Obit of the Day: Red Sox Legend Johnny Pesky
Boston Red Sox shortstop, and the namesake for the most famous foul pole in all of baseball, Johnny Pesky has died at the age of 92. Pesky spent parts of six seasons playing for the Sox, and also with the Detroit Tigers and the Washington Senators. A decent hitter, Pesky finished with a lifetime .307 average, which included three straight seasons of over 200 hits, leading the league each year. (Those seasons were 1942, 1946, and 1947, since Pesky, like most other players of his generation, had his career put on hold by World War II.)
Pesky’s 1946 season was his best, hitting .335 with 208 hits, and helped lead the Sox to the World Series. He finished 4th in the AL MVP voting that year. (Actually the Red Sox took 3 of the 4 top spots with Ted Williams finishing first and Bobby Doerr finishing third. So much for splitting the vote.)
After the 1954 season Pesky retired and returned to the Red Sox in various capacities including bench coach, radio analyst, and unofficial “ambassador” for various on-field events. Pesky had his number 6 retired by the team in 2008.
Now about that foul pole. According to Pesky, Red Sox pitcher Mel Parnell gave the pole the nickname “Pesky’s Pole” in 1948 after the shortstop hit a game-winning home run that bounced off the pole giving Parnell the win*. (According to Wikipedia, Pesky never hit a game-winning homer during a Parnell-pitched game.) Although the pole was called “Pesky’s” for decades the Red Sox didn’t make the moniker official until 2006.
* That was one of only 17 home runs Pesky hit in his career.
Sources: masslive.com, baseball-reference.com, wikipedia.org, and the Boston Red Sox team website
(Image of Johnny Pesky’s 1952 baseball card is copyright of Topps and courtesy of baseballsimulator.com)
