Jack Baker

First baseman Jack Baker’s time in the majors was limited to a dozen ballgames in September 1976 and two more in June 1977. All came with the Boston Red Sox. Asked to look back at his career, Baker said, “I always wonder what might have happened if they’d have given me a chance to play more. There was only one time I played two days in a row in the big leagues. I was a guy who always had to play some to get the contact down.”1

Had he been in another organization, he might have had more of an opportunity. The tall righty slugger from Alabama showed promise in the minors, but the Red Sox were stacked with talent in the mid-1970s.

“Think of this,” said Baker. “It was [Carl] Yastrzemski at first base, or it was George Scott, or Cecil Cooper. Those were great hitters! And if they put Yaz in the outfield, [Jim] Rice was going to be the DH. I only had one spot. I was in a tough situation. But, you know, if they had given me the scorecard and said, ‘We’ve got to win this game. You fill out the roster,’ as much as I would have liked to put my name down there, I could not have put my name ahead of those guys. They were absolutely the best of the best. Great players. Great guys. I don’t have a problem with sitting on the bench behind that crowd.”

Baker’s finest moment in the majors came at Fenway Park on Thursday afternoon, September 23, 1976. He helped win the game for Boston with a solo home run, his only homer in the big leagues. He had just one other RBI, which had come the evening before on a sacrifice fly.

Baker played in the minor leagues from 1971 through 1978, hitting .261 with 153 homers. He wasn’t known for his glove, but with his strong and accurate arm, he also saw action in three seasons as a pitcher in the minors. This deeply religious man’s time in baseball also helped form his ongoing work with the nonprofit Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Jack Edward Baker was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on May 4, 1950. His parents were Ned and Lucille Baker. “My mom was a full-time mother,” he explained in a December 2019 interview. “There were six of us. I was the oldest. My senior year in high school, my baby sister was born. It was kind of a surprise, I think…but maybe not totally because my mom always wanted six children. I was born in ’50 and my baby sister went to college in 1985, so Mom was a full-time mother for 35 years.”

“My great-grandfather in the 1800s had a dairy farm. My dad was in the dairy business. We had a family dairy.” Over the generations, the family business expanded from simply selling some excess milk to neighbors. It became W. B. Baker and Sons Dairy. “In the early 1900s he started sending his boys out with a wagon and a bucket and a ladle and they’d spoon out milk. In the 1920s he got some trucks and started delivering milk to a few homes.” Ned Baker expanded the business after World War II. Jack said, “I started working there when I was 12. I started on my own milk truck when I was 16. We held on and took over a Sealtest operation that was pulling out. Beyond selling to hospitals and schools, we started selling to grocery stores. At that time we became a distributor of Breyer’s and Sealtest ice cream.”

Jack attended Ramsay High School in Birmingham. He graduated in 1967; a younger brother, Roy, graduated in 1969. His brother made the baseball team as a sophomore, but Jack — though on the team — didn’t get to play much at all. As a sophomore, he didn’t play an inning and as a junior, he had five at-bats.

“We had a team that was all seniors and they were really good. We battled for the [state] championship. One guy who beat us fairly regularly was Doyle Alexander. I did not start my senior year. My brother was a sophomore and he started. I got to start two games. We won two games. That’s all we won, and one of them was because of me. But they figured they were rebuilding and they didn’t really feel like they had any rising seniors that were good enough to play.” Roy Baker became a neurosurgeon in Savannah, Georgia.

Baker also played baseball in the summers. “We had a park league. When I was 14 and 15, it was Babe Ruth and then they changed it over to what they called Dixie Seniors. I played in that league.”

Envisioning a life helping with the family business, Baker attended Auburn University to major in business and minor in dairy. The university had a Dairy Department. He got into baseball there somewhat indirectly. “I was in a basic P.E. class because all freshmen had to take P.E. On Friday, the first week on campus, we finished up our sprints and the coach, Wes Bizilia, looked in my direction. ‘Hey, big guy, come here.’ So I went over and he said, ‘Son, how big are you?’ I said, ‘6-5 and I weigh about 220.’ He said, ‘You run good for a big guy. Did you ever think about playing football here at Auburn?’ I didn’t play football or basketball in high school because I was growing rather fast and my knees were swelling up. They told me not to play. By the time my knees stopped bothering me, I was so far behind they just weren’t interested. I played baseball every summer. He said, ‘Tryouts are Monday.’

“Then he said something with some wisdom. He said, “Son, try out for baseball and give it your best effort. You’ll make the team or you’ll know you just weren’t good enough, but at least you’ll know. Twenty years ago, I wanted to be a doctor. I’m a P.E. coach at Auburn University. You have no idea how many times over the last 20 years I’ve wondered if I could have been a doctor. I don’t know, because I didn’t try.”

Baker played first base for the Auburn Tigers. “I was set on trying out as a pitcher, because I felt like I threw pretty hard. There were probably 60 guys trying out and I was pretty nervous. They told everybody to go to the position they were trying out for and 30 something guys walked over to the mound, but nobody went to first, so I decided I’m going to try out at first. I was the only guy who made it as a walk-on. First year I just sat on the bench. Second year I got redshirted. Back then they didn’t always redshirt freshmen.

“When the senior and junior first baseman graduated, I thought I’d have the position. There was a guy on full scholarship who was moved to first base from catcher, but he got hurt before the season opened in my third year, so I had to start the game. I hit a home run to beat West Virginia in the first game. The next game, I was 2-for-3. He got well, so I played sporadically, but then the next year he was moved to third and I batted fourth.”

Baker also continued his summer play. “After my freshman year in college, I played for an American Legion team and in BABF, the Birmingham Amateur Baseball Federation.

“I played for the Birmingham 19-year-olds. That’s when I went to Altoona, Pennsylvania, with the All-American Amateur Association. They used to have big tournaments for baseball. Our team went up there to play for that tournament. I can’t remember for sure, but I think I hit two or three home runs — just absolutely lost the ball against some really good pitchers. Then I played for the BABF when I was 20, and I signed when I was 21.

“Just to have a chance to sign was really outside of my vision when I was in college. I didn’t think anything like that would ever happen.”

The team at Auburn did well, and so did Jack Baker. He was named an NCAA District 3 second-team All-Star. The Red Sox selected him in the 26th round of the June 1971 draft (Jim Rice was their first selection that June). Milt Bolling from Mobile, Alabama, is the Boston scout credited with his signing.

Baker gave credit to the man who tipped off Bolling. “The guy who put my name in the hat was actually a guy who was a bird dog for the Red Sox, Socko McCarey. Socko used to go to spring training with the Red Sox and help out with the equipment. He saw me play in a tournament in Altoona and he sent my name in. That’s what Milt said. That’s when he first heard about me. I don’t know what his real name was. They called him Socko.”2

Told that it seemed almost circumstance that McCarey saw him, he replied, “You’re right. I really hoped to get a letter jacket and go back to my high school coach and tell him that he should have been playing me.”

In a later interview, Baker added, “Milt saw me play when I was with Auburn. I pitched as much as I played first. The scouts had you fill out cards with information, and I filled out — I think — 12 cards, six of them as a first baseman and seven as a pitcher — and so when I got drafted, the first thing I asked was ‘What position did you draft me for?’ I wasn’t sure if I got drafted as a pitcher or first baseman. My pitching was in the summer and my first baseman stuff was during college. I didn’t cross over and pitch in college, but I just wasn’t sure. He said, ‘First base.’ OK. I always loved to pitch, but I really loved to hit. If you love the game, you’re happy either way. I’m a blessed man in multiple ways.”3 As it turned out, Baker pitched in 14 minor-league games.

Still needing two credits to get his degree, Baker went off to play professionally. He finished his degree work that autumn.

Baker played in 1971 for the short-season A-level Williamsport Red Sox of the New York-Penn League. He spoke well of his first manager, Dick Berardino. “He was great for a bunch of young guys. He was mature enough to know how to handle us but he was young enough to be active and help us work. I always appreciated that about him. The New York-Penn League at that time changed every night, because every team had multiple players. I think our active roster could be like 24 players, and he would have eight or 10 players in the stands that we carried. The pitchers wouldn’t dress two nights in a row if they pitched the night before. I got hit by a pitch one night and he said, ‘You go sit in the stands the next two nights.’ He wanted to get them all in.”

Though Baker batted just .249, his on-base percentage was .352, and he hit a club-leading 12 home runs in 61 games. That was double any other player on the team — even Jim Rice had just five. Baker’s 45 RBIs also led the club.

In 1972 he played in 125 games for the Winter Haven Red Sox in the Class-A Florida State League. He upped his average to .272 (his OBP stayed steady at .351). Again his homer and RBI totals, 27 and 89, outstripped Jim Rice’s (17 and 87).

“My first two years we played together,” Baker said of Rice. “He batted third and I batted fourth. I led the league in home runs and RBIs and he was second or third in RBIs, but he led the league in total bases, hits, doubles, maybe triples — I can’t remember but he was at the top in everything else. Total bases, he led the league in that. In my mind, he was probably the best natural hitter I ever saw in the game.”

After the ’72 season, Baker stayed in Florida for instructional league work. He played for the Winston-Salem Red Sox, another Single-A club (Carolina League), in 1973. In a season truncated by injury, he got into just 89 games, hitting .247 with 10 homers and 32 RBIs. He recalled starting poorly, but after breaking through and starting to do well, three weeks later a pitch broke the knuckle on his thumb. He was in a cast for 14 weeks. He went to the Florida Instructional League later in the fall, but even then it took a while to be able to bat effectively. Meanwhile, Jim Rice had advanced to Double A and Triple A.

In 1974, however, Baker had a very good year. He rose a level to Double A, playing for the Bristol (Connecticut) Red Sox in the Eastern League. He got in a full season’s work — 128 games. His 27 home runs were three times as many as anyone else on the team and his 105 RBIs were almost double teammate Ernie Whitt’s 56. He led the league in both categories and was unanimously chosen as the league’s All-Star first baseman.4 He hit .274 overall that year, yet was still the victim of what Boston Globe reporter Bob Ryan called “some horrendous slumps.” Ryan quoted Bristol manager Stan Williams: “When he’s going bad, he can’t hit fast balls, curve balls or anything else.” Minor-league hitting instructor Sam Mele chimed in, “It’s always the stride which causes the trouble.”5 Baker brought up his average as the season progressed. “He needs another year or so, but he’s a great prospect,” Williams said after the season was over. “He hits balls so far it’s unbelievable.”6

That echoed what Red Sox Minor League Director Ed Kenney had told Tom Shea of the Springfield Republican in June: “He has tremendous power. He just has to make better contact with the ball.”7 Baker admitted, “I’m a free swinger. I go for some pitches I shouldn’t, but I’ll learn.” He confessed he wasn’t swift as a baserunner, and he had some challenges in fielding: “I’m not real quick, so some skid by me, but because of my size I can catch some of those high ones.”8

Baker’s 1975 season was with the Pawtucket Red Sox in the Triple-A International League. At the end of spring training, Peter Gammons had written, “[M]ammoth first baseman Jack Baker…has come so far in two years and works so hard he may yet turn out to be one helluva Fenway hitter.”9 Meanwhile, Jim Rice (who’d made his Boston debut in August 1974) became Boston’s primary left fielder, and as a result Carl Yastrzemski shifted to first. That spring also featured Tony Conigliaro’s short-lived comeback.

In 132 Pawtucket games, Baker homered 18 times and drove in 63. His batting average of .252 was comparable to his career .261 level, but was down 22 points from his mark with Bristol. Baker returned to Birmingham after Pawtucket’s season. When his roommate, Jim Burton, was called up to Boston, he invited Baker up after the World Series returned to Boston for Games Six and Seven, offering a ticket and a place to stay. Baker thus was in the stands to see Bernie Carbo’s eighth-inning three-run homer tie Game Six and Carlton Fisk’s extra-inning home run win it.

Unfortunately, Game Seven went to the Big Red Machine. Jim Rice, whose wrist was broken in mid-September, was out of action in the postseason. His presence might have made the difference against Cincinnati.

Baker recalled, “My friend Jim [Burton] was the losing pitcher in Game Seven. He threw some good pitches but [Pete] Rose singled and [Joe] Morgan — the ball went off the edge of his bat and Rose scored from second. Morgan didn’t hit it that hard but it still got him in. Jim was blamed for the loss by Darrell Johnson and Jim never recovered from it. I don’t think Darrell did, either, because they fired Darrell in the middle of the next season. Jim never got back to the big leagues. He struggled with that. In fact, later in life he didn’t want to have anything to do with anything that had to do with baseball. It hurt him bad.”

For the 1976 season, the Pawtucket Red Sox became the Rhode Island Red Sox. Baker played in 133 games for manager “Walpole Joe” Morgan. Every single member of the 1976 team (other than the pitchers) ultimately made the major leagues. Baker’s 80 RBIs topped the club; Butch Hobson was second with 72. Baker’s 36 homers (three in one game on May 21) were 11 more than Hobson’s 25, and enough to lead the International League. He batted just .254, however, 13 points below the team average. Hitting for average was rated more highly at the time; near the end of May, it was noted that he had already hit 16 homers “but is under .230.”10

In the beginning of June, Boston traded for Bobby Darwin to give them a little more right-handed offense, rather than call up Baker. The Angels and the Braves both expressed interest in trading for him. Former Kansas City manager Jack McKeon said, “[H]e never hits a popup in the infield. They’re all to left field. In the minors, they’re outs. In Fenway? Home runs.”11

Baker also appeared twice that year as a relief pitcher. “We had one game in ’76 where Memphis was up. It was 16-1 after five innings and we had just had a bunch of rainouts. I think four out of the last six days we had played doubleheaders. Our pitching staff was shot. He [Joe Morgan] had me and Buddy Hunter as his extra pitchers. He said, ‘Hey Bake, I think you’re in. Go get loose.’ So I warmed up and I pitched three innings and didn’t give up any hits. He gave me a chance to pitch the last game of the season.”

After the IL season ended, Baker was called up to Boston. He’d understandably attracted attention for his work in Pawtucket, but he had been patient. Baker had told the Richmond newspaper in June, “I’ve been able to approach this year most prayerfully. Wherever I am, it’s the Lord’s will. I’m more relaxed with the Lord’s guidance. Maybe in the long run, it’s better for me to be down here. I’m not sure what their plans are, but nobody wants to play in Pawtucket when you could play in Boston. I’m disappointed, but I’m not going to let it overwhelm me.”12

Manager Joe Morgan observed that Baker had gotten off to hot starts both in 1975 and 1976 but “then he seems to get tired. But if he were platooning as a designated hitter, then he might not get tired.”13 A couple of weeks later, Morgan might not have said what he had. Baker finished strong, even hitting three home runs in the last four games of a push for the playoffs. He played in 133 games that year, still the International League record for games played in a season. He had played 132 games the year before.

Baker was brought up to Boston as soon as Rhode Island was eliminated from the playoffs. He joined the big club on September 6.

Getting called up, however, was no guarantee he’d be with the big-league team in 1977. “Jack Baker led the International League with 35 homers this year,” said Ed Kenney. He’s not the best fielder. He’s not a George Scott. But he is a Boog Powell with the glove and Boog does all right. We can’t deny him a chance.”14

Baker’s big-league debut came on September 10, 1976, as Boston hosted a Saturday evening game against the Cleveland Indians. He pinch-hit for Rick Miller in the bottom of the sixth and popped out.

The next afternoon, he pinch-hit for Cecil Cooper in the seventh but fouled out. He grounded out on September 18 in a third pinch-hitting role. On the 19th, he played his first complete game. He grounded out twice, struck out twice, and flied out to center field, deep enough that the ball advanced Dwight Evans to third base. Evans scored a few moments later on a wild pitch. “I was chasing bad pitches,” Baker allowed.15

In back-to-back games against the visiting Milwaukee Brewers on the 22nd and 23rd, he collected his first RBI and first base hit. On Wednesday the 22nd, his sac fly to center field off Jerry Augustine in the bottom of the fourth inning drove in Evans from third base and tied the game, 2-2. The Red Sox won, 6-3.

The following afternoon, the Red Sox were leading Milwaukee, 2-1, with Boston left-hander Bill Lee facing another lefty, Bill Travers. Baker’s home run over everything in left field, made the score 3-1. “It was a fastball in,” Baker told Steve Buckley. “I remember it like it was yesterday…The game wasn’t on TV, so there’s no footage of it anywhere. So all I have is my memory of it, and I guess that’s OK. Each year I add a few feet to it. By now, it’s over the wall and bouncing around down on the Massachusetts Turnpike.”16 Four batters later, Bob Montgomery hit a two-run homer and Travers was done for the day. The final score was 10-3, Red Sox.

On October 3, his 12th and final appearance of the year, Baker was 2-for-3 with a pair of singles.

Baker got married after the 1976 season, to Amy Gross, originally from Johnson City, Tennessee. “I met her in Birmingham. She was there in college. I met her in church.”

In December, the Red Sox traded Cecil Cooper to Milwaukee — but in doing so, reacquired George Scott, who’d won eight Gold Gloves at first base. The deal sent Yastrzemski back to left field, Rice to DH, and Baker to another season at Triple A. Baker trained with Boston in 1977 but was sent to Pawtucket (as the team was now known again) in the final few days of March.

On May 19, the PawSox faced the parent club in an exhibition game at Pawtucket. Baker’s 10th-inning home run beat the Red Sox, 4-3.

Nine days later, Boston made a number of deals, trading Bobby Darwin, selling Tom House to Seattle — and calling up Baker from Pawtucket. He was hitting over .330 at the time.17

Baker got into two games, flying out to center while pinch-hitting in Texas on June 2, and — after George Scott was hit by a pitch at Fenway on June 8 — pinch-running. He stayed in and got two at-bats, striking out and then popping out to second base. Those were his final two major-league games. He finished with an overall .115 batting average and a .143 on-base percentage. He had two errors in 59 chances in the field, for a .966 fielding percentage.

On June 23, having not been used again, he was returned to Pawtucket.

“One thing Joe Morgan told me in ’77, he called me over and said, ‘Bake, I don’t know what more you can do. I’ve told them you’ve been ready. You’ve done all you can for me.’ That meant a lot to me, thinking back. Another time he told me, ‘You know, you’re a big man but you can relay a throw from the outfield more accurately than any first baseman I ever had.’ That was pretty cool!”

Baker was understandably a little discouraged. “I’ve had some good years in Triple-A,” he told Bill Liston of the Boston Herald. “I feel I deserve a shot with somebody — if not with Boston, then with someone else.”18

By season’s end, he had played in 86 games for the PawSox, homering 14 times and driving in 45. He hit for a .274 average (.328 OBP). Morgan used Baker again as a pitcher that year, giving him the start on the last day of the season (he allowed four earned runs in five innings).

Baker was recalled to Boston in September, but did not play. The Red Sox had enough hitting that they didn’t feel a need for him, even as a DH. At that year’s winter meetings, the Red Sox traded Baker to Cleveland for Garry Hancock.

A sprained right thumb hampered Baker considerably in spring training 1978 and he was unable to establish himself. On April 1, out of options, he was outrighted to the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League. He would have had to clear irrevocable league waivers to be called back to Cleveland.19 He was upbeat, saying, “I’m coming to Portland with the intention of staying all season and helping to lead this club to the Pacific Coast League championship.” He added, “My wife, Amy, is six months pregnant, and our first baby will be born in Portland.”20

Wayne Cage won the first-base position with the Beavers. On June 19, Baker’s contract was assigned to the Syracuse Chiefs to clear roster room for Ron Hassey. Syracuse was a Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays; Baker was “essentially on loan” with Toronto perhaps interested in purchasing his contract after the season.21 The thumb injury continued to bother him while batting, so he turned his hand to pitching again — this time on a more regular basis. In 1978 he worked in 11 games, for a total of 38 innings. His first start led to a 5-0 shutout against Toledo. “And he didn’t even know how to hold men on, or warm up,” wrote Hal Lebovitz in some wonderment.22

Baker explained, “It was not an intentional move on my part. When I got on loan to Toronto, they had so many bad arms that the coach asked me if I would be an extra pitcher. I said, ‘Sure.’ I ultimately started two games. I went 8 1/3 the first game I started — which is not bad if you haven’t been pitching that much. I was 2-0 as a pitcher.

“And I faced the Blue Jays in an exhibition game. Three innings and they didn’t get any hits. Three up, three down. That was kind of fun. It makes me wonder if I did the wrong thing trying out for first. I enjoyed pitching. Pitching was fun. But there’s nothing like hitting a home run and watching it go.”

The 1978 season was Baker’s last in professional baseball. It was time to return home and build his life in Birmingham with Amy. “We’ve been married 43 years. I’ve been blessed. We’ve got three kids and nine grandkids. My son Jeff is 41. Jennie is 39 and Sarah just turned 38. My two oldest grandkids are girls. They’re 14 and 12. My three grandsons are nine, eight, and seven. The little girls are five, four, and two. They keep us all busy.

“My grandsons love sports. The youngest one, Bo, loves football. The older one, Jack, probably likes basketball and baseball about the same. The middle one, Buck, is diehard baseball.”

Baker returned to Baker Dairy and worked there for the next 18 years. They built the company to a size that made it a very attractive acquisition target. “We were running about 450,000 gallons of product a week. We were the largest-volume plant in the state.” Barber Dairy bought the company in 1996, and Baker worked for them for three years. He then turned to the job he is still doing as of 2020, with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, FCA is a 501-C-3 nonprofit with about 1,600 on staff across the country. “I’m actually called a multi-area director,” he explained. “There are some other area directors who report to me. I have 14 counties in the state of Alabama. We’ve got some of the more important counties covered by area directors, but we’ve got three areas where we’re trying to find an area director.

“I have been involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes back since I was a volunteer while playing Double A with the Red Sox. I had a good year in Bristol in Double A and I came back and this guy asked me if I would speak to this school for the deaf and blind — which was a unique experience, because nobody ever looks at you. They’re looking at the lady who was signing for the deaf students. I spoke there. They had asked me to bring some pictures and the Red Sox sent some headshots. I sat for an hour and a half signing autographs for those kids. The thing that touched me the most about that was, for that period of time — here I am, somebody that’s sort of a nobody — I’m definitely nobody to them — I sat in the front row and I don’t think there was a time for an hour and a half that I didn’t have somebody touching my shoulder, touching my arm, hugging me from behind, sitting as close to me as they could. As I left, I thought that this was something that God was showing me that I should be doing.

“That was where I first got started and I was a volunteer for 25 years before I came on staff, which was after we sold the dairy. FCA is a ministry. It reaches coaches and athletes in schools. One time I heard a coach say, ‘Things are so different, especially with our kids and the dynamic with which they grow up.’ A lot of our kids are growing up in single-parent or no-parent homes. Marriages are falling apart in a lot of instances. Using sports, we try to be a very positive influence. We work with the kids who say Christ is their Lord and Savior and who want to live with the character they learn through that. We train them how to live, because it’s a battle out there. Once we train them, we just encourage them to go to camps and go to rallies. Last year, Tim Tebow came to town in our area and 7,500 kids came out to hear him speak.

“We have kids going to camps. Some of them are leadership camps where they do sports. Some of them are athletic camps where kids will go and get real instruction at whatever the sport is. They get instruction from, typically, college coaches.”

“Baseball or sports can make a difference in life, because young people pay attention to it.”

Last revised: March 23, 2020

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Jack Baker for providing his memories in telephone interviews with the author on December 17, 2019 and January 10, 2020.

Thanks also to Rod Nelson and to the Boston Red Sox for assistance with this biography, which was reviewed by Rory Costello and Norman Macht and fact-checked by David Kritzler.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author relied on Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and Baker’s player file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Notes

1 Author interview with Jack Baker on December 17, 2019. Unless otherwise indicated, all direct quotations attributed to Baker come from this interview.

2 McCarey’s given name was Caleb. Thanks to SABR’s Rod Nelson for supplying this link to McCarey’s Sporting News card: https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll3/id/131588/rec/1  

3 Author interview with Jack Baker on January 10, 2020.

4 “Stan Williams to Pilot ‘Stars,” Boston Herald, July 16, 1974: 24.

5 Bob Ryan, “Bristol Red Sox Stomping; Stan Williams Is Why,” Boston Globe, June 30, 1974: 101.

6 Peter Gammons, “Sox Minor League Report: Many Possibles, Few Probables,” Boston Globe, September 15, 1974: 88.

7 Tom Shea, “New ‘Home Run’ Baker in Red Sox’ Future?” Springfield Republican (Springfield, Massachusetts), June 16, 1974: 48.

8 Tom Shea.

9 Peter Gammons, “Bob Heise,” Boston Globe, March 30, 1975: 59.

10 Peter Gammons, “The Search Goes On for Ninth Pitcher,” Boston Globe, May 29, 1976: 22.

11 Peter Gammons, “Many Wait for Expansion,” Boston Globe, August 15, 1976: 77.

12 “Baker Blasting IL Pitching, But Can’t Get Try in Majors,” Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia), June 6, 1976: 20.

13 Peter Gammons, “The Post-Yawkey Sox, a Business, Not a Family,” Boston Globe, August 22, 1976: 79.

14 Bill Liston, “Hope Springs Eternal in Sox’ System,” Boston Herald, September 6, 1976: 6.

15 Bill Liston, “Dillard Blasts Sox to 6-1 Victory over Tigers,” Boston Herald, September 20, 1976: 17.

16 Steve Buckley, Boston Red Sox – Where Have You Gone? (Champlain, Illinois: Sports Publishing, 2005), 82.

17 Bob Ryan, “Enter Hernandez, Exit House,” Boston Globe, May 29, 1977: 52.

18 Bill Liston, “Miller Might Exchange His Red Sox for Pinstripes,” Boston Herald, July 24, 1977: 14.

19 Associated Press, “Indians Send Two Players to Portland,” Advocate (Baron Rouge), April 2, 1978: 38.

20 Ron Forbes, “Bevo Player Hopes to Blaze Trail in PCL,” Oregonian (Portland), April 7, 1978: 74.

21 Vic Fulp, “Chiefs’ Geach Is New Man,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, July 23, 1978: 25.

22 Hal Lebovitz, “Tribe Partners Pay,” Plain Dealer (Cleveland), September 9, 1978: 60.