What is the singular form of Red Sox? Is it still Red Sox, or is it Red Sock? It turns out the Boston Red Sox media team endorses “Sox” over “Sock.” I honestly did not know until I was reading up on Mr. Red Sox, Johnny Pesky.
Pesky was a tremendous hitter. He was the baseball “grandchild” of Ty Cobb, as it was Cobb that directly molded Pesky’s minor league manager and mentor into a Hall of Fame contact hitter. Pesky took the lessons to heart and opened his rookie season by leading the American League in hits. He missed no time resuming the top of the leaderboard when he returned from three years of Navy service, leading the AL twice more. He racked up 200 hits in each of his first three seasons and his .316 average was the fifth highest of any player of the 1940s.
Pesky was a student of waiting for his pitch, much like Cobb, coach Heinie Manush, and his teammate Ted Williams. He struck out only 4% of the time and walked often. Unlike Williams, he never hit for much power. Pesky hit 17 home runs over the course of his entire career. A half dozen of these came at Fenway Park, each leaving the field of play along the batter-friendly right field foul line. While home runs were rare for Pesky, his right field shots were memorable enough for fans to refer to the right field foul marker as “Pesky’s Pole.”
This is Pesky’s last appearance with Boston on a baseball card from his playing days. The Red Sox traded him to Detroit after putting him into only 2 games in 1952. He returned to the team in a managerial capacity a decade later and never really left. He opened up the team’s marketing efforts in the 1970s, became a popular announcer and commentator as broadcasts grew, and could be seen walking the grounds at almost every game by fans of all ages.
The Sox finally beat the Curse of the Bambino with a World Series win in 2004 and Pesky was front and center in the celebrations. As a central part of the final play of the 1946 World Series (which Boston lost), Pesky was given his own championship ring to commemorate the occasion. Boston started to win more often in the decade that followed and the team made sure he was part of every celebration and commemorative event, cementing his role as the accessible link to the popular 1940s Boston teams.
I hope you get four hits tonight, and I hope the guy behind you hits into four double plays.
Johnny Pesky talking to Derek Jeter before a Sox/Yankees game
