ray Krawczyk, never won a game in the majors.


SHEA HILLENBRAND - 10th Round, 1996

He may have been a head case and (in the end) an underachiever, but Hillenbrand was an All-Star third baseman for Boston in 2002 -- when he tallied 43 doubles and 83 RBIs. Boston's top pick in '96 was pitcher Andy Yount, who threw 95 MPH-plus in high school but was a minor league washout.


KEVIN YOUKILIS - 8th round, 2001

Drafted out of the University of Cincinnati, the Greek God of Walks was a rookie contributor on the 2004 World Series winners and a Gold Glove third baseman for the '07 champs. A three-time All-Star with the Red Sox, he's far outshone '01 top pick Kelly Shoppach, a .224-hitting catcher with Boston and four other teams.

WILL MIDDLEBROOKS - 5th round, 2007

Boston fans and management are hoping Middlebrooks' fantastic rookie debut in 2012 -- when he hit 15 homers in 75 games before being sidelined by a wrist injury -- is indicative of a great future. When he went on the DL this year he was batting just .201, but he's still only 24.  Boston's top '07 pick, left-handed pitcher Nick Hagadone, currently struggling as a reliever with Cleveland.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN

Some late-round picks by the Red Sox who made it big with other teams:

Amos Otis - 5th round, 1965
Ben Oglivie - 11th round, 1968
Jack McDowell - 20th round, 1984 (didn't sign)
Brady Anderson - 10th round, 1985
Carl Pavano - 13th round, 1994
David Eckstein - 19th round, 1997
Mark Teixeira - 9th round, 1998 (didn't sign)
Freddy Sanchez - 11th round, 2000