“

A relief pitcher most of his career, Terry Adams won his first and only World Series with the Boston Red Sox in 2004. Standing 6-feet-3-inches tall and weighing 225 pounds, the fiery right-hander was an imposing presence on the mound.2 In 11 seasons he spent time with many storied franchises including the Chicago Cubs (1995-1999), Los Angeles Dodgers (2000-2001), Philadelphia Phillies (2002-2003 and 2005), Toronto Blue Jays (2004), and Boston Red Sox (2004). He finished his career with the Indianapolis Indians, the Pittsburgh Pirates Triple-A affiliate in the International League (2005-2006).

With the Red Sox in 2004, Adams earned the distinction of being the only Red Sox pitcher on the postseason roster not to play a game in the ALDS, ALCS, or World Series but to earn a ring.

Terry Wayne Adams was born on March 6, 1973, in Mobile, Alabama, to Terry and Peggy Adams. Terry Adams Sr. was a route salesman for a grocery distributor and Peggy worked as an assistant broker for Merrill Lynch. Growing up, young Terry was a fan of the Chicago Cubs. “I would run home from the bus to catch the end of the day games on WGN,” he said. “I loved Ryne Sandberg, Mark Grace, and Shawon Dunston.”3 In high school Adams played football, baseball, and basketball at Mary G. Montgomery High School in Semmes, Alabama. “I excelled in baseball,” Adams said. During his senior season in 1991, Adams hurled his way to a 12-2 record with a 1.17 earned-run average. He was named the Alabama High School Player of the Year and subsequently the Gatorade Player of the Year for the effort.4 “My high-school career was fun,” Adams said. “We finished 10th in the country according to USA Today in 1991.”

High-school senior Adams was selected in the fourth round of the 1991 amateur draft by the Chicago Cubs. His rookie season was spent with the Huntington Cubs of the Appalachian League. His career got off to an inauspicious start: an abysmal 0-9 record with a 5.77 ERA. His record of nine losses was enough to lead the Appalachian League that season.

In 1992 Adams moved up to the Peoria Chiefs of the Class-A Midwest League. In Peoria he looked to improve on his slow start as a rookie and did just that. Through 157 innings pitched, he amassed a 4.41 ERA with 96 strikeouts. He hurled three complete games, one of them a shutout.

Adams’s pitching at Peoria propelled him to the Daytona Cubs of the advanced Class-A Florida State League in 1993. In the first half of the season, he posted a 3-5 record and a 4.97 ERA in 70⅔ innings. Arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder caused him to miss the second half of the 1993 season and he spent time on the disabled list from June 21 to September 21.

After a successful surgery, Adams found himself in the starting rotation for Daytona in 1994. However, after a 1-5 start over his first seven games with a horrendous 6.32 ERA, he was converted to a reliever and finished the season with a 4.38 ERA and seven saves.

In 1995 Adams moved up, beginning the season with the Orlando Cubs of the Double-A Southern League before being moved up again to the Iowa Cubs of the Triple-A American Association. While with Orlando, he appeared in 37 games and put together a respectable 1.43 ERA over 37⅔ innings pitched, recording 19 saves. With Iowa he had five saves in seven games, with a stellar 0.00 ERA.

Adams made his major-league debut with the Cubs on August 10, 1995, in a Wrigley Field doubleheader against the San Diego Padres. Adams pitched two-thirds of an inning and gave up one hit in the first game, which the Cubs lost, 3-2. He was called on again in the second game, pitching one inning, striking out one and walking one in the Cubs’ 12-5 victory.5 Of his debut, Adams said, “I don’t recall how I felt, but I’m sure I was a bundle of nerves. I remember closing the first game and then in the locker room they told me to suit up again, so I ended up finishing both games of a doubleheader.”6 

On August 14, 1995, the Cubs had a historic game as Sammy Sosa hit what was widely reported as the 10,000th home run in Cubs history. Adams got the last three outs of the game to record his first major-league save in the Cubs’ 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.7 Against the Dodgers on September 13, Adams earned his first major-league victory, pitching a scoreless top of the 13th inning in a walk-off 7-6 victory over Los Angeles.8

In 1996, his first full year with the Chicago Cubs, Adams had a banner season. He pitched 101 innings in relief, making him the third Cubs rookie to pitch at least 100 relief innings alongside Willie Hernández (103 in 1977) and Chuck McElroy (101 1/3) in 1991).9 He pitched in 69 games and finished the season with four saves and a 2.94 ERA.

In 1997 Adams pitched in 74 games and had 18 saves in 22 opportunities. In 13 games from April 13 to May 11, he hurled 18⅔ consecutive scoreless innings, the longest streak by a Cubs reliever since Les Lancaster pitched 30⅔ innings in 1989. Adams finished the season with a 2-9 record and a 4.62 ERA.

In 1998 Rod Beck signed as a free agent with the Cubs and became the closer, collecting 51 saves. As as result, Adams’s production fell off; he recorded just one save in 72⅔ innings pitched. He finished the season with a 7-7 record and a 4.33 ERA.

In 1999 Adams rebounded, despite multiple trips to the disabled list, recording 13 saves in 18 tries. Through 65 innings pitched he had 6-3 record and a 4.02 ERA. But after the season the Cubs traded Adams, Chad Ricketts, and minor-league pitcher Brian Stephenson to the Los Angeles Dodgers for right-handed pitcher Ismael Valdéz and second baseman Eric Young Sr. “Giving up Terry Adams was a very tough thing to do because he has a chance to be one of the best relievers in the game,” Cubs GM Ed Lynch lamented. “But in Ismael Valdéz, we’ve got a very consistent performer, and Eric Young is a very exciting player who we think will make a difference for our offense in the leadoff role.”10

In 2000 Adams led the Dodgers pitchers with 66 appearances. He got his first save for the Dodgers in his first appearance of the season, at Montreal on April 3. On May 16, after a three-hit rally by the Cubs at Wrigley Field, he was part of what could have been the largest mass suspension resulting from one brawl in baseball history had it not been for Paul Beeson, baseball’s chief operating officer. Frank Robinson, then baseball’s vice president of on-field operations, handed down suspensions totaling 89 games to 16 players and issued $77,000 in fines for a scuffle between a fan and Dodgers catcher Chad Kreuter after Kreuter was struck by the fan, who then stole his cap. Beeston overturned the suspensions of 11 of the 16 players and one of the three coaches involved in the melee. Adams’s suspension of three games was reduced to zero.11 Adams finished the season with a 6-9 record and a 3.52 ERA. In 84⅓ innings pitched he recorded two saves in seven opportunities.

In 2001 Adams began the season in the bullpen before being moved to the starting rotation after injuries sidelined Andy Ashby, Kevin Brown, and Darren Dreifort.12 He did not allow a run in his first six appearances of the season. The streak ended on April 17 when Barry Bonds deposited an Adams pitch into San Francisco Bay for his 500th career home run.13 Adams pitched a career-high 166⅓ innings and finished the season with a 12-8 record. He made 22 starts and led the NL that year in the fewest home runs allowed per nine innings pitched (0.487) and was third in the NL in Fielding Independent Pitching (3.09). His 12 victories were second on the Dodgers team.14

Despite a career year, Adams was released by the Dodgers after the season. The Dodgers said they released him to free up salary space but refused to comment beyond that. However, Adams believed the Dodgers had cost him millions of dollars by spreading rumors about his elbow.15 Whatever the case, Adams signed with the Philadelphia Phillies on January 15, 2002. He said of his time with the Dodgers, “I loved playing for the Dodgers and Jim Tracy and Jim Colburn. They treated me well.” He added, “My number one goal is to stay healthy and prove that I can be effective.”16 

The Phillies signed Adams to an incentive-laden one-year, $2.7 million contract with the option of two additional years totaling $19.5 million. Noting that Adams had made 22 starts in 2001, Phillies GM Ed Wade said, “Our guys have always liked Terry’s arm. They’ve always thought he had the stuff to be a quality closer. The Dodgers, and Terry, struck gold when they moved him into the rotation.”17 Adams was expected to be the third starter in the rotation that year behind Robert Person and Vicente Padilla. However, after posting a 4-7 record and a 5.00 ERA, Adams was replaced in the rotation by Brett Meyers.18 He pitched in 46 games, of which 19 were starts. He finished the season with a 7-9 record and a 4.35 ERA over 136⅔ innings pitched.

In 2003 Adams returned to the Phillies as a set-up man. He led the pitching staff in games pitched with 66. He posted a 1-4 record with a 2.65 ERA, the lowest of his career. He was taken out of the lineup for the remainder of the season on September 12, 2003, with loose bodies in his right elbow. He underwent arthroscopic surgery on September 27, 2003, in Birmingham, Alabama, bringing his season to a close. The Phillies released him on October 27 and he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays on January 7, 2004.

The 2004 season was Adams’s first in the American League. With Toronto, he posted a 4-4 record with a 3.98 ERA and three saves before being traded to the Red Sox for Double-A third baseman John Hattig on July 24. At the time of the trade Adams led all Toronto pitchers with 42 appearances. “I had a good feeling I’d be traded by the Blue Jays,” Adams said in his interview with the author. “We weren’t contenders and I had pitched as a closer and in a set-up role mostly. I was excited to be traded to Boston.” Adams said that even though he was excited for the trade he had no idea what his role with the Red Sox would be. “I was fine with whatever role I was given,” he said. “I just wanted to be part of a winner and I was late in my career.”

The Red Sox assumed $1.7 million of Adams’s contract and brought him in to help strengthen the bullpen for the playoff run. Red Sox GM Theo Epstein said, “We’re hurting. We’ve got a lot of guys who have thrown a lot of innings lately.”19 Epstein went on to say, “We’ve been asking a lot of our relievers. You can only ask them to go to the well so many times in July and August if you expect them still to be healthy in September and October.” Manager Terry Francona echoed Epstein’s sentiments, saying, “Adams is a professional reliever who can help so we don’t go through our relievers and hurt them.”20

Adams appeared in 19 games for the Red Sox in 2004. His last appearance was two innings of relief against the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday, October 3, the last game of the regular season. Adams made the postseason roster for the Red Sox, but did not play in the Division Series, Championship Series, or World Series.21 “Yeah I was on the roster,” Adams said. “I was told prior to the playoffs I would be used as an insurance to any reliever who may get hurt or injured. I traveled with the team and did get a ring. I was proud to do what was asked of me.”

On October 29, just two days after the Red Sox brought Boston its first World Series championship in 86 years, they released Adams. He signed with the Phillies on January 11, 2005. Adams struggled mightily with Philadelphia, posting a 12.83 ERA in 16 appearances. He also pitched in 14 games for the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre Red Barons but was released by the Phillies on May 24. In January 2006, he signed a minor-league contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates Triple-A affiliate, the Indianapolis Indians of the International League.22 He made 48 appearances that season and finished with a 4.26 ERA. On October 15, 2006, Adams was released and retired from baseball.

Asked to summarize his career in his own words, Adams said, “I’m very proud of my career. I never expected to be so successful and play so long. I had amazing teammates and played for the best franchises and fan bases.” He lamented missing out on certain aspects of the game, saying, “I wished I would have taken it all in more and played longer. I ran out of gas and my arm just didn’t hold my velocity after my elbow surgery. I wish I could’ve played at a high level for longer.”

After baseball, “Life is different now and sometimes not so easy as baseball was,” Adams said. “When you retire it’s a huge change.” His high school jersey (#21) was retired in 1995 in Semmes, Alabama. Adams was made an honorary sheriff’s deputy and given the key to the city of Mobile, Alabama in1996. He has led a quiet life after baseball. He married his wife Sheila in 2013 and they have two children, Noah age 9 and Anistyn age 7 in 2023.  After retiring from baseball, he has spent time coaching T-ball, coaching pitching, and coaching travel baseball.

In 2023 he was coaching baseball at St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Mobile, Alabama; his children attend the school. He said that aside from coaching, his duties as a cheer and dance Dad with his daughter kept him busy. In 2009 Adams was inducted into the Mobile, Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, which also includes such names as Hank Aaron, Satchel Paige, Willie McCovey, and Ozzie Smith. Of the honor Adams said, “It’s not just being associated with great players from this area, but some guys who are in Cooperstown, too. I’m very proud to have that association and I’m very honored.”23 Reflecting on his time in baseball he said, “I miss those days. The competition and the clubhouse were fun. I’m glad I was able to be a part of such a great game and brotherhood.”

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, baseballalmanac.com, Stats Crew, and the Terry Adams player file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Thanks to Terry Adams, Sarah Coffin of the Boston Red Sox, and Rachel Wells at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, as well as Greg Fowler, Joe Johnston, Pat Scheller, and Holly Scheller for their support.

Notes 

1 Sapna Pathak, “Twenty Questions with Terry Adams,” https://www.milb.com/news/gcs-102919, accessed September 3, 2023.

2 Several standard online baseball websites provide Adams’s weight as 180 pounds. In an October 2023 email to the author, Adams stated that he never weighed 180 pounds and asked that his weight be given as 225 pounds – which is the same weight cited in the 2004 Red Sox Post-Season Media Guide (p. 31).

3 Terry Adams, email interview with author, September 26, 2023. Unless indicated, all otherwise unattributed quotations from Adams come from this interview.

4 Gatorade Player of the Year: https://playeroftheyear.gatorade.com/winner/terry-adams/20609, accessed September 3, 2023.

5 “Scoreboard,” Galveston Daily News, August 11, 1995: 18.

6 Sapna Pathak, “Twenty Questions with Terry Adams.” The games were actually finished by other pitchers.

7 Bob Nightengale, “Dodgers Run Out of Magic in End,” Los Angeles Times, August 15, 1995: C1.

8 “Chicago Beats Dodgers After Blowing Lead,” Greenwood (South Carolina) Index-Journal, September 14, 1995: 16.

9 MLB.com, Terry Adams statistics: https://www.mlb.com/player/terry-adams-110067.

10 Chuck Johnson, “Dodgers Trade Pricey Pair,” USA Today, December 13, 1999.

11 Jason Reid, “12 Dodgers Get Pardon on Appeal,” Los Angeles Times, June 30, 2000: 1.

12 Rob Maaddi, “Adams Signs With Phillies,” Midland (Texas) Daily News, January 14, 2002. https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Adams-Signs-With-Phillies-7076513.php, accessed September 11, 2023.

13 “This Date in Baseball – Barry Bonds Hits His 500th Home Run,” USA Today, April 16, 2023. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2023/04/16/this-date-in-baseball-barry-bonds-hits-500th-home-run/70119456007/, accessed September 11, 2023.

14 Bill Shaikin, “Adams Joins Phillies’ Rotation,” Los Angeles Times, January 16, 2002: D9.

15 Bob Brookover, “Adams Bolsters Case – and Stays Angry,” Philadelphia Inquirer, March 21, 2002.

16 Brookover.

17 Maaddi.

18 “Phillies, Adams Agree to a One-Year Deal,” Pocono Record (Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania), February 10, 2003.

19 Bob Hohler, “Adams Acquired from Jays,” Boston Globe, July 25, 2004: D7.

20  Bob Hohler, “Adams Acquired from Jays,” Boston Globe, July 25, 2004: D7.

21 ESPN Terry Adams gamelog, https://www.espn.com/mlb/player/gamelog/_/id/3318/year/2004/category/pitching, accessed September 11, 2023.

22 “Scoreboard,” Indiana (Pennsylvania) Gazette, January 22, 2006: 24.

23 Paul Cloos, “Terry Adams Honored by Upcoming Mobile Sports Hall of Fame Induction,” Press-Register, (Mobile, Alabama), April 29, 2009. https://www.al.com/press-register-sports/2009/04/terry_adams_honored_by_upcomin.html, accessed October 15, 2023.

“You look out and you’re in a big-league park, you’re on a big-league field, you’re going to pitch. It’s a hundred emotions going through you.” –

Abe Alvarez pitched four games in the major leagues, including his debut for the 2004 Boston Red Sox. The 21-year-old lefty spent just half a season at the Double-A level before being thrown into the heat of a pennant race. The Red Sox were desperate for a pitcher and optimistic about the young crooked-hat, bushy-haired pitcher who threw so soft that a Red Sox scout said, “[Y]ou can catch him with a napkin.”2 The Long Beach State phenom had dominated the college ranks the year before with his solid control and pinpoint location. Alvarez had a meteoric rise from short-season Class A to the major leagues in one year. Baseball America listed Alvarez as the top Red Sox pitching prospect, ahead of such notables as Jon Lester and Jonathan Papelbon.3 He spent his entire career (2004-2006) with the Red Sox and received a World Series ring.

Alvarez rose from poverty to top pitching prospect, only to watch other prospects supersede him. His experiences with the highs and lows of the game prepared him for coaching at the college level. “Baseball really doesn’t need a guy like him,” ESPN’s Brian Triplett wrote. “It needs one on every team.”4

Abraham Alvarez was born on October 17, 1982, in Maywood, California, mere minutes south of Los Angeles. His parents, Alex and Mercedes (Olivares) Alvarez, had emigrated from Mexico. Alex often had trouble finding employment to provide for his family, which included Abe’s brother and sister. Mercedes was a cosmetologist. Spotlights from police helicopters and sirens were a normal occurrence in their neighborhood, as was the presence of gangs. Their home was broken into often. “I didn’t really understand,” Abe said. “My parents didn’t make it a big deal. [Robbers] didn’t take much because there wasn’t much that we had. My parents kept us safe, and that’s all that pretty much mattered.” Alex found work when Abe was 7, and moved the family to Fontana, 50 miles from Maywood.5

Alex, a basketball player in Mexico, encouraged his sons to play baseball. Abe, around 5 years old, played in the T-ball Peanut League in the Bella South Gate area of Los Angeles County, then later Little League.6 As a youngster he checked out library books about Sandy Koufax. But the current Dodger lefty star grabbed his attention. “I was just five or six at the time,” Alvarez remembered. “Fernando Valenzuela was my first athletic idol.” His dad would take him to Dodger Stadium after Sunday Mass if Valenzuela was pitching.7 Valenzuela looked to the sky as he delivered the ball to the plate. Alvarez had only one good eye.

“I was born with a birth defect in my left eye, and I don’t have very good vision in it,” he said in 2003. His mother tried prescription drops to no avail. “Being a left-hander, it doesn’t bother me because I can focus with my right eye. But if I was right-handed, I think it would be a problem for me.”8 “If I close my good eye,” he explained another time, “it’s a blur. If things are close, maybe I can read them. I can see colors, but the vision is bad.”9 It was one more obstacle in his childhood.

Abe started wearing glasses around age 8 and faced childhood bullying since the lens for his left eye was much thicker than that for the right. “It affected me socially as a kid a lot,” Alvarez said. An optometrist recommended that Alvarez wear a patch on his right eye when not in school to strengthen the vision in his left eye. “So every Halloween for about six years I was a pirate,” he joked. Alvarez switched to wearing a single contact lens late in his high-school years.10 Tilting his cap helped balance out the lighting for his good eye, and he could peek at a runner at first from the stretch without craning his neck. It worked, and he was a successful pitcher at A.B. Miller High School in Fontana. He credited his father for his confidence.

“My dad has always been there telling me not to give up,” Alvarez said. “Much of my confidence comes from him because he believes in me. He is always pushing me and his confidence in me gives me confidence in myself.”11 Alex had never finished beyond seventh grade, so the discussion of college rarely came up at home. Neither his older brother nor younger sister attended college. Abe played in the Area Code Baseball program with future major leaguer Chad Cordero. College recruiters were watching.12 He drew more attention striking out 16 batters in six innings for the Colton Night Hawks in the USABF World Series, a tournament for 16- to 18-year-olds.13 During his sophomore year of high school, his coach took him to a baseball camp at Arizona State University. Alvarez decided to attend Long Beach State because of its proximity.

Alvarez pitched just three innings as a freshman. “We had a lot of older guys on our staff,” he said. “I think it was good for me to sit and watch how the older guys did it.” He received extra training in Alaska that summer. “I think pitching in Alaska really helped me. I’m just glad they didn’t rush me at Long Beach.”14 The extra work was beneficial. He finished his sophomore season 12-3 (2.72 ERA), walked only 27 while striking out 89 in 102⅔ innings, and was Big West Pitcher of the Year.15

Alvarez followed with an 11-2 junior season (2.35 ERA). His 23-5 combined record (2.56 ERA) is the most for any Long Beach State University left-hander and he shared the 2003 Big West Pitcher of the Year Award with teammate Jered Weaver. The two were a powerful one-two punch (25-6 combined) along with their freshman shortstop, Troy Tulowitzki. Alvarez led the top-ranked 49ers into their first NCAA home regional playoff game against Pepperdine. He allowed one run on four hits for a 6-1 victory.16

Alvarez pitched for Team USA in the summer of 2002, appearing in the World University Championship. He allowed only an unearned run in 1⅓ innings. His valuable relief work helped Team USA win the Haarlem Baseball Week Tournament in the Netherlands.17

Jim Woodward of the Boston Red Sox scouted Alvarez. His bad left eye became an issue for the first time. “MLB sent one of their guys in,” Alvarez recalled. “He said, ‘Your vision in your left eye is really bad. I don’t get how you’re able to pitch.’”18 Alvarez learned he was legally blind, with 20:16 vision in the eye. It may have cost Alvarez a first-round selection in the June 2003 amateur draft. The Red Sox selected him in the second round (49th overall) with a $700,000 signing bonus.19

The Red Sox assigned Alvarez to short-season Class-A Lowell (Massachusetts) of the New York-Penn League. With his high number of innings at Long Beach State, the Red Sox were cautious with the 20-year-old’s workload. Alvarez started nine games but was limited to 19 innings. He struck out 19, walked 2, and was unscored upon. “They made me understand,” Alvarez said. “I got used to it and I know it was good for me.”20

The Red Sox promoted Alvarez in 2004 to Double-A Portland (Maine) of the Eastern League. “My favorite city in minor-league baseball,” Alvarez remembered. “It was like a college town.”21

“It’s a big jump, no doubt. We could have sent him to Sarasota (Advanced A level),” confessed Red Sox farm director Ben Cherington. “We felt that challenging him was the right thing to do.” Alvarez struggled, allowing five runs in his first start, but settled down and allowed only five runs in his next four starts. His fastball was not overpowering (85-88 mph) and he relied on location, control, and mixing pitches. “He’s a very mature kid who has a good idea about pitching,” Cherington said.22

The Red Sox were desperate for a starting pitcher in game one of a doubleheader with the Baltimore Orioles on July 22. They were struggling at 51-42, eight games behind the New York Yankees, after being just one game behind at the start of June. “I think we’ve had a couple of instances recently where we’ve gotten behind in a game and have become semi-lifeless,” said outfielder Gabe Kapler. “I think it’s important that we show a little amount of tenacity right now.”23 The Red Sox hoped Alvarez could bring the team that tenacity and summoned him from Portland. He was 8-6 (3.53 ERA) in 19 starts with an 82/24 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 99⅓ innings. Opponents were batting .261 against Alvarez. He learned of the promotion two days before it happened.24

“You’re going to the big leagues,” manager Ron Johnson told him. “I started shaking,” Alvarez said. “I didn’t sleep that night.”25 “Really, I thought more about my dad, what he did and what he worked for, everything he pushed for me to get this opportunity.”26 Alvarez was chosen partly because the Orioles struggled against left-handers at the time (10-21 vs. left-handed starters, batting .245 vs. .296 against righties).27 To make room on the roster, left-hander Jimmy Anderson (6.00 ERA in six innings) was designated for assignment. Anderson had thrown his last pitch while Alvarez prepared to throw his first.

“With a bushel of curly black hair jutting out from under a hat turned to the side,” wrote Paul Doyle in the Hartford Courant, “Abe Alvarez strode to the mound with the urgency of someone approaching the ceremonial first pitch. Alvarez looked more like a college kid in the bleachers than a major league pitcher dropped into the pennant race by a desperate team.”28 At 21 years and 9 months old, the young Alvarez stepped into the heat of a pennant race.

Alvarez fell behind early. He walked leadoff hitter Brian Roberts, who stole second and scampered home on Melvin Mora’s double to right. Miguel Tejada launched a home run into the Monster seats in left, and the Orioles led, 3-0. Mora later homered. Alvarez gutted out five innings, allowing eight hits, five earned runs, five walks and two strikeouts. The Red Sox fell, 8-3. “We all think that he has a bright future. Maybe not quite yet, here,” said manager Terry Francona. “He kept his composure and actually kept us in the game.”29

“It was kind of like a welcome-to-the-big-leagues type of deal,” Alvarez said honestly. “That was a big inning just for me being out there for the first time.” While the outcome was not what he wanted, he found the positive. “I’m glad that they have a lot of confidence in me, and I am moving up quick. Hopefully, I will be able to stick around, or come back quicker.”30 But Alvarez would have just a cup of coffee, or as Mark Murphy wrote in the Boston Herald, “There was no time to add the cream and sugar.”31 Alvarez was optioned back to Portland to make room for the recently acquired infielder Ricky Gutierrez. Alvarez finished 10-9 for Portland with a 3.66 ERA and 1.22 WHIP. He was 1-2 in August despite a splendid 2.14 ERA, holding batters to a .167 average.32 The Red Sox turned their season around in memorable fashion, winning their first World Series in 86 years and everyone on the team, including Alvarez, received a ring.

Alvarez spent most of 2005 with Triple-A Pawtucket of the International League. He was 11-6 with a 4.85 ERA (1.20 WHIP) in 26 starts. In June he threw a seven-inning, one-hit shutout against Richmond.33 In July he was briefly recalled to Boston but never made an appearance. He was recalled again on August 28 and had back-to-back relief appearances, throwing a scoreless inning against the Tigers, and then getting pounded for four runs by Tampa Bay. He was back in Pawtucket on August 30.34

Alvarez returned to Pawtucket in 2006 with a cutter added to his pitching repertoire. “I think it’s a big part of my success,” he said. “With a cutter, I’m able to come inside to righties instead of always using my change-up.”35 He was a stellar 5-0 with a 2.18 ERA and lefties batted a weak .167 against him. Alvarez was recalled to Boston in May. “My confidence is high,” he said. “This is a challenge I look forward to take on.”36

The Red Sox were in Philadelphia. Alvarez relieved Lenny DiNardo in the third with runners at first and second and the Red Sox trailing, 4-1. He got out of the inning unscathed and pitched a scoreless fourth. In the fifth, Ryan Howard smashed a changeup for his 14th home run to deep left. Alvarez didn’t record an out in the sixth, allowing a double to Jimmy Rollins, a single to Chase Utley, and a home run in the center-field bushes by Bobby Abreu. Alvarez walked off a major-league field for the final time in a 10-5 loss. David Riske was activated and Alvarez was back in Pawtucket.37

Alvarez went 1-9 with a 7.58 ERA upon returning to Pawtucket. He finished 6-9 (5.64 ERA, 1.49 WHIP). Staying mentally focused was the majority of the problem. “You know you had a shot and you come back down and you’re thinking the wrong things,” he said. “That’s why you go out there and give up eight runs in three innings (vs. Columbus), because your head’s not in the game. I talked to (Red Sox mental skills coach) Bob Tewksbury, and people can tell you things, but you are the one who has to make the adjustments.”38 In August he fractured his ankle in an off-field accident and missed the remainder of the season.39

Alvarez was placed on the 60-day disabled list and removed from the 40-man roster. He was no longer a top pitching prospect but accepted the Red Sox’ invitation to spring training in 2007 as a nonroster invitee. Alvarez, now 24, was surrounded by youngsters. “I pitched with a lot of these (younger guys in camp),” he said. “I came up faster, but they’re catching up to me on the fast track. And now I have to get over the hump.”40 He pitched for Pawtucket the entire season, going 5-8 (4.77 ERA, 1.47 WHIP) with 16 starts in 25 appearances. He was released in May 2008 after 13 appearances and a 6.46 ERA (1.76 WHIP).

“It was awesome to be on the fast track,” Alvarez said in 2010, “and to go from Low A to Double A and then get a chance to start in the majors. Then I had a good first year at Triple A. But I felt in that second year there that I had missed a step in my development.”41 “I would put a lot of blame on myself,” he said. “It’s a business, it’s your career. What are you trying to do to get better? I felt pretty good in who I was, but at the same time I didn’t realize who was coming behind me. I probably would have benefited even more from going to high A and learning.”42

Alvarez signed with the Camden (New Jersey) Riversharks of the independent Atlantic League. He pitched one game and was traded to the Long Island Ducks. He went 7-4 in 31 appearances, then spent the winter pitching for the Lobos de Arecibo of the Puerto Rican Winter League.

Alvarez went overseas to pitch for Palfinger Reggio Emilia in the Italian Baseball League in 2009. He finished 3-8 with a 2.96 ERA. “It was still fun,” he said, playing on the weekends and sightseeing during the week. “The fields were nice, and I loved traveling in Italy.”43 Abe went home and married Natalie Casas, an elementary school teacher. They had two children, Isabella and Benjamin.

In 2010 Alvarez served as a volunteer undergraduate assistant coach at Long Beach State which provided free tuition while he attained a bachelor’s degree in history. “I promised my mom I would finish college,” he said. “First one in my family.”44 In 2011, he became the baseball coach at Cerritos High School. He moved on to St. Bernard High School, where he coached, taught, and served as dean of students. Alvarez led St. Bernard to its first league title in 30 years. In 2017 he earned a master’s in secondary education from Loyola Marymount University. In 2018 Alvarez joined the Nevada State baseball program as a volunteer and was promoted to a paid assistant in 2019. In 2021 he led the Wolfpack to the Mountain West championship and on to the NCAA Regionals. In 2022 Alvarez became the pitching coach at Brigham Young University.45

“My dream was to play in the major leagues, and I achieved that,” Alvarez said. “But I learned it’s hard to stay there. I knew coaching was something I’ve always to do.”46

Sources

College statistics were taken from the baseballcube.com.

Besides sources listed in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-reference.com, Familysearch.org, Findagrave.com, and Retrosheet.org.

Notes

1 Abe Alvarez interview on Brett Lorin’s “Too Tall Sports Podcast,” Season 1, Episode 29, November 19, 2020. Retrieved June 24, 2022. youtube.com/watch?v=Yn9Cx_fUYhc. Hereafter listed as “Podcast.”

2 Gordon Edes, “Alvarez Is Back in Business,” Boston Globe, May 20, 2006: E5.

3 Cited by Michael Silverman, “Baseball – Team Won’t Split Hairs With Lefty Alvarez,” Boston Herald, March 16, 2004: 84.

4 Brian Triplett, “Gangbanger? Try Modest Abe,” ESPN. Retrieved June 25, 2022. espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=1873839.

5 Triplett.

6 Podcast; Doug Krikorian, “Alvarez in Good Form for D’Bags,” Long-Beach Press Telegram, May 8, 2003: B1.

7 “Alvarez in Good Form”; Janis Carr, “Alvarez Usually Finds Way to Win. The Long Beach State ace Is 22-4 the Past Two Years,” Orange County Register (Santa Ana, California), May 27, 2003. Retrieved June 20, 2022. Infoweb-newsbankcom.hpld.idm.oclc.org/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0FB85941DA9630F8.

8 Krikorian, “Alvarez in Good Form.”

9 Dana Oppedisano, “A Reason for Alvarez’s Appearance,” Naples (Florida) Daily News, March 7, 2005: 6C.

10 Podcast.

11 Carr, “Alvarez Usually Finds Way to Win.”

12 Podcast.

13 “Rangers Off to 2-0 Start at Series,” San Luis Obispo (California) Tribune, August 5, 2000: C2.

14 Krikorian, “Alvarez in Good Form.”

15 James Lee, “Relief Effort,” Los Angeles Times, August 1, 2002: A8.

16 “Baseball Program Picks Its All-Time Greats.” Long Beach State University. Retrieved June 21, 2022. longbeachstate.com/sports/2018/8/1/_trads_alltime_base_html.aspx; Eric Stephens, “Two Aces, One Tough Team,” Los Angeles Times, May 30, 2003: D15; Eric Stephens, “Long Beach Works Fast,” Los Angeles Times, May 31, 2003: D13; Darrell Moody, “Three Players See Action in College Baseball Playoffs,” Sacramento Bee, June 6, 2002: 47.

17 Lee, “Relief Effort.”

18 J.P. Hoornstra, “Abe Alvarez Hits the Mark,” Long Beach Press-Telegram, May 23, 2012. Retrieved June 20, 2022. presstelegram.com/2012/05/23/abe-alvarez-hits-the-mark/.

19 Pete Marshall, “Cordero, Alvarez, Begin Quest for MLB Glory,” Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Ontario, California), June 27, 2003: 3.

20 Kevin Thomas, “Sox Hope Alvarez Is What’s Left,” Portland (Maine) Press Herald, May 9, 2004: 1D.

21 Podcast.

22 “Sox Hope Alvarez Is What’s Left.”

23 Bob Hohler, “Home Sickness,” Boston Globe, July 22, 2004: E1.

24 Bob Hohler, “Gutierrez Acquired After Reese Lands on DL,” Boston Globe, July 22, 2004: E3.

25 Kevin Thomas, “Keeping His Cool on the Hot Seat,” Portland Press Herald, July 23, 2004: D1.

26 Podcast.

27 Bob Hohler, “Like Night and Day,” Boston Globe, July 23, 2004: E7.

28 Paul Doyle, “Salvage Job for Wake – Orioles Rough Up Alvarez,” Hartford Courant, July 23, 2004: C1.

29 Mark Murphy, “O’s Rock Rookie – Alvarez Takes Loss in MLB Debut,” Boston Herald, July 23, 2004: 124.

30 “O’s Rock Rookie.” .

31 “O’s Rock Rookie.”

32 Bob Hohler, “Only a Few Will Realize Big Dreams,” Boston Globe, August 29, 2004: F11.

33 Joe McDonald, “Alvarez of PawSox Stays on Fast Track by 1-Hitting Braves,” Providence Journal, June 7, 2005: C5.

34 Jeff Horrigan, “Alvarez Is Ready to Go,” Boston Herald, July 3, 2005: B11; Tony Massarotti, “Vazquez a Surprise Cut,” Boston Herald, July 4, 2005: 58; Jeff Horrigan, “Remlinger Doesn’t Make Cut,” Boston Herald, August 29, 2005: 98; Jeff Horrigan, “Red Sox Notebook – Wells Called to MLB Office,” Boston Herald, August 31, 2005: 88.

35 Karen Guregian, “On Call When Need to Re-arm – Four Top Prospects Working to Be Ready,” Boston Herald, May 14, 2006: B16.

36 Michael Silverman, “Red Sox Notebook: Honest, Abe Up – Lefty Called from Pawtucket,” Boston Herald, May 20, 2006: 48; Edes, “Alvarez Is Back in Business.”

37 Gordon Edes, “Sox Absorb Blows,” Boston Globe, May 22, 2006: D6.

38 Steven Krasner, “Alvarez Out to Show Sox He’s Not So Forgettable,” Providence Journal, February 15, 2007: C1.

39 Gordon Edes, “Hinske’s Versatility a Big Plus,” Boston Globe, August 18, 2006: C6.

40 “Alvarez Out to Show Sox He’s Not So Forgettable.”

41 Bob Keisser, “Back to Basics – Former Pitcher Is Back at LBSU to Get an Education, Both in Class and on the Field,” Long-Beach Press Telegram, March 24, 2010: 1B.

42 Podcast.

43 Hoornstra, “Abe Alvarez Hits the Mark.”

44 Hoornstra, “Abe Alvarez Hits the Mark.”

45 “Abe Alvarez,” Nevada Wolf Pack Coaches. Retrieved June 19, 2022. nevadawolfpack.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/abe-alvarez/2016; Chris Murray, “Abe Alvarez Promoted to Full-Time Assistant for Nevada Baseball,” Nevada SportsNet. Retrieved June 19, 2022. nevadasportsnet.com/news/reporters/abe-alvarez-promoted-to-full-time-assistant-for-nevada-baseball; “Abe Alvarez,” BYU Baseball. Retrieved February 28, 2023. byucougars.com/staff/baseball/1300431/abe-alvarez.

46 “High School Baseball – Alvarez Named Coach at St. Bernard,” Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, September 11, 2013: 2; “Abe Alvarez,” Nevada Baseball 2020 Media Guide, 43. Retrieved June 24, 2022. s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/nevadawolfpack.com/documents/2020/2/18/BaseballMediaGuide_2020_ALTTEXT.pdf.

Anderson’s father, Jimmy, Sr., influenced his son’s development. Junior said, “He was pretty much my coach until pro ball. He pretty much taught me everything I know.”3 Senior, a former Norfolk shipyard general foreman,4 recalled, “We have a pitching rubber and a home plate in the yard. If I had a dollar for every pitch Jimmy has thrown to me I’d be a millionaire.”5

As a high-school sophomore in 1992, Anderson threw a no-hitter and a one-hitter in consecutive games.6 Overall, he notched six victories to go with his district-leading ERA of 0.88, and, as a bonus, hit four home runs.7

In 1993 Anderson, with a perfect 10-0 regular-season record, was chosen All-Southeastern District most valuable player. The junior had a sparkling 0.79 ERA, struck out 116 batters in 63 innings and walked only 18, leading the Bruins to an undefeated district season.8 But Anderson was not only a terrific pitcher. Robin Brinkley of the Virginian-Pilot called Anderson “one of the best hitters in the district.”9

In 1994 Anderson was even better, somehow improving his ERA to a microscopic 0.11.10 He struck out 22 batters in one game,11 again went undefeated (8-0) in the regular season and was voted the district’s most valuable player.12 Overall, in his junior and senior seasons, Anderson struck out nearly two batters per inning. Possessing pinpoint control, he walked fewer than two per nine innings. About his dominating high school career, Anderson said, “I matured early. I probably could have been in pro ball then.”13

A superb athlete, Anderson averaged more than 20 points per game as a sophomore on the junior varsity basketball team and shot in the high 70s in golf. But skipped practices kept him off varsity basketball and got him expelled from the golf squad.14 Anderson explained, “The basketball team had a summer camp that conflicted with an important baseball showcase event in Cincinnati, Ohio. The basketball coach told me I had a decision to make.” It didn’t take Anderson long. He said, “I played basketball for fun, but I was going to possibly get drafted for baseball.” As for golf, Anderson admitted he “lost interest.”15

In June 1994 Anderson was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the ninth round of the amateur draft, although scouts had told him he might be taken as early as the first round and no later than the third.16

The Pirates sent Anderson to the Gulf Coast Rookie League, where he went 5-1 (1.60 ERA). In 1995 Anderson advanced to the Augusta GreenJackets of the low Class-A Sally League, posting a record of 4-2 (1.53 ERA). Later the Pirates promoted Anderson to the Lynchburg Hillcats of the High-A Carolina League, where things got tougher. In 52⅓ innings pitched, Anderson went 1-5 (4.13 ERA).

In 1996, Anderson did better in the High-A league, with an ERA of 1.93 in 65⅓ innings. Consequently, he was promoted to the Carolina Mudcats of the Double-A Southern League (Raleigh, North Carolina), and again did well, going 8-3 (3.34 ERA).

Anderson started the 1997 season at the same level, pitched to a 1.46 ERA, and was moved up to the Calgary Cannons of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. There he began a disturbing trend of wildness, walking 5.6 batters per nine innings. His ERA was 5.68, which doesn’t look impressive, but was only 6 percent higher than league average (5.36).17 The trying season was made worse on August 10, when Anderson received news that his father, only 44 years old, had died of a massive heart attack.18

Anderson spent all of 1998 with the Nashville Sounds, the Pirates’ new Triple-A affiliate. His poor control continued (5.2 walks per 9 innings), leading to a record of 9-10 (5.02 ERA).

Anderson was back with the Sounds for the first three months of the 1999 season, where he was terrific, achieving a record of 11-1 (3.86 ERA).19 His control improved, as he walked only 2.8 batters per nine innings. The reason, said Nashville manager Trent Jewett, “He’s 100 percent different this year because he’s confident. If a pitcher has any doubts, he tends to pitch around the bats. Now he believes he belongs at this level.”20

His outstanding performance earned Anderson a promotion to Pittsburgh, and he made his debut for the Pirates on July 4, 1999, at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium. He said it was the biggest thrill of his career. “My Dad was the first person I thought of. It was what we worked so hard for.”21 Anderson recalled the weather that day. “Hot as fire,” he said. “It was, like, 120 out on the turf.”22 He gave up three hits and a walk, but no runs, while working the seventh and eighth innings of a 4-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Anderson was sent back to Nashville, but was recalled on July 31. He started three games at the end of August with mixed results. In September, he pitched five games in relief – all Pirates losses.

In 2000 Anderson won the first start in which he got a decision, then lost his next five. The fifth came on June 14, when he walked five in four innings. The next day, the Pirates demoted him, again to work on his control.23 He showed improvement, in a small sample, walking only four in 13 innings. Upon returning, Anderson went 2-0 in July, but in his final 11 starts went 2-6 (6.14 ERA).24 Both wins came against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In one, Anderson pitched eight shutout innings; in the other, he threw a complete game in which he yielded only one run.

After his first two starts of 2001, Anderson had an ERA of 6.97. In his next three, he won twice and reduced his ERA to 2.76. But from May through August, he went 4-15 with an ERA of 6.46. He turned things around in his final six starts, going 3-1 with a 2.49 ERA. His overall record was 9-17 (5.10 ERA).

In 2002 Anderson got the decision in each of his first 14 starts, going 6-8 (4.61 ERA). The last was a complete-game five-hit win over Cincinnati. The rest of the way, he went 2-5 (6.67 ERA). Anderson lost his job as a starter in mid-August after giving up eight hits and five runs in three innings in a 9-5 loss to the Cardinals. In his final three outings, he gave up eight earned runs in four innings and consequently pitched only once in the month of September. Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon said, “[Jimmy] just has to be consistent in what he’s trying to accomplish. Hopefully … his workout regimen, workout habits, pitching habits will be such that it will allow him to become a better pitcher, a more consistent pitcher.”25 The Pirates released Anderson on December 16.

In the three years from 2000 through 2002, Anderson was one of the least effective starting pitchers in the majors, ranking third from the bottom in both ERA (5.24) and winning percentage (.349).26 In his last season with the Pirates, he struck out the fewest batters per nine innings (3.0) and had the second-lowest strikeout-to-walk ratio (0.75). Perhaps nibbling too much, he surrendered 4.0 walks per nine innings.

Yes, Anderson lost 41 games in his three full seasons as a starter with the Bucs, but a manager has to be confident enough to give a pitcher the opportunities to lose that many games. Anderson started 85 games over that span, more than any Pirates pitcher. In fact, he never missed a start nor spent a day on the injured list in his professional career.27

On January 15, 2003, Anderson signed with the Cincinnati Reds. In two stints with the Reds, separated by a trip to Triple-A Louisville, he recorded one win against five losses and an 8.84 ERA. On June 26 Anderson surrendered 11 earned runs on 15 hits in five innings. He was released a week later and never started another game in the majors. He signed with the San Francisco Giants, but pitched only in the minors, and was released on August 21.

Since being drafted in 1994, Anderson had gained significant weight. He weighed 180 pounds on signing,28 but by 2003, had increased to 240. Over the winter, Anderson decided to get in better shape, lost 30 pounds, and in 2004 spring training with the Cubs had a 2.14 ERA, sixth-best in baseball. 29

After beginning 2004 at Triple-A Iowa, Anderson was summoned to Chicago in late May.30 In his first six appearances, Anderson pitched only 5⅔ innings. But on June 14 against the Houston Astros, he recorded a four-inning save, an event that 20 years later would be quite rare. With the Cubs ahead 5-0 in the sixth inning, starter Mark Prior surrendered a leadoff double. Anderson came in and stranded the runner. Although he allowed two singles in the seventh, he avoided any scoring with the help of a double play, and in the eighth retired in order the estimable trio of Lance Berkman, Jeff Kent, and Jeff Bagwell. In the bottom of the ninth, after the Cubs had extended their lead to 7-0, Anderson allowed two runs before sealing the victory.31

Although Anderson had pitched well in five of his seven outings for the Cubs, on June 23 he cleared waivers and was sent back to Iowa. On July 2 the Cubs traded him to the Red Sox for minor-league right-hander Andy Shipman.

Anderson knew a few of his new teammates, particularly Bronson Arroyo, with whom Anderson played in Pittsburgh and throughout the Pirates’ minor-league system. Sox fans will remember Arroyo as the pitcher from whom Álex Rodríguez slapped the ball in Game Six of the 2004 League Championship Series against the New York Yankees. What initially looked like a disastrous play for the Red Sox was subsequently corrected, with A-Rod called out for interference and Yankees runners returning to their bases.

In Anderson’s first appearance for the Sox, July 4 against Atlanta, Boston led 4-1 after four innings. But in the bottom of the fifth, Red Sox starter Derek Lowe allowed seven of the first eight batters to score and left the game trailing 8-4. Anderson relieved Lowe with one out and the bases empty and gave up a walk, double, and triple as the Braves extended their lead to 10-4, the final score.

Two days later, with the Red Sox thrashing Oakland 11-0, Anderson pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth to preserve the win.

On July 15 Anderson needed only nine pitches to stymie the Anaheim Angels in the seventh inning. Unfortunately for the Red sox, they were down 8-1. Ramiro Mendoza pitched a one-two-three eighth, but the Red Sox were unable to cut into the Angels’ lead.

On July 17 Anderson relieved Joe Nelson in the bottom of the sixth with the bases loaded, one out, and the Angels ahead 5-1. Anderson threw a wild pitch, allowing one run, and gave up a two-run single to Garret Anderson, making the score 8-1. Red Sox manager Terry Francona let his pitcher start the seventh, but after Anderson retired the first two batters, he walked the next two and was relieved by Mendoza. The Red Sox lost 8-3.

On July 21, with the Orioles leading 8-4, Anderson entered in the ninth and gave up two doubles and a single before recording an out. The two resulting runs and a homer by Boston’s Trot Nixon made the final score 10-5.

Eleven days later, Anderson was released and never pitched another major-league game. In his brief stay with Boston, he had no decisions and an ERA of 6.00. Though he wasn’t with the Red Sox for their entire run, Anderson received a World Series ring commemorating his contribution. He called the Sox a tight-knit group of “great guys.” 32

Thereafter, Anderson bounced around the minors with affiliates of the Cubs, Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Houston Astros, and Florida Marlins. In 2006, just after his first child was born, and “miserable” in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Anderson retired. 33

Subsequently, he went to work with Bob McKinney, a former Pirates scout who helped sign Anderson to his first contract. At McKinney Baseball, Anderson gave private pitching lessons to players from 7 years old to college age. He also coached a 17-and-under team that played tournaments in a showcase league. Anderson estimated that 97 percent of the players he coached went on to play college ball, including Chris Taylor, who became a main cog on the World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020. 34 Anderson said, “I love helping the kids get into college and get better. It’s my favorite thing.”35

From 1998 to 2001, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds established the six highest single-season home-run totals. It was the pinnacle of the steroids era, which continued at least until penalties were instituted in 2005, and so covered Anderson’s entire career. Anderson said he was fully aware that players were using. “Players are, with each other, pretty honest,” he said. “You kind of know what’s going on. Plus, you could just look at somebody and tell.”36

Anderson accumulated just under six years of major-league service time, and naturally wishes he had gotten 10 years, which would have guaranteed a healthier pension – about $150,000 per year.37 So he holds some bitterness from having played against guys who were juicing. “I wonder what would’ve happened if maybe it was a more level playing field, if I could’ve maybe got that 10 years or maybe get to that contract where I [would be] set family-wise,” he said. “That part does aggravate me.”38

As of 2023, Anderson seemed happy with his life after pro ball. He remained busy with pitching lessons, but because he made his own schedule, still had plenty of time for family and hobbies. Anderson and his wife, Sarah, lived in Portsmouth, Virginia. They have two daughters, Jordyn, who played soccer at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Virginia and Jenna, a basketball player at Portsmouth Christian. His mother, Florence, lived only minutes away. Anderson’s favorite pastimes were fantasy football and golf. In 2022 he walked away with a championship in fantasy football and had his golf handicap down to five – an all-time low. 39

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com.

Notes

1 Rich Radford, “Baseball Draft ’94: Jimmy Anderson,” Norfolk Virginia) Virginian-Pilot, June 2, 1994: C1.

2 Robin Brinkley, “Western Branch Still Looks Like No. 1,” Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, May 29, 1994: D13.

3 Paul Meyer, “Dad in His Thoughts as Anderson Debuts,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 5, 1999: B-7.

4 Tom Robinson, “Anderson Mourns Father Who Pushed Him So Hard,” Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, September 13, 1997: C1.

5 Robin Brinkley, “W. Branch’s Anderson Has All the Right Pitches,” Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, April, 27, 1993: C1.

6 “W. Branch’s Anderson Has All the Right Pitches.”

7 Bill Leffler and Ed Miller, “14-Player All-Star Squad Features Six Juniors,” Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, June 3, 1992: 14.

8 Jim Leffler, “Manor, Churchland Players on All-District,” Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, June 4, 1993: 26.

9 Brinkley, “Western Branch Still Looks Like No. 1.”

10 Bill Leffler and John Gordon, “All-Southern District Baseball,” Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, June 24, 1994: 18.

11 Paul White, “A Super Year for Area Schools, Individuals,” Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, June 19, 1994: C12.

12 Leffler and Gordon, “All-Southern District Baseball.”

13 Phone interview with Jimmy Anderson, October 30, 2023. Hereafter, Anderson interview.

14 Brinkley, “W. Branch’s Anderson Has All the Right Pitches.”

15 Email from Anderson, November 9, 2023.

16 Rich Radford, “Baseball Draft ’94: Jimmy Anderson,” Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, June 2, 1994: C1.

17 While Anderson pitched in the Pacific Coast League, the league average ERA was about 5.00.

18 Robinson, “Anderson Mourns Father Who Pushed Him So Hard,”

19 Paul Meyer, “Anderson Is Called Up to Help Ailing Bullpen,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 4, 1999: D6.

20 Paul Meyer, “Anderson Shows Control,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 4, 1999: D-6.

21 Meyer, “Dad in His Thoughts as Anderson Debuts,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 5, 1999: B-7.

22 David Hall, “Bonus Coverage: Jimmy Anderson,” PilotOnline.com, July 24, 2013 (last accessed May 19, 2023). https://www.pilotonline.com/sports/norfolk-tides/article_da864ee7-883a-5ffc-be24-7a4872cc6fff.html.

23 Alan Robinson (Associated Press), “Injury Apparently Didn’t Ruin Loiselle’s Career,” Tyrone (Pennsylvania) Daily Herald, June 16, 2000: 4.

24 While Anderson pitched in the National League, the league average ERA was about 4.50.

25 Robert Dvorchak, “Pirates Report – Notebook,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 21, 2002: B-5.

26 Pitchers who started at least 60 percent of their games and had at least 50 decisions.

27 Anderson interview.

28 Rich Radford, “Baseball Draft ’94: Jimmy Anderson.”

29 Tom Robinson, “Anderson Lost Weight and Added Confidence,” Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, April 7, 2004: C-3.

30 Paul Sullivan, “Muscle Tear Will Shelve Wellemeyer,” Chicago Tribune, May 28, 2004: 4-5.

31 Paul Sullivan, “Cubs Ace Notches First Win,” Chicago Tribune, June 15, 2004: 4-1.

32  Anderson interview.

33 David Hall, “Bonus Coverage: Jimmy Anderson,” PilotOnline.com, July 24, 2013, Updated August 4, 2019 (last accessed June 24, 2023).

https://www.pilotonline.com/2013/07/24/whatever-happened-to-jimmy-anderson-2/.

34 Anderson interview.

35 David Hall, “Bonus Coverage: Jimmy Anderson,” PilotOnline.com, July 24, 2013, Updated August 4, 2019 (last accessed June 24, 2023).

https://www.pilotonline.com/2013/07/24/whatever-happened-to-jimmy-anderson-2/.

36 David Hall, “Bonus Coverage: Jimmy Anderson.”

37 David Hall, “Bonus Coverage: Jimmy Anderson.”

38 David Hall, “Bonus Coverage: Jimmy Anderson.”

39 Anderson interview.

Bronson Anthony Arroyo was born on February 24, 1977, in Key West, Florida, to Gus and Julie (Dopp) Arroyo, one of two children. (He has an older sister, Serenity.) He was named after the actor Charles Bronson. Arroyo’s father, who came to the US from Havana, worked in the roofing business with his father until they sold the business in 1986, then invested in real estate. The family moved to Brooksville, Florida, when Bronson was a youngster. As a 14-year-old, he played for the Northeast Pensacola team that won the Dixie League state title and was runner-up in the Dixie Boys (13- and 14-year-olds) World Series.1 He was 1-1 in World Series games that he pitched.

Arroyo starred in baseball and basketball at Hernando High School in Brooksville, Florida. As a sophomore he made the Tampa Bay Times All-North Suncoast all-star team as a second baseman. He hit .265 with 21 runs scored and was considered an outstanding defensive player for the district champions. He also was a starting guard on the varsity basketball team as a sophomore.

During the summer of 1993, Arroyo, at 16, pitched the Hernando Dixie-Majors to the summer-league state baseball championship. He pitched six innings in relief, giving up one run and striking out 11 to win the title game. “He’s the best player to come through Hernando County in a long time – 15, 20 years,” Hernando coach Tim Sims said.2 “From a mental standpoint in his approach to the game he’s years ahead of a 16-year-old. He’s more like a junior or senior in college, or a second-year pro player.3 Hernando was defeated in the ages 15-18 Dixie League World Series, but Arroyo recorded the team’s only victory.4

Arroyo suffered from tendinitis in his arm during much of his junior year, so his pitching was limited. He still managed to play shortstop, hit .380, and drive in 24 runs and make the Tampa Bay Times All-North Suncoast team as an infielder. His pitching line was 4-3 with a 1.08 ERA. Hernando finished 24-9 and repeated as Class 3A-District 7 champions, despite losing seven starters from the previous year – including two pitchers who were drafted. “At the start of the season, I don’t think anyone on the team thought we’d be in this position,” Arroyo said. “The second half of the season, we’ve just played together as a team. That’s why we’ve won.”5 Hernando went on to win one more game in the district tournament, a two-hit shutout by Arroyo, before its season ended with a loss. Arroyo also continued to play basketball and was Hernando’s leading scorer as a junior, averaging 15.4 points per game.

In the fall of his senior year Arroyo signed a letter of intent to play baseball at the University of South Florida, where he would concentrate on pitching. The first Hernando player to sign with a Division 1 baseball school, he was highly recruited by such baseball powers as Florida, Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern, and Mississippi State. Arroyo finished his high-school basketball career as one of the leading scorers in school history. He averaged 16.2 points per game and was named to the All-North Suncoast first team.

As a senior Arroyo for the third year in a row was named to the All-North Suncoast first team. He was voted the District Class 4A Player of the Year and was named to the all-state first team by the Tampa Bay Times. He finished his senior season with a 10-3 record, a 0.44 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 80 innings. He batted .308 from the leadoff spot for the 26-8 district champions, who lost in the semifinals of the state tournament.

Arroyo was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the third round of the 1995 amateur draft. His high school coach, Sims, said of Arroyo, “Mentally, he’s prepared to play in the big leagues, he’s blessed with good size and he’s got such a fluid motion that he makes it look easy. As far as his potential, I think no one around here is as good.”6 “I wanted to go with the Pirates all along,” Arroyo said. “I’ve known the Pittsburgh scout since I was in ninth grade and he’s always been straight with me. I’ve got a good impression of the organization just from my contacts with him.”7 He was at the barbershop getting his hair cut when the Pirates called. When he returned home, his dad told him he had been drafted by Pittsburgh.

Arroyo decided to forgo college and signed his professional contract the day he was drafted. “We had an amount in mind and they more than exceeded that amount with their first offer,” Gus Arroyo said. “He would have been a fool to pass up that kind of opportunity, we took it right away.”8

Arroyo reported to the Bradenton Pirates of the Rookie Gulf Coast League, two days following his high-school graduation. He made his minor-league debut, pitching one inning and striking out two. He finished his first season of professional baseball with a 5-4 record and a 4.26 ERA in 61⅓ innings. “I have a lot of work ahead of me. It’s going to take a while,” said the 18-year-old hurler. “I realize I have to be patient. I also know anything could happen in the future. There is no guarantee and I never expected one. I just want to give it my best shot and if it’s in the cards, well, great.”9

With Augusta of the low Class-A Sally League in 1996, Arroyo began learning how to pitch and about the wear and tear on his arm. “I’m learning that you can’t just go out and try to strike everybody out,” he said. “You have to work on getting people to pop up, ground out, and concentrate more on saving your arm. It’s a long season.”10  With Augusta he posted an 8-6 record with a 3.52 ERA. (In his debut on April 5, he allowed just one hit in six innings.)

During spring training in 1997, Arroyo was asked by a reporter if he had fantasized about playing professional baseball as a kid. “I would have bet my life on it when I was 6 years old,” he said. “I always knew I’d play pro ball. I never thought about doing anything else.”11

With Lynchburg of the advanced Class-A Carolina League in 1997, Arroyo was 12-4 with a 3.31 ERA and helped lead the team to the league title. He pitched 166 innings, his highest season total in the minor leagues. In the playoffs he was 2-0 with a sparkling 0.52 ERA. Arroyo was selected to the midseason all-star team.

Arroyo continued his progression through the Pirates’ minor-league system in 1998, playing for the Double-A Carolina Mudcats (Raleigh, North Carolina). He finished with a 9-8 mark and his ERA ballooned to 5.46. Despite that, the Pirates remained high on the youngster. “He’s really developing on a good course,” said Mudcats manager Jeff Banister. “The way he’s advancing, he has a good chance to pitch in the big leagues someday in the near future.”12 Pittsburgh sent Arroyo to the Arizona Instructional league for two months that fall to further his development. He finished with a 2-4 record and a 6.51 ERA.

Arroyo was back in Double A in 1999 with the Altoona Curve. He put together his best minor-league season with a 15-4 record, tied for the Eastern League lead in wins, and a 3.65 ERA. He won eight of his first nine starts. Arroyo was promoted to Triple-A Nashville on August 20 and made three starts, losing two with one no-decision.

Arroyo began the 2000 season in Nashville and was 8-2 with a 3.65 ERA. The call he had been waiting and hoping for came, when he was informed by Sounds manager Richie Hebner on Sunday afternoon June 11, about an hour before he was scheduled to pitch. “Richie said, ‘Stop, you’re pitching against the Braves on Tuesday,’” Arroyo said. “I said, ‘Sweet!’”13

Arroyo had never attended a big-league game until he made his debut at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium on June 12, 2000. But it wasn’t as a pitcher. A decent hitter in the minor leagues, Arroyo batted for pitcher Scott Sauerbeck in the bottom of the sixth inning. He ran the count to 3-and-2 against Braves pitcher Bruce Chen, and then hit a groundball back to the mound.

Arroyo made his pitching debut the next night, June 13, against the Braves. He pitched five innings, allowed five runs and 10 hits, and got a no-decision as the Pirates rallied for a 7-6 10th-inning victory. Arroyo lost three starts before getting his first major-league victory on July 22 against the Philadelphia Phillies at Three Rivers Stadium. He surrendered two hits over seven scoreless innings. “I think I appreciate (the win) more because I didn’t win in my first or second outing,” Arroyo said. “I had to claw my way to get a win. If it had happened in my first outing, I probably wouldn’t appreciate it so much.”14 His second win came six days later, on July 28 in a 16-5 Pirates romp over San Diego. Arroyo allowed three earned runs in six innings and collected his first major-league hit, a double off Matt Clement. During his time with the Pirates, he made 20 big-league appearances – 12 starts and 8 relief appearances – while compiling a 2-6 record and a 6.40 ERA.

That fall Arroyo married his high-school sweetheart, Aimee Faught. They had dated since 1994 and were engaged in 1998. They divorced in 2008.

Arroyo made the Pirates’ Opening Day roster for the 2001 season. “Breaking camp with the team, it will be a little different experience than it was last year,” he said. “With us opening the new ballpark (PNC Park), I think it will not be overwhelming, but kind of like, ‘Wow, it’s coming together.’”15 He won his first start of the season, on April 7 at Houston, 5-3. He bounced between Pittsburgh and Nashville throughout the season. Arroyo made 24 appearances for the Pirates, 13 starts, and pitched his first complete game on October 2, a 10-1 win over the New York Yankees. He was 5-7 with the Pirates and made nine starts in Nashville, finishing with a 6-2 record. After the season he played winter ball in Puerto Rico with Santurce and had a strong season.16

Arroyo’s 2002 season was similar to 2001 except that he spent more time with Nashville than with Pittsburgh. He was disappointed that he did not make the Pirates’ Opening Day roster. “After the season I had in winter ball, I thought I definitely would make the team,” he said.17 In his eighth season in the Pittsburgh organization, he was 8-6 in Nashville with a career minor-league-low ERA of 2.96 in 22 games. With the Pirates he appeared in nine games with a 2-1 record, highlighted by a 4-1 victory over future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine of the Braves on August 29.

Pittsburgh surprisingly placed Arroyo on waivers after the season and the Red Sox claimed him on February 4, 2003. After signing pitcher Jeff Suppan, the Pirates felt they could do without Arroyo. “At this point in time we’re just not convinced by his performance,” general manager Dave Littlefield said of Arroyo. “He just falls off the list as far as our priorities”18 

Arroyo was out to prove that the Pirates made a mistake. In his first year in the Boston organization, he was named the Red Sox Minor League Player of the Year. He went 12-6 with a 3.43 ERA in 24 starts for Triple-A Pawtucket and was second in the International League in strikeouts with 155 in 149⅔ innings. On August 10 he pitched the fourth perfect game in the 120-year history of the International League, a 7-0 win over Buffalo. He struck out nine in the victory. “I didn’t feel especially great in the bullpen,” Arroyo said afterward. “But after you get through three or four innings of easy work and you haven’t thrown many pitches you kind of keep rolling and rolling.”19 

Twelve days later Arroyo was called up to the Red Sox in the heat of the pennant race. He pitched in six games in relief with no won-lost record but a good 2.08 ERA. He recorded his first major-league save in his Red Sox debut. He relieved Pedro Martínez on August 25 against Seattle and pitched three scoreless innings, allowing two hits. Arroyo was on Boston’s 2003 postseason roster. He did not pitch in the Red Sox’ Division Series win over Oakland, but appeared three times against the Yankees in the ALCS, pitching 3⅓ and allowing one run.

In 2004 for the first time, Arroyo spent the entire season in the big leagues. He became a dependable fifth starter, making 29 starts in his 32 appearances. Arroyo finished with a 10-9 record and a 4.03 ERA. He was at his best down the stretch, going 5-0 in his last nine starts with a 3.78 ERA, all Red Sox wins. He led the major leagues with 20 hit batsmen, tying the Red Sox record set by Howard Ehmke in 1923.

On July 19 against the Seattle Mariners, Arroyo recorded 11 consecutive outs via strikeout in innings three through seven. (Seattle won the game in extra innings.) Five days later, on July 24, Arroyo triggered a bench-clearing brawl with the Yankees. In the top of the third inning with Boston trailing 3-0, he beaned Álex Rodríguez and then, in an effort to restrain the Yankee star, Jason Varitek pushed his catcher’s mitt into Rodríguez’s face and a melee ensued. New York went ahead of Boston, 9-4, but the Red Sox clawed their way back and Bill Mueller hit a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth off Mariano Rivera. That 11-10 win provided confidence to the team, especially later in the year in the playoff rematch with New York.

Arroyo also played an important role in the postseason that began with a start in Game Three of the Division Series in Anaheim against the Angels. He pitched six innings while allowing two runs and three hits with seven strikeouts. Arroyo left the game with the Red Sox leading 6-1 and the crowd gave the right-hander a standing ovation. “Unbelievable. You can’t describe it,” he said. “Walking off the field, knowing you’ve earned the respect of the fans and your teammates.”20 The Angels rallied to tie the score, only to have David Ortiz win the game with a walk-off two run homer for Boston in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Arroyo started Game Three of the ALCS against the Yankees but did not pitch well. He gave up six runs in two-plus innings and was tagged for home runs by Hideki Matsui and Rodríguez.  The Red Sox tied the game, 6-6, in the bottom of the third to get Arroyo off the hook, but they went on to lose the game 19-8 and trail in the series three games to none. He pitched a scoreless 10th inning of Game Five in the Red Sox’ come-from-behind 14-inning 5-4 victory, won on Ortiz’s game-winning single.

Arroyo was the center of controversy in Game Six of the ALCS in Yankee Stadium. Boston was leading 4-2 in the bottom of the eighth and the Yankees had Derek Jeter on first with one out and Arroyo pitching to Rodríguez. Rodríguez hit a groundball down the first-base line that Arroyo fielded. Arroyo went to tag Rodríguez but the Yankee third baseman slapped Arroyo’s glove. The ball bounded out of the glove and rolled into right field with Jeter scoring from first and Rodríguez getting to second. Initially the umpires ruled Rodríguez safe. Arroyo and Red Sox first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz argued with first-base umpire Randy Marsh, claiming interference. Boston manager Terry Francona joined the fray to argue the call. The six-man umpire crew stepped aside to discuss the ruling. Finally, the umpires reversed the call and ruled that Rodríguez had interfered and was out. He stood at second base in disbelief while Jeter was returned to first base. The 56,128 fans in Yankee Stadium booed relentlessly and threw baseballs and other objects onto the field. After a 10-minute delay to restore order, Arroyo induced Gary Sheffield to pop to catcher Jason Varitek to end the threat. The Red Sox retired New York in the ninth inning with no damage and held on for a 4-2 victory.

“I didn’t know what the rule was,” Arroyo said after the game. “I wasn’t sure what they were going to do. I was just putting the tag on him and he just chopped me across the arm. It was pretty obvious to me.”21 Umpire Marsh after the game said, “I did not see Alex wave at him and knock the ball out. In that situation (plate umpire) Joe West could see it clearly. He was the man who really helped us out. He had the best shot. He was sure of it.”22

Arroyo relieved Tim Wakefield in the fourth inning of Game One of the World Series at Fenway Park on October 23 with the Red Sox leading 7-5. There was a runner on first with two outs. After surrendering a single, Arroyo forced Albert Pujols to ground out and end the inning. Arroyo pitched a perfect fifth inning with two strikeouts. In the sixth he allowed back-to-back run-scoring doubles to Edgar Rentería and Larry Walker as the Cardinals tied the game, 7-7. The Red Sox continued to hit and went on to an 11-9 victory.

Arroyo made one more appearance in the World Series, relieving Derek Lowe in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game Four with Boston leading 3-0. He prompted Roger Cedeño to pop out to second baseman Mark Bellhorn and then walked Reggie Sanders. Francona replaced Arroyo with Alan Embree. Embree retired the Cardinals and Keith Foulke set St. Louis down in the ninth and the Red Sox had their first World Series championship in 86 years. Arroyo, reflecting on his first full big-league season, said, “I wanted to prove I could pitch in this league and I think I accomplished all that. Winning the World Series was a bonus.”23   

Arroyo was back with Boston in 2005 and posted a 14-10 record. He led the team with 20 quality starts and established personal career highs in wins (14), starts (32), and innings pitched (205⅓). He won nine consecutive decisions, five from 2004 and four in 2005, before losing to Toronto on May 25.

After the season Arroyo signed a new three-year contract with Boston, securing his spot on the club, or so he thought. Two months later, on March 20, he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for outfielder Wily Mo Peña. “I don’t know if there’s a moment in my life that’s probably been lower than the phone call Theo Epstein (Red Sox general manager) gave me,” Arroyo recalled years later. “I was three years in, you win a World Series in such a special place in Boston, I was really entrenched there. I was looking forward to doing that for six or seven years. For him to pull the plug on me was completely unexpected. It was a huge downer.”24  

Arroyo became a stalwart of the Reds’ pitching staff for the next eight years, chalking up 108 wins in 279 starts. It took him a little while to adapt to Cincinnati, but once he did, it was home. “I feel very fortunate that I got off to a good start to have people enjoy me and love me right out of the gate,” Arroyo said years later. “It started feeling like a place that I could be for a very long time. It felt like it was my speed. It didn’t feel like the town was too large to get your hands gripped around it. It was just a real hometown feel for me and it happened relatively quickly.”25

In 2006 Arroyo was an All-Star for the first time and was voted the winner of the Johnny Vander Meer Award as the Reds’ Most Outstanding Pitcher and the Joe Nuxhall Good Guy Award. He had a 14-11 record and led the majors with 240⅓ innings pitched. In February 2007 he signed a three-year contract extension and he re-upped again with Cincinnati in 2010 which kept him with the club though the 2013 season.

Arroyo was the Reds’ most reliable pitcher. In all eight seasons with Cincinnati, he made at least 32 starts and pitched over 200 innings except for one season when he pitched 199. Six times he had double-digit wins and in both of the two seasons he fell short he recorded nine. Arroyo had a high of 17 wins in 2010, twice he had 15 victories (2008, 2009), and twice 14 (2006, 2013). He led the team in starts seven times and innings pitched six times. From 2006 to 2013 he was among the major-league leaders in wins, starts, and innings pitched. He won the Vander Meer Award three times (2006, 2009, 2010) and the Joe Nuxhall Award four times (2006, 2009, 2011, 2012). Arroyo was only the second Reds pitcher to win a Rawlings Gold Glove Award for fielding excellence when he won it in 2010.

Arroyo helped lead the Reds to three playoff appearances, in 2010, 2012, and 2013, the franchise’s only playoff seasons between 1996 and 2019. He was the Reds’ leader in wins in 2010 and tied for the team lead in 2013.

Arroyo started Game Two of the 2010 ALDS against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on October 8. He pitched 5⅓ innings, allowing one earned run on four hits. His defense, with back-to-back errors in the fifth inning, cost him two unearned runs. He left the game with a 4-2 lead, but the bullpen could not hold it as Philadelphia rallied for a 7-4 victory.

In the 2012 ALDS, Arroyo started and won Game Two over San Francisco, 9-0. He allowed just one hit and one walk in seven innings. However, the Reds lost the five-game series, dropping the final three games at home.

After the 2013 season, Arroyo opted for free agency and signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He spent one season in Arizona where he made 14 starts and finished with a 7-4 record for the last-place Diamondbacks. Arroyo injured his arm in June and required Tommy John surgery. He sat out the rest of the 2014 season and all of 2015. He bounced around via a few trades and signed as a free agent twice, and at the age of 40 returned to the big leagues with the Reds in 2017, which was his final season. He made 14 starts and finished with a 3-6 record and a 7.35 ERA.

That was the end of the line for Arroyo after 16 major-league seasons and a 22-year professional baseball career. His final major-league statistics include 148 wins, 137 losses. with a 4.28 ERA. Arroyo dots the Reds all-time list in a few categories. He is sixth in strikeouts (1,157), seventh in starts (279) and 16th in wins (108).

Before ending his baseball career, Arroyo had a budding music career. He began playing the guitar when he was in Double A in 1999. While in Boston in 2004-05 he performed in the Hot Stove, Cool Music Show at the Paradise Rock Club to raise money for the Jimmy Fund, the Red Sox’ charity to fight cancer in children. He released a music CD, Covering the Bases, in 2005. The record debuted at No. 1 in Boston and several other cities across New England.26 After being traded to Cincinnati, Arroyo performed in concert with the Screaming Mimes to raise $35,000 for the Reds Community Fund in 2006. In addition, from 2006 to 2013 he performed at Redsfest each year. In 2020 he collaborated with classical pianist Harrison Sheckler to create a recording of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” He returned to Boston in 2021 to play the Hot Stove, Cool Music Show.

Arroyo married Nicole McNees in 2021 and as of 2023 the couple resided in the Cincinnati area.

Arroyo was elected to the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame on October 26, 2022, and was enshrined in the summer of 2023, becoming the 82nd Reds player so honored. “It’s something you work for your whole life,” he said upon hearing he had been elected. “You just want to play in the major leagues. You have no idea if you’re going to play long enough to leave your mark in any way, shape, or form. One of the things you don’t think about as a player a lot of times is sticking with the same team long enough to build up these types of numbers to be in their hall of fame.”27 

Arroyo and his band ’04 released an album, Some Might Say, on February 16, 2023. It was the first album for which he wrote all the music.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Ancestry.com, Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, AZcentral.com, the Boston Red Sox Media Guides for 2004 and 2005, and the Cincinnati Reds 2013 Media Guide.

Notes

1 Staff reports, “Northeast Pensacola reaches Dixie Boys World Series,” Pensacola News Journal, August 16, 1991: Section C-1.

2 Tim Buckley, “Arroyo Shines for Dixie Team,” Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg), August 6, 1993: 4.

3 “Arroyo Shines for Dixie Team.”

4 Tim Buckley, “Hernando Boys Set Sights on World Series,” Tampa Bay Times, July 31, 1993: 1.

5  Gregg Doyel, “Hernando Seeks More Surprises,” Tampa Tribune, May 10, 1994: 4-Hernando.

6 Scott Danahy, “Arroyo Calm While Pitching Up a Storm,” Tampa Tribune, June 3, 1995: 6-Citrus.

7 Thomas White, “Majors Come Calling on Hernando Pitcher,” Tampa Bay Times, June 2, 1995: 1.

8 Scott Danahy, “USF Loses Arroyo to Lure of Pro Game,” Tampa Tribune, June 6, 1995: 5-North Tampa.

9  Thomas White, “Arroyo Nostalgic, but Happy with Present,” Tampa Bay Times, August 10, 1995: 4.

10  Mike Readling, “Arroyo Working on Fooling Hitters and Saving His Arm,” Tampa Bay Times, July 18, 1996: 4.

11  Rick Gershman, “At Home on the Mound,” Tampa Bay Times, March 30, 1997: 1.

12 Pete Young, “Arroyo Beating Numbers Game,” Tampa Bay Times, September 3, 1998: 4.

13  Brant James, “Hernando Native Steps Up to the Big Leagues,” Tampa Bay Times, June 13, 2000: 1.

14  Paul Meyer, “Arroyo Sparkles in 2-1 Victory,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 23, 2000: D-6.

15  Brant James, “Pirates’ Arroyo Is in ‘The Show,’” Tampa Bay Times, April 1, 2001: 6.

16 Associated Press, “Pirates finally ready to Play,” Latrobe Bulletin, February 26, 2002: 8.

17 Brant James, “Back to Nashville … Again,” Tampa Bay Times, March 31, 2002: 4.

18 Robert Dvorchak, “Paper Pirates Are Improved,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 1, 2003: C-2.

19 Associated Press, “PawSox’s Arroyo Perfect,” Lewiston (Maine) Sun-Journal, August 11, 2003: C3.

20 John Powers, “Emotions Bubbling Over for Arroyo,” Boston Globe, October 9, 2004: E3.

21  Peter May, “A-Rod a Bigger Villain in One Swipe,” Boston Globe, October 20, 2004: D2.

22 “A-Rod a Bigger Villain in One Swipe.”

23 John Schwarb, “Arroyo, Red Sox Prove Their Worth, Tampa Bay Times, December 12, 2004: 4.

24 Bobby Nightengale, “From Reluctance, Cincinnati Became Home for Arroyo,” Louisville Courier-Journal, October 30, 2022: B8.

25 “From reluctance, Cincinnati Became Home for Arroyo:” B8.

26 2013 Cincinnati Reds Media Guide, 54.

27  Bobby Nightengale, “Arroyo Voted into Reds Hall of Fame,” Cincinnati Enquirer, October 28, 2022: C3.

Traded to the Colorado Rockies in late 1997, Astacio proved a pitcher could have success hurling half his games in the mile-high hitters’ paradise Coors Field. “I didn’t put doubts in my mind (about pitching in Coors),” said Astacio, who twice led the league in home runs allowed with the Rockies. “Just get the ball, go to the mound, make some good pitches and see what happens.”1 In parts of five seasons in Denver, Astacio won 53 games (which ranked sixth in franchise history as of 2017) despite a 5.43 ERA, and his 17-win, 210-strikeout campaign in 1999 still ranks among the best single seasons in Rockies’ history.

“He’s the pitcher who mentally has not been affected by pitching in Colorado,” said one GM. “Pedro has always tended to throw strikes. He’s aggressive with his stuff and trusts his stuff is good enough.”2 Astacio’s teammates were equally impressed with his dogged determination. “He was a battler,” said teammate Todd Helton. “He wouldn’t back down. He could give up three early runs and you’d never know it.”3

Pedro Julio (Pura) Astacio was born on November 28, 1968, in Hato Mayor, in the eastern Dominican Republic. He grew up on a rural farm between Hato Mayor and coastal San Pedro de Macoris, where his father, Fulgencio, planted crops and tended to livestock on about 100 acres. Astacio’s mother died when he was 8, leaving his father the sole provider for his six children (three boys and three girls). Like almost all boys on the baseball-crazed island, Pedro loved baseball. According to one story, he learned to pitch by using an old tractor tire as a strike zone.4 By the time Astacio was a student at Pilar Rondon High School, he was on the radar of big-league scouts. On November 21, 1987, 19-year-old Astacio signed with legendary Los Angeles Dodgers scout Ralph Avila and Elvio Jimenez.

Astacio’s first taste of professional baseball came a few months later when he donned the uniform of the Tigres de Licey in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Winter League. Though he hurled only one game, he’d return to that club to pitch occasionally for the next eight seasons (through 1995-1996), compiling a 13-10 record.5 In the spring of 1988 Astacio arrived in Campo Las Palmas, at the Dodgers visionary baseball academy Avila founded the year before.6 That camp would serve as a model for almost all other big-league teams and produced dozens of major leaguers, among them Pedro and Ramon Martinez, Raul Mondesi, and Jose Offerman, but Pedro was the first protégé to reach the majors. Astacio’s 4-2 record with 2.08 ERA in the Dominican Summer League earned him a promotion to the Dodgers farm system in 1989.

Over the next three years Astacio progressed through the Dodgers system. He earned All-Star honors in the Rookie Gulf Coast League in 1989 and two years later had advanced to the Double-A San Antonio Missions in the Texas League. Though he struggled (4-11, 4.78 ERA) facing more experienced hitters in the Texas League, the Dodgers were impressed enough to invite him to spring training in 1992.

The 23-year-old Astacio surprised the coaching staff by going 2-2 with a 1.42 ERA in the Grapefruit League.7 Nonetheless, he began the 1992 season with Triple-A Albuquerque, where he was converted into a reliever. Astacio struggled in his new role, yet a series of events conspired to lead to his unexpected promotion to the Dodgers. Following the riots that had engulfed Los Angeles from April 29 to May 4 after four police officers were acquitted of using excessive force against Rodney King, the Dodgers were forced to play four doubleheaders in six days in early July. Desperately needing pitching, the club called up Astacio as an emergency starter. In what was described as the “finest debut in franchise history,” Astacio tossed a five-hit shutout and fanned 10 (a new team record for debuts) to beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-0, in the second game of a twin bill on July 3.8 “It was hard to believe what I was seeing,” said teammate Brett Butler. “[H]e’s toying with major-league hitters.9 Astacio exhibited the kind of enthusiasm and raw emotion that would define his career – on and off the diamond – by jumping around after strikeouts and openly celebrating.

Astacio’s roller-coaster ride was in its infancy. He was returned to Albuquerque after his next start, five days later, then recalled a month later to replace the injured Tom Candiotti. He tossed another shutout in three starts, and despite an eye-popping 1.42 ERA (six earned runs in 38 innings) was demoted again. Back with the Dodgers in September, Astacio was the feel-good story in the Dodgers’ otherwise forgettable season and worst record in the majors. Astacio finished with a 5-5 slate, including four shutouts in 11 starts, and a 1.98 ERA in 82 innings.

Standing 6-feet-2 and weighing about 175 pounds, Astacio had a “good, lean power pitcher’s body with a long trunk,” according to one scout.10 Indeed, Astacio was primarily a fastball pitcher with a bullwhip-like delivery that created late ball movement. Astacio struggled with mechanics his entire career. One scout described them as “poor [because] he hyperextends his elbow which throws off his command” and added “[h]e also arches his head, tightening his back, further contributing to his inconsistent command.”11 Astacio also had a big overhand curve and a changeup, and was never shy to challenge pitchers inside as evidenced by twice leading the league in hit batsmen.

Astacio’s rookie success surprised everyone, yet the Dodgers were careful to temper their expectations in 1993. Slated for the fifth spot in the rotation after a productive spring, Astacio struggled early in the campaign. “It’s his command,” said skipper Tom Lasorda. “He’s not getting the ball where he wants to or where he’s supposed to.”12 By the end of July Astacio’s 4.74 ERA (easily the highest on the staff) threatened his role in the starting rotation. In almost a repeat performance from a year earlier, Astacio caught fire, going 7-3 and posting a 1.82 ERA in 74⅓ innings over the last two months of the season. “He’s not flying off the handle anymore and making dumb pitches,” said catcher Mike Piazza of Astacio’s transformation. “He realizes that every pitch has a purpose.”13 Called the “ace of the staff” by sportswriter Gordon Verrell, Astacio fashioned consecutive shutouts in September as part of a career-best 21⅓ scoreless innings. While the Dodgers split their 162 games to finish in fourth place in the NL West, Astacio led the steam with 14 victories and was the only starter with a winning record, while his 186⅓ innings were just short of the 200-inning barrier his mound mates Orel Hershiser, Ramon Martinez, Candiotti, and Kevin Gross all surpassed.

During Astacio’s remaining tenure with the Dodgers, the right-hander flashed the brilliance that many experts had expected; however, he often struggled mightily, and rarely found a middle ground. Frustrations – by both the pitcher and the organization – grew as Astacio’s inconsistencies baffled his managers. One scout called Astacio “probably the most inconsistent 60-grade pitcher in the game.”14

Astacio had a scare in spring training in 1994, when team physicians detected a heart murmur. Although the diagnosis was ultimately determined to be insignificant, Astacio was sidelined for much of camp. Nonetheless he was ready to start the season and fanned 11 in his debut, a 6-0 loss to Atlanta on April 8. Astacio seemed to catch his stride during a six-start stretch beginning June 14, going 3-1 with a 1.88 ERA and holding batters to a .175 average, and leading sportswriter Tim Kawakami of the Los Angeles Times to declare, “There’s no doubt Pedro has established himself as one of the top pitchers in the division.”15 Such a comment typified glowing perceptions of Astacio. In stark contrast were those voiced just weeks later when he failed to make it through the third inning in consecutive starts. Pitching coach Ron Perranoski said that Astacio’s lack of English made it “difficult to make adjustments” during the game, suggesting that his struggles would continue because of a language barrier.16 The Dodgers were in first place in the NL West when the players union began its strike on August 12, resulting in the cancellation of the rest of the regular season and postseason. Astacio finished with a 6-8 record and 4.29 ERA (highest among the club’s starters) in 149 innings.

While baseball executives and union representatives haggled in the offseason over the future of baseball, Dodgers brass wondered what to do with the erratic, streaky Astacio, whose potential seemed as limitless as his flameout as a starter was likely. One report described Astacio as “teetering this close to mental disaster all the time” during the 1994 campaign, leading many to wonder if the high-strung flinger might be better suited as a reliever.17 Calls for Astacio’s banishment to the bullpen intensified when he went winless in his first five starts of the 1995 campaign before blanking the New York Mets on six hits on May 24, thereby recording his first victory since June 25 of the previous year. Losses in his next five consecutive starts resulted in his demotion. Beat reporter Bob Nightengale of the Los Angeles Times suggested that Astacio’s “emotional fluctuations” and not his ability were the root cause of his “mystery struggles.”18 Used primarily in mop-up and low-leverage situations, Astacio fared better in the bullpen (3.40 ERA vs. 4.82 as a starter), or as team VP Fred Claire said, “had better focus.”19 The Dodgers captured their first division crown since they won the World Series in 1988. Astacio pitched in relief in each contest of the three-game sweep by the Cincinnati Reds, yielding just a hit in 3⅓ scoreless innings.

Astacio arrived at camp skeptical about the Dodgers’ claim that he had a chance to regain a spot in the starting rotation. “They said it’s my job to lose, but that doesn’t mean anything,” he said. “[L]ast year they told me I’d be back in the rotation.”20 After blowing up in his debut, Astacio produced his best and most consistent season in Dodgers blue. Though he didn’t complete any of his 32 starts, he proved to be a dependable workhorse, logging 211⅔ innings with a sturdy 3.44 ERA (including a 2.95 clip over the last three months). Poor run support contributed to his misleading 9-8 record. According to the Los Angeles Times, three factors led to Astacio’s success: He quickened his pace on the mound (he had been one of the NL’s slowest workers), he relied much more on his fastball, and he seemed less demonstrative.21 Astacio joined Hideo Nomo (16-11), Ismael Valdez (15-7), and Ramon Martinez (15-6) to anchor the NL’s best staff (a major-league-low 3.46 ERA) as the Dodgers finished in second place and captured a wild-card berth in Lasorda’s final season in the dugout. The team was once again swept in the NLCS, this time by the Atlanta Braves. In his only appearance, Astacio hurled 1⅔ scoreless innings in Game Two.

The now 28-year-old Astacio arrived in camp in 1997 after yet another offseason filled with trade rumors, and also a new skipper, Bill Russell, who replaced the legendary Lasorda after 21 seasons. Astacio got off to a hot start, winning his first three decisions, while producing a 2.00 ERA a month into the season. In one of those victories, he tossed seven hitless innings against the Mets at Shea Stadium before yielding a leadoff double in the eighth. “He’s one of the most underrated guys in this league,” gushed pitching coach Dave Wallace.22 Astacio then lost his next seven decisions, during which time he had an ugly altercation. Yanked after surrendering five runs in four dismal innings against the Cardinals in Los Angeles on national television, a visibly angered Astacio confronted Russell in the dugout and had to be restrained by third-base coach Joe Amaltifano after a shoving match.23 (Three days earlier Valdes and Russell had a similar dugout confrontation.) Astacio immediately apologized in the press, but his fate was sealed. “When something like that happens in the dugout with the cameras there, you have to pay the consequences,” said VP Claire, who fined Astacio an undisclosed amount.24 Normally a quiet player in the clubhouse, Astacio was considered by some as too emotionally volatile to be consistently successful; on the other hand, some reporters sympathized with the pitcher, suggesting that the Dodgers never helped him settle into a rhythm as a starter and put too much pressure on him to conform to the “Dodger Way.” On August 19, the Dodgers shipped Astacio to the Colorado Rockies for All-Star second baseman Eric Young. “[Astacio] has great ability, character and work ethic,” said Claire about the transaction. “He pitched some outstanding games, (but never with consistency.)”25

Astacio wasted no time proving his worth to Rockies manager Don Baylor following the loss of the fan favorite Young. After fanning eight in a 6⅔-inning no-decision in his debut against the Houston Astros, in the Astrodome, Astacio won five consecutive decisions. Those victories included a career-high 12-strikeout performance in eight scoreless innings against Atlanta and an emotional six-inning outing with nine punchouts versus his former team in Los Angeles. After just six starts, pitching coach Frank Funk pronounced Astacio the best pitcher ever to wear a Rockies uniform.26 The Rockies went 23-14 after acquiring Astacio to finish with a winning record (83-79; third place NL West) for the third consecutive season since they entered the league as an expansion team in 1993. “He came in and really took charge,” said Funk of Astacio (5-1, 4.25 ERA in seven starts), and really fired up our ball club.”27

A hot free-agent commodity in the offseason, Astacio signed a four-year deal worth more than $24 million with the Rockies. “He’s one of our leaders,” said Funk when spring training opened. “He has that aggressive, I-love-to-play attitude. He’s got the work ethic of a high-school kid in his first major-league camp.”28 The Rockies, with the signing of free-agent pitcher Darryl Kile, were expected to challenge the San Francisco Giants and the Dodgers for the West crown in 1998. And then the season started. Astacio struggled mightily, yielding 27 earned runs in his first 20 innings (12.15 ERA). He’s fighting with his control,” said skipper Don Baylor. “He’s up in the (strike) zone, and behind in the counts. You can’t pitch like that.”29 While the Rockies limped to a 77-85 record, Astacio took a beating, producing the highest ERA in the majors among starters (6.23), tied for the major-league lead with 39 gopher balls, and led the NL by hitting 17 batters; still, he went 13-14, made 34 starts, set a new team record with 170 punchouts, and exceeded the 200-inning mark for the third straight season. Nonetheless, rumors swirled that Astacio’s arm was injured – it wasn’t. “[Astacio] bears no resemblance from the nasty right-hander” from 1997, wrote Denver sportswriter Ray McNulty.30 Beat reporter Mike Klis noted that Astacio relied more on breaking balls instead of his heater.31 Like all hurlers, Astacio had to adjust his pitching in Coors Field, with its thin air, where balls flew out of the park at a record pace in an era of home-run records. And that process wasn’t easy, as the split in Astacio’s home and away ERA indicated (7.39 to 4.90).

Astacio reached the heights and depths of his career in 1999, but for vastly different reasons. On the field he enjoyed his best season, consistently pitching deep into ballgames despite yielding a league-leading 38 home runs. His victory against the Milwaukee Brewers on June 6 might best capture Astacio’s career at Coors Field. In 7⅔ innings, he surrendered four round-trippers and five runs while fanning 10 and emerged the victor when the Rockies exploded for eight runs (and also smashed four home runs) in the seventh. On July 6, he took revenge against the Dodgers, tossing a complete game with 10 punchouts and drove in the go-ahead run in a 5-2 victory at Coors Field. Not known as good hitter (.133 career average), Astacio had his most productive season at the plate, collecting 20 hits.

Just as Astacio seemed to realize the potential many had predicted for him, he was arrested on August 12 after a violent altercation with his estranged, pregnant wife, Ana, allegedly striking her in the face.32 (It was his second marriage. His first, to Dorca Garcia Thomas, ended in divorce in 1995.)

Neither suspended nor fined by either the Rockies or Major League Baseball, Astacio took the mound three days after the incident and tossed eight innings, fanning 11 in a 12-4 victory over the Montreal Expos in Denver, where the initial chorus of boos gradually turned to cheers for the pitcher. While the Rockies plunged to a last-place finish, Astacio completed a career year despite his legal distractions. He won 17 games (tying Kevin Ritz from 1996 for the franchise record), and set new club records in innings (232), complete games (7), and strikeouts (210, third best in the NL).

Astacio’s charge of domestic abuse cast a dark shadow over his best season and raised questions about his future. On January 28, Astacio pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and received two years deferred judgment, thereby avoiding jail.33 Soon thereafter the Department of Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) informed Astacio that a felony or misdemeanor involving domestic violence was a deportable offense. (Astacio was a citizen of the Dominican Republic and had since reconciled with Ana.) Apparently unaware of the legal ramification of his plea, Astacio left the Rockies spring training in March and was granted permission to withdraw his guilty plea in an effort to remain in the United States with the formal trial set for early July. (The trial was subsequently deferred to November.) Despite his legal troubles, Astacio was the Rockies’ Opening Day starter. After losing his first two starts, he won his next six decisions. Included was a four-start stretch with at least 10 strikeouts. He fanned 10 or more seven times during the season, and matched his career high of 12 punchouts in seven overpowering innings, yielding just two hits and one run in a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Feld on August 1. Seemingly headed to matching his totals from the previous season, Astacio injured his left oblique on September 1, making only three very brief starts thereafter before he was shelved the last two weeks of the season. He concluded the campaign with a 12-9 slate (5.27 ERA in 196⅓ innings) and racked up 193 strikeouts. Weeks after the season, he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee to remove damaged cartilage that had bothered him for two years.

Astacio’s legal woes were far from over. On November 13, he pleaded guilty to lesser charges, a single count of spousal harassment, and was sentenced to six months’ probation; however, his residency status was still unclear.34 INS eventually abandoned deportation procedures by the beginning of spring training. Astacio opened his 10th big-league season red-hot. On April 22, he tossed two-hit ball over eight innings to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix, 2-1, to improve his record to 3-1 and lower his ERA to 1.93 after four starts. And then the bottom dropped out. He won only three of his next 15 decisions with an ERA well north of 6.00, prompting trade rumors as the Rockies were headed to their second straight last-place finish in the NL West in three years. Despite Astacio’s horrendous numbers, contenders still sought his services. In a cost-cutting move, the Rockies shipped Astacio, due to be a free agent at season’s end, to the Houston Astros for pitcher Scott Elarton. Astacio had a renaissance of sorts (2-1, 3.14 ERA) before shoulder pain ended his season after just four starts.

Astacio was diagnosed with a torn labrum in the offseason, but decided to forgo possible season-ending surgery given his status as a free agent. The Mets took a chance a chance on the 33-year-old hurler, signing him to a two-year contract in January. Reunited with former Dodgers teammate Mike Piazza, Astacio emerged as one of the surprises of the season, winning his first three starts. On April 27, he threw 7⅓ hitless frames against the Brewers at Shea Stadium, ultimately tossing eight innings in a 2-1 victory. Mets beat writer Rafael Hermoso reported that the team was impressed with Astacio’s “maturity” and “preparation” and how he mentored young hurlers on the club.35 Teammates gave him the moniker Mule for his ability to carry them late into innings. On August 6, he tossed a complete-game three-hitter and fanned 10 (the 20th and final time he reached double digits in strikeouts) to beat the Brewers in Milwaukee, improving his record to 11-4 and lowering his ERA to 2.95 before the clock stuck midnight in his fairy-tale season. As the pain in his shoulder intensified, Astacio collapsed in his final nine starts, yielding 54 earned runs in 45 innings (10.80 ERA) while losing seven of eight decisions. Through it all, Astacio still took the mound every five days and never became a distraction for the last-place Mets. On the contrary, Hermoso described Astacio as “one of most jubilant members of the Mets’ clubhouse, joking about almost everything and dismissing poor performances as if he had a bad hair day.”36

Astacio spent four more seasons in the big leagues, battling an array of arm and shoulder injuries, chasing a dream. Occasionally he found lightning in a bottle. He made only seven appearances for the Mets in 2003, signed in the middle of the 2004 season with the Boston Red Sox, making five appearances in September during their historic run to the World Series (he was not on the postseason roster), and made 22 combined starts for the Texas Rangers and San Diego Padres in 2005. His 4-2 slate and 3.17 ERA for San Diego earned him his first and only postseason start. In Game Two of the NLCS he lasted only four innings yielding four runs (two earned) and was collared with the loss, 6-2, to the Cardinals in St. Louis. The 37-year-old Astacio finished his 15-year big-league career with the Washington Nationals in 2006, splitting 10 decisions in 17 starts, one of which was his second two-hitter for his 12th and final shutout, blanking the Braves, 5-0, on August 15 in the nation’s capital.

The typically modest, media-shy Astacio was never an All-Star but he retired as one of the most productive pitchers from the Dominican Republic. At the time of his retirement following the 2006 season, his 129 victories (124 losses) ranked fourth behind Juan Marichal (243) and brothers Pedro Martinez (206)37 and Ramon Martinez (135). (Astacio’s total has since been passed by Bartolo Colon’s 235 and Ervin Santana’s 144, both as of 2017.) Astacio also became just the fourth Dominican hurler to log at least 2,000 innings, joining Marichal, Pedro Martinez, and Joaquin Andujar.

After his active playing days Astacio returned to his longtime residence and ranch in San Pedro Macoris, near where he grew up. In 2013, he donned a big-league uniform for the first time in seven years when he returned to the Rockies as a special assistant coach during spring training. As of 2017 Astacio still resided primarily in the Dominican Republic.

Last revised: March 1, 2018

This biography originally appeared in “Major League Baseball A Mile High: The First Quarter Century of the Colorado Rockies” (SABR, 2018), edited by Bill Nowlin and Paul T. Parker.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also accessed Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, the SABR Minor Leagues Database, accessed online at Baseball-Reference.com, SABR.org, and The Sporting News archive via Paper of Record.

Notes

1 Owen Perkins, “In Camp With Rox as Coach, Astacio Thrilled to Help,” MLB.com, February 28, 2013. m.mlb.com/news/article/42093506/in-camp-with-colorado-rockies-as-coach-pedro-astacio-thrilled-to-help/.

2 Quote by New York Mets GM Steve Phillips in Tyler Kepner, “Astacio’s Health Is a Key Issue,” New York Times, January 18, 2002: D2.

3 Perkins.

4 Randy Franz, “Performance Does the Talking,” Orange County Register (Anaheim, California), March 26 1993: C1.

5 Pedro Astacio page, WinterBall Data, winterballdata.com/.

6 Ken Baxter, “Avila Led the Charge in MLB’s Latin Revolution,” ESPN, October 2, 2006. espn.com/espn/hispanichistory/news/story?id=2607258.

7 Allan Malamud, “(Notes) on a Scorecard,” Los Angeles Times, July 6, 1992: C3.

8 Gordon Verrell, “LA Dodgers. Fly on the Wall,” The Sporting News, July 13, 1992: 21.

9 Ibid.

10 “Scouting Report: Pedro Astacio,” The Sporting News, August 13, 2001: 35.

11 Ibid.

12 Steve Dilbeck, “Astacio’s Having Problems,” San Bernardino (California) Sun, May 11, 1993:  C2.

13 Associated Press, “Astacio, Dodgers blank Marlins,” San Bernardino (California) Sun, September 13, 1993: C2.

14 “Scouting Report: Pedro Astacio.”

15 Tim Kawakami, “Baseball Daily Report,” Los Angeles Times, July 6, 1994: C9.

16 Maryann Hudson, “Baseball Daily Report,” Los Angeles Times, July 24, 1994: C7.

17 “Caught on the Fly,” The Sporting News, March 25, 1996: 5.

18 Bob Nightengale, “Dodgers Reconsidering Astacio’s Starting Role,” Los Angeles Times, June 16, 1995: C5.

19 Gordon Verrell, “Los Angeles Dodgers,” The Sporting News, February 19 1996: 23.

20 Bob Nightengale, “(Baseball) Daily Report,” Los Angeles Times, February 24, 1996: C6.

21 Bob Nightengale, “He Gets By With Help From Friends,” Los Angeles Times, July 26, 1996: C1.

22 Bob Nightengale, “Los Angeles Dodgers,” The Sporting News, April 28, 1997: 27.

23 Chris Baker, “Call It Dodger Blew – As in a Fuse,” Los Angeles Times, June 9, 1997: C1.

24 Steve Springer, “Dodger Report,” Los Angeles Times, June 10, 1997: C6.

25 Ross Newhan, “Baylor Looks for a Change From Astacio,” Los Angeles Times, August 24, 1997: C9.

26 Mike Klis, “‘Dodger Way’ Isn’t Working Well,” Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colorado), September 21, 1997: SP 11.

27 Ray McNulty, “A Rockies’ Attitude Adjustment,” Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colorado), February 26, 1997: SP1.

28 Rob McNulty, “Preview,” Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colorado), February 26, 1998: SP2.

29 Tony DeMarco, “Colorado Rockies,” The Sporting News, April 27, 1999: 37.

30 Ray McNulty, “Rockies Better Batters in Beer-League Title,” Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colorado), September 8, 1998: SP4.

31 Mike Klis, “Colorado,” The Sporting News, May 22, 2000: 48.

32 “Rockies’ Astacio Arrested,” CBS News, August 12, 1999. cbsnews.com/news/rockies-astacio-arrested/.

33 “Rockies P Astacio Avoids Prison,” CBS News, January 28, 2000. cbsnews.com/news/rockies-p-astacio-avoids-prison/.

34 Associated Press, “Astacio Sentenced to Supervised Probation,” ESPN, November 13, 2000.  a.espncdn.com/mlb/news/2000/1113/876164.html.

35 Rafael Hermoso, “It’s Astacio’s Turn to Take a Run at a No-Hitter,” New York Times, April 28, 2002: G4.

36 Rafael Hermoso, “With Astacio Hurt, Mets Look to Cone,” New York Times, March 21, 2003: S3.

37 Pedro Martinez was still active at time and had 206 victories; he finished with 219.

“We wouldn’t have won the World Series without him.”

Mark Bellhorn is quite possibly the most underrated player on the 2004 Red Sox team. While other players like David Ortiz, Curt Schilling, or Dave Roberts rightfully garner much praise for the success of the Red Sox’ 2004 championship run, Bellhorn and his exploits receive relatively little attention. However, it can be successfully argued that without Bellhorn and his clutch play in the postseason, the Red Sox would not have won that World Series in 2004. Sportswriter Jackie MacMullan said of the switch-hitting second baseman, “You forget about Mark Bellhorn. He lulls you to sleep with those droopy eyes and that droopy hair and his insistence on examining every pitch as though it is a rare piece of art.” MacMullan encapsulated fans’ feelings about the switch-hitting Bellhorn, saying, “He’ll drive you crazy this second baseman, who takes and takes pitches until he either walks or strikes out. Or hits incredible clutch home runs to win it.”2

After a professional career that started in 1997 with the Oakland Athletics and led to short stints with the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies, Bellhorn landed with the Red Sox. It was there that, in the 2004 season, he put up career numbers in walks (88), strikeouts (177), and on-base percentage (.373).

After helping the team win the World Series and ending the 86-year drought that had plagued the organization and its fans, Bellhorn was released on August 19, 2005, and picked up by the rival New York Yankees on August 30. His time there was short-lived. He appeared in just nine games, with just two base hits, and was released after the season. He signed with the San Diego Padres and spent the 2006 season with them before signing with the Cincinnati Reds in 2007. A free agent once again, he signed a minor-league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2008. Bellhorn finished his career as a second baseman for the Colorado Rockies’ Triple-A affiliate at Colorado Springs in 2009.

Mark Christian Bellhorn was born on August 23, 1974, in South Weymouth, Massachusetts, to Theodore Bellhorn, a veterinarian who was a 1973 graduate of Auburn University, and Marilyn Bellhorn.3 Shortly after Mark’s birth, his family moved to Oviedo, a suburb of Orlando, Florida. Mark played basketball and baseball at Oviedo High School, graduating in 1992. Mark’s mother had been a teacher but stayed home to take care of her child. Unsure of where his plate discipline developed, Bellhorn said, “Probably in high school. I think I was always that type of hitter. I always took pride in having a high on-base percentage. I always worked the count. I always liked to get into the at-bat and get a feel for what the pitcher was trying to do. I was trying to get hitter’s counts (ex. 1-0, 2-0, 3-1) where I knew a fastball was coming.”4

Bellhorn was drafted out of high school by the San Diego Padres in the 37th round of the June 1992 amateur draft but chose to play baseball at Auburn University. Bellhorn said he didn’t feel ready for the professional baseball lifestyle and was more excited to play high-level college baseball. “I was picked in the 37th round and it didn’t make sense from a financial perspective,” he said. “I felt like I could do way better than 37th round, so maybe it gave me motivation.” Bellhorn played for Auburn from 1993 to 1995 and helped lead the Tigers to the College World Series in 1994. He played in the World Baseball Cup for Team USA in 1994. For Auburn he hit .342 in 1995, with 12 home runs, 60 RBIs, and 11 stolen bases. He was named an All-American by the American Baseball Coaches Association. For his college career he batted .322 with 25 home runs, 43 doubles, and 138 RBIs.

True to his expectations, Bellhorn was drafted in the second round in the 1995 draft, by the Oakland Athletics. With the Modesto Athletics of the advanced Class-A California League, he batted .258 with 6 home runs and 31 RBIs in 56 games.

For 1996 Bellhorn was moved up to the Huntsville Stars of the Double-A Southern League.  In his first 23 games he batted .321 and Bellhorn was named the Player of the Month for May by the A’s player development department. 

Stars manager Dick Scott remarked, “He has a lot of poise. There are not many switch-hitters who have the power he has. … He’s definitely a major-league prospect.” Bellhorn ended the season as a utility infielder playing 55 games at second base, 57 at shortstop, and 12 at third base. He batted .250 with 10 home runs, 71 RBIs, 19 stolen bases, and 73 walks.

Bellhorn moved up to the Triple-A Edmonton Trappers of the Pacific Coast League in 1997, batting .328 in 70 games. In June he was called up to the Athletics to replace second baseman Scott Spiezio, on the 15-day disabled list because of tendinitis in his right hand.5 He made his major-league debut on June 10, hitting an infield single off the Detroit Tigers’ Willie Blair in his first at- bat. Bellhorn appeared in 68 games, playing third base, second base, and shortstop and batting .228. His first major-league home run came off Derek Lowe in Seattle on June 23, 1997.

Bellhorn spent most of the 1998 season with Edmonton, playing in 87 games at all four infield positions. He was called up twice by Oakland and played in 11 games between May 17 and June 21. He spent most of the 1999 season on the sidelines because of a torn tendon in his left wrist, but spent time with the Arizona Rookie League A’s and the Midland Rockhounds of the Double-A Texas League.

Bellhorn played most of the 2000 season with the Sacramento River Cats, leading the PCL with 111 runs and 94 walks in 117 games. He finished second in the league with 24 home runs. Called up to Oakland in September, he was 2-for-13 in nine games.6

In 2001 Bellhorn played the outfield, a career first for him, in 18 games with Sacramento. He got into 38 games with the Athletics, as a utility infielder apart from one start in right field.7 In the offseason Bellhorn was traded to the Chicago Cubs for minor leaguer Adam Morrissey. The 2002 season was among the best of Bellhorn’s career. It was the first time in his career that he made the Opening Day roster, and he set a Cubs franchise record for home runs by a switch-hitter, hitting 27 round-trippers, a record that still stood in 2023. He played 77 games at second base but also spent time at the other three infield positions, and played one game (two innings) in left field.

On August 29, 2002, Bellhorn had the game of his career up to that point. Against the Brewers at Milwaukee’s Miller Park, Bellhorn hit a home run from each side of the plate in the fourth inning. The first, from the right side with one man on base, was a towering 410-foot blast off Andrew Lorraine that landed in the center-field bleachers.

Later in the inning, with two Cubs on base, he homered off José Cabrera, a 380-foot shot that landed in the right-field bleachers. This made Bellhorn the only National Leaguer to homer from both sides of the plate in the same inning, and one of only three major leaguers to homer from both sides of the plate in the same game.8 He finished the season with a .258 batting average, a career-high 27 home runs, and 56 RBIs in 146 games.

Bellhorn began the 2003 season as the Cubs’ starting third baseman, but his patient approach at the plate coupled with new manager Dusty Baker’s affinity for “aggressive” hitters saw Bellhorn traded in June to the Colorado Rockies. Of the trade, Bellhorn recalled in a 2005 interview, “I really don’t know what happened that year. I kind of got off to a slow start with a new manager. I knew Dusty liked big guys who were more aggressive-type hitters. I don’t know if he really liked my kind of approach.”9

Bellhorn and minor-league pitcher Travis Henderson were traded to the Rockies for All-Star shortstop José Hernández. Rockies manager Clint Hurdle spoke optimistically of Bellhorn, saying, “Two years ago he hammered the ball pretty well. We feel pretty confident that he is a guy that we can bring in here, and hopefully get offensively charged again.”10 But Bellhorn’s time in Colorado was marred by injury. He played in 48 games for the Rockies before being placed on the disabled list with tendinitis in his right shoulder, missing the first three weeks of August.  

Bellhorn was at a pivotal moment in his career. He said, “I just felt that I had finally broken into the big leagues the year before and then the next year I couldn’t do anything right. I lost playing time and felt very discouraged. I didn’t think the Rockies were going to sign me again and thought I would be back in Triple A again. I went to winter ball in Mexico to try to find something.”

Bellhorn was sent to the Red Sox in December; the team hoped he could fill the void at second base created by the departure of Todd Walker.11 Bellhorn was “excited for the new start, and the chance to prove himself.” While initially thought to be a utility infielder pickup for the Red Sox, he thought he had more to offer the team, and said, “I want to come in and compete for the second baseman’s job. If I don’t win it, then I can play a number of positions and help the team out.”12 The all-cash deal added depth to an infield that included Nomar Garciaparra, Pokey Reese, and Cesar Crespo. 

Garciaparra struggled with injury throughout spring training and into July, barely able to field routine grounders, and was no longer an everyday starter at shortstop. On July 31 he was sent to the Cubs in a four-team deal that brought Montreal Expos shortstop Orlando Cabrera, Minnesota Twins first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, and Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Dave Roberts to the Red Sox.

Shoring up Boston’s shaky defense led to a steadier role for Bellhorn in 2004. The extra playing time helped propel him to the best season of his career. Bellhorn started at second base, splitting time with the light-hitting Pokey Reese while Orlando Cabrera played consistently at shortstop.

The Red Sox started out hot, with a record of 15-6, but a losing streak in May saw the team play .500 baseball for the next three months. After the Garciaparra trade, the Red Sox offense caught fire. By the end of the season, Manny Ramírez and David Ortiz each had more than 40 home runs and, Johnny Damon hit .304 with 123 RBIs. Curt Schilling won 21 games while Pedro Martínez won 16, and the revamped defense was good enough to make Boston’s pitching rotation one to be reckoned with.

Bellhorn played in 138 games, mostly at second base, with a .264 batting average, a .373 OBP, 17 home runs, and 82 RBIs. His 177 strikeouts were most in the American League but his 88 walks were third in the AL. Manager Terry Francona commented, “His concept of the strike zone has always been good. … We knew coming in he could work the pitcher and run up the counts.”13 Perhaps the highest praise came from hitting coach Ron Jackson: “It’s hard to explain his approach, but when you look around, if you go to sleep on him – BAM – he’s going to bust you.”14

In the American League Division Series, the Red Sox swept the Anaheim Angels, outscoring them 25-12. Bellhorn went 1-for-11 at the plate (.091), but drew five walks for a .375 OBP. He said, “I always struck out throughout my career. I know a lot of people think of that as a negative but that was part of my game. I always worked the count deep, so I wasn’t a guy who swung at the first pitch. I don’t think I struck out a lot in the clutch.”15

In the American League Championship Series, Boston faced a New York Yankees team that had beaten them in 2003. The Red Sox dropped the first two games, at Yankee Stadium, then returned to Fenway Park only to be routed by the Yankees in Game Three, 19-8.

Both Bellhorn and Damon were having uncharacteristically difficult times at the plate during the ALCS. In four games Bellhorn had managed one hit and one RBI in 16 plate appearances. Teammate Dave Roberts said, “I tried to be a teammate, psychologist, and friend, pumping them up, telling them to be positive. They were getting booed, and I kept telling them to keep their heads high.”16 While Damon was not being screamed at by fans to take himself out of the lineup, Bellhorn was. He recalled, “What a great guy and teammate Dave Roberts was. I remember quite clearly how they were getting on both me and Johnny. I guess that’s just part of the game, especially in places like Boston where the fans are so passionate about their sports and especially in the playoffs where everything is under a microscope.” He went on to say, “As a player you just block it out as much as possible and focus on the job at hand. Lean on your teammates.”

On the brink of extinction, the Red Sox won the legendary Game Four in 12 innings. Game Five went 14 innings, even longer than Game Four, and lasted 5 hours and 49 minutes, catapulting it to the top spot for the longest ALCS game. Red Sox relievers held the Yankees scoreless for the final eight innings. In the seventh inning, Bellhorn’s double off Mike Mussina prompted Yankees manager Joe Torre to bring in Tanyon Sturtze. The Red Sox tied the score in the eighth. In the final at-bat of the marathon game, Ortiz blooped a single into center field, allowing Damon to score the game-winning run. Bellhorn said of the win, “It gave us a huge mental boost, the way we won. Especially the first night, and then to do it again. Going into New York, the last two games we felt like the pressure was on them.”17

Game Six in Yankee Stadium, remembered as the “bloody sock game,” saw Curt Schilling gut it out on a surgically repaired ankle, giving up only one run in seven innings. Bellhorn provided the run support, smashing a three-run homer off Jon Lieber in the fourth inning, putting the Red Sox on top 4-0. While the hit was initially ruled a ground-rule double, once the umpires conferred, they gave the home run to Bellhorn when it was discovered that the ball had bounced off a fan’s hands in the left-field bleachers. “I thought it was probably going to be a double down the line and it ended up hitting off a fan’s chest – home run.”18 Once Schilling exited the game, the bullpen held the Yankees in check and led the Red Sox  to their third consecutive victory, 4-2, tying the Series at three games apiece.

In the winner-take-all Game Seven, the Red Sox came out swinging. Thanks to home runs by Damon, Ortiz, and Bellhorn, the Red Sox defeated the Yankees to advance to the World Series. Bellhorn’s home run came in the top of the eighth inning with Boston up 8-3. On a 1-and-1 count, he hammered a Tom Gordon offering off the fencing attached to the right-field foul pole for his second home run in as many nights and the third of his career at Yankee Stadium. “That might have been the first hit I ever got off Gordon,” Bellhorn said. “That was one of those swings where I swung and was like, ‘Oh!’ I was surprised how good I hit it. And it stayed fair and hit the pole.”19 The home run blunted any momentum the Yankees had built up for a comeback. Bellhorn said, “It was a huge momentum killer for the Yankees at the time. It pretty much silenced the crowd.” In response to the home run, many diehard Yankee fans left the Stadium with a feeling reminiscent of Sox fans’ hatred for Bucky Dent, cursing Bellhorn under their breath and, sometimes out loud. As diehard Red Sox fan Stuart O’Nan, who was in attendance that night, exclaimed, “From now until eternity Mark “F*cking” Bellhorn to Yankee fans.”20 As Bellhorn recalled, “Maybe I heard them do it a few times. … Definitely a memorable home run for me.”21

The Red Sox’ victory catapulted them to the World Series where they faced off against the St. Louis Cardinals. In Game One Bellhorn continued his clutch hitting, leading to what he believed was the most memorable moment of his career. In the Boston eighth with the score tied, 9-9, after the Red Sox blew leads of 4-0, 7-2, and 9-7, Bellhorn sent a Julian Tavarez offering careening off the right-field foul pole to give the Red Sox an 11-9 lead and eventually the win. After the game Bellhorn said, “I just wanted to make a good swing at the pitch.” New York Post columnist Mike Vaccaro put the home run in perspective, saying, “A good swing? What he made was a forever swing, a swing they will remember across New England for all time.”22 

In Game Two, Bellhorn was integral to the win for the Red Sox. In the fourth inning with two Red Sox on base, he doubled off the wall in center-field, scoring the two runners and extending the Red Sox lead to 4-1 as they won, 6-2. As Damon recalled, “Manny and David and myself, we weren’t too big a factor tonight. But that’s what’s great about our team. It can be someone different every night. … The offensive hero tonight: … Bellhorn.”23 Bellhorn’s heroics aside, it was also a game in which all the Red Sox runs were scored with two outs. Starter Curt Schilling became the first pitcher to win a World Series start with three different teams (Phillies, Diamondbacks, and Red Sox).24 Bellhorn appeared on a Sports Illustrated cover on November 1, in a shot that captured him leaping over the Cardinals’ Mike Matheny as Matheny slid into second base.

In Game Three, in St. Louis, Bellhorn again made a big impact. With men on second and third, Larry Walker came to the plate. Bellhorn, playing deeper than usual at second base, collected Walker’s groundball and threw it to Ortiz at first base for the easy out. Ortiz spotted Jeff Suppan frozen midway between third and home and gunned the ball to Bill Mueller for the tag at third base to end the inning. With that lead, Pedro Martínez continued pitching masterfully in his last appearance with the Red Sox and closer Keith Foulke secured the win. In a postgame interview, when asked if the Red Sox had been lucky over the last few games because of the number of errors they committed, Bellhorn said, “That’s the character of this team. Guys make mistakes and guys want to pick each other up.”

The Red Sox won Game Four and swept the Cardinals, ending the 86-year “curse” that had plagued the Red Sox organization and its fans. Bellhorn was a key piece of that championship run and his clutch hitting put them in a position to win in the biggest games of the ALCS and World Series. Richard Johnson echoed Bellhorn’s Game Three sentiments, saying, “It was a team where everybody contributed something. … This was a team where everybody found a way to pick it up and do something.”25 Bellhorn was precisely this type of player. He was not always consistent, but he was a clutch player when it mattered most.

In 2005 Bellhorn struggled offensively and his season was marred by injury. A sprained left thumb left him on the disabled list, making rehab starts at minor-league Pawtucket for 16 games. After his return he was released by Boston after refusing a minor-league assignment. He signed as a free agent with the Yankees on August 31. “It’s unfortunate for me what happened this year in Boston, but there are no hard feelings,” Bellhorn said.26 However, once the Yankees expressed their interest in him, Bellhorn seemed optimistic, saying, “I wanted to go to a team where I was wanted.”27 Bellhorn made three starts for the Yankees, and had one pinch-running appearance in the Division Series.

After the postseason Bellhorn declined a minor-league assignment and chose to become a free agent.28 He signed a one-year, $800,000 contract with the San Diego Padres, reuniting with former Red Sox teammates Alan Embree, Doug Mirabelli, Dave Roberts, and Scott Williamson.29 Bellhorn played in 115 games for San Diego in 2006, batting .190 and hitting 8 home runs in 253 at-bats.30

Arguably his greatest game for the Padres came on May 28, 2006, against the Cardinals. He hit a towering home run that traveled 438 feet into the bleachers. At the time it was the second longest home run ever hit in Petco Park, then three years old. He also led the team in pinch-hit at-bats that season with 38.31

A free agent again after the 2006 season, Bellhorn signed a minor-league contract with the Cincinnati Reds with an invitation to attend spring training. He played in 99 games for the Reds’ Louisville Triple-A affiliate, and in 13 August and September games for Cincinnati, going 1-for-14.

For 2008 Bellhorn was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers to a minor-league contract ostensibly to play for the Triple-A Jacksonville Suns. However, Dodgers assistant GM DeJon Watson made clear that it was simply a minor-league signing with no intention of having Bellhorn fill a roster spot for Jacksonville or with the Dodgers. He was released on July 24.32 Bellhorn was picked up by the Colorado Rockies on a minor-league contract in February of 2009, and played that year for the Triple-A Colorado Springs Sky Sox. After the season he retired as a player.

Since then Bellhorn has led a quiet life. He married Lindsey Bopp in May of 2013. As of 2023 they lived in Scottsdale, Arizona, with their two children. Since 2015 he has coached Arizona club league baseball at various age levels from 12 years old to high school. An avid golfer, he won the Arizona Stroke Play Championship in 2014. He displayed his trademark clutch “hitting” when he sank the first putt of the playoff round.33 While many sources speculate that he owns multiple Dunkin Donuts franchises, he said, “No Dunkin Donuts franchises – I wish! Someone put that on my Wikipedia page 15 years ago and I have been asked about that multiple times.” 

Bellhorn’s younger brother, Todd, born in 1976 in Lakeland, Florida, pitched at the University of Central Florida and was drafted in the ninth round by the New York Mets in 1998. He pitched for the Pittsfield Mets and the Capital City Bombers from 1998 to 2000.

Asked to summarize his career, Bellhorn said, “My career was an awesome experience. I feel extremely blessed to achieve my childhood dream of playing professional baseball. I had many ups and downs, but they only made me better. I went from thinking I wasn’t going to have a job in 2003, while playing winter ball in Mexico, to being the starting second baseman of the World Series champion Boston Red Sox.

 “I got to play for a lot of storied franchises, the Red Sox, Cubs, and Yankees. I wish I could’ve been a little more consistent in the big leagues, but I’m thankful for the opportunities that I got.” 

Of the 2004 Red Sox, Bellhorn said, “Being on that team and just experiencing the whole year with that group of guys – we had a lot of fun and we topped it off by winning the World Series. I especially loved those Red Sox vs. Yankees series It was like a college football rivalry game every time we played.” Beyond the Red Sox, he said, “I enjoyed most all of the teams I played on (minors and majors). I just loved playing baseball and doing it for a job was icing on the cake for me.”

“I’m sure most people will remember me for 2004 with the Red Sox, but I guess I just want to be remembered as someone who always hustled and played hard. Someone who always worked hard and was a great teammate.”

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference, Retrosheet, Baseball Almanac, Stats Crew, and the Mark Bellhorn player file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Thanks to Mark Bellhorn, the Boston Red Sox organization, Sarah Coffin of the Red Sox front office, and Rachel Wells and Roger Lansing at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, as well as Greg Fowler, Joe Johnston, and Holly Scheller for their support.

Notes

1 MLB Network #WeKnowPostseason: Mark Bellhorn in 2004 interview with Kevin Millar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44aWktxxTH0, accessed June 21, 2022.

2 Jackie MacMullan, “Bellwether,” Boston Globe, Believe It!! (Chicago: Triumph, 2004), 16. 

3 He began his career in small-animal practice in Lakeland, Florida. Dr. Bellhorn owned Seminole Veterinary Hospital in Sanford, Florida. In his later life he taught at the University of Tennessee, eventually moving on to become an associate clinical professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at his alma mater, Auburn University. 

4 Mark Bellhorn, email interview with author, June 16, 2023. Unless indicated, all otherwise unattributed quotations from Bellhorn come from this interview.

5 “Spiezio Expected Back in Lineup This Week,” Santa Cruz (California) Sentinel, June 23, 1997: 16.

6 Bob Ryan, “Law of Averages Doesn’t Apply Here,” Boston Globe, April 28, 2004.

http://archive.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2004/04/28/law_of_averages_doesnt_apply_here/,  accessed July 12, 2022.

7 He hit just .135, and his OBP was but .210.

8 “Bellhorn Belts One from Both Sides: Becomes First NL Player to Do So in One Inning,” Santa Cruz Sentinel, August 30, 2002: D-3. The Cubs scored 10 runs in the fourth inning and won the game 13-10.

9 Bruce Miles, “Mueller, Bellhorn Find Fame, Fortune with the Red Sox,” Chicago Daily Herald, June 13, 2005.

10 Associated Press, “Rockies Swap Hernandez to Chicago,” Hays (Kansas) Daily News, June 20, 2003.

11 He was acquired for $125,000. Though a number of reports mentioned a player to be named later, there was none. Email correspondence from Boston Red Sox, September 13, 2022.

12 Michael Silverman, “Who’s on Second? Mark Bellhorn Says He’s a Candidate,” Boston Herald, December 16, 2023. https://www.milforddailynews.com/story/sports/2003/12/17/who-s-on-second-mark/41302268007/, accessed June 16, 2023.

13 Bob Ryan, “Law of Averages Doesn’t Apply Here.”

http://archive.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2004/04/28/law_of_averages_doesnt_apply_here/,  accessed July 12, 2022.

14 Allan Wood and Bill Nowlin, Don’t Let Us Win Tonight (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2014), 59.

15 Wood and Nowlin, 59.

16 Saul Wisnia, Miracle at Fenway: The Inside Story of the Boston Red Sox 2004 Championship Season (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2014), 240.

17 Wood and Nowlin, 154.

18 Wood and Nowlin, 167.

19 Wood and Nowlin, 197.

20 Stewart O’Nan and Stephen King, Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season (New York: Scribner, 2004), 376.

21 Mark Bellhorn, email interview, June 16, 2023.

22 Mike Vaccaro, “Last Week’s Goat Is Fenway’s Darling,” New York Post, October 24, 2004. https://nypost.com/2004/10/24/last-weeks-goat-is-fenways-darling/, accessed March 18, 2023.

23 Wood and Nowlin, 241.

24 Wood and Nowlin, 240-242.

25 Wisnia, 278.

26 Jim Cour, “Bellhorn Gets a Yankee Start: Infielder Switches Sides in New York-Boston Rivalry,” Albany (New York) Times Union, August 31, 2005.

27 Cour.

28 “Transactions,” New York Times, October 18, 2005.

29 “Baseball Notes: Dodgers Give Tomko $8.7 Mil,” Syracuse Post-Standard, December 23, 2005.

30 “Reds Deal for Another Pitcher,” Cincinnati Post, January 24, 2007.

31“Bellhorn Hits Longest HR in Petco History in Win Over Cards,” ESPN.com, https://www.espn.co.uk/story/2461613/pep-guardiola-bastian-schweinsteiger-must-decide-on-future, accessed March 18, 2023.

32 Tony Jackson, “Dodgers Sign Mark Bellhorn to Minor-League Deal,” Los Angeles Daily News, May 16, 2008.  http://www.insidesocal.com/dodgers/2008/05/16/dodgers-sign-ma/, accessed March 18, 2023.

33 “Arizona Stroke Play: Former MLB Star Bellhorn Wins It,” amateurgolf.com, April 19, 2014. https://www.amateurgolf.com/12101-GolfNews-Ariz-Stroke-Play-Former-MLB-star-Bellhorn-wins-it, accessed June 16, 2023.

“I’ll be part of that team for the rest of their life. Even though I wasn’t a big part of the team, I’m still connected with it.” –

Jamie Brown pitched four games in the major leagues, all with the 2004 World Series champion Boston Red Sox. He was in his eighth professional season at that point as injuries had wreaked havoc on one season and the better part of two more. A steady control pitcher, Brown had an impressive 3.22 strikeout/walk ratio and 1.16 WHIP in eight minor-league seasons, but never had much opportunity at the major-league level. He finished his career overseas and found success in the Korean Baseball Organization.

Jamie Monroe Brown was born on March 31, 1977, in Meridian, Mississippi, to Charles Arnold Brown Jr., and Jenny (Thead) Brown. Charles worked as an electrician. Jenny worked as a hairdresser for a while until becoming a stay-at-home mother for her sons, Jamie and his brother, Aaron.2

Brown played high-school ball at West Lauderdale High School in Collinsville, Mississippi, and impressed his coach, local legend Jerry Boatner. “He threw strikes when he was in high school as a freshman,” Boatner said. “I had one scout tell me that he was the best freshman he had ever seen.”3 As a freshman, Brown was the winning pitcher as West Lauderdale (33-5) won the state 3A championship, 8-1, over Ripley.4 The team repeated as champion in 1993 by defeating Pontotoc. Sophomore Brown finished 13-0 that season.5 He was undefeated (10-0, 0.94 ERA, 94 strikeouts in 52 innings pitched) and batted .367 his junior year and pitched the Knights (29-4) to a third straight title, 5-2, over Senatobia. “My arm felt good today, but my back was giving me troubles,” Brown said after averaging 88-91 MPH on his pitches in the clinching game. “I was kind of nervous at the beginning.”6 Brown was selected as an all-state athlete and qualified for the National Amateur All-Star Tournament.7

Brown’s senior year included an 18-strikeout game vs. Florence and a two-hit playoff victory against Forrest AHS. He finished the season 9-3 (1.90 ERA, 144 strikeouts), giving him a remarkable 43-5 high-school career record. In Game One of the playoffs, Brown threw a three-hitter while striking out 15 in a 4-2 victory over Simmons. The strikeout total propelled him to first place all-time in school history, surpassing Jay Powell, a native of Meridian who had an 11-year major-league career and won Game Seven of the 1997 World Series. “That was one of my goals when I started playing here,” Brown said of the record. “I just came out with the fastball and then tried to keep them off balance.” The Knights (30-5) later clinched their fourth straight state title.8

Brown was followed by Cleveland Indians scout Max Semler and selected in the 34th round of the June 1995 amateur draft by Cleveland, but he did not sign. He instead attended Okaloosa-Walton Community College in Niceville, Florida (later renamed Northwest Florida State College). He pitched masterfully for the Raiders, going 11-1 with a 1.90 ERA with 77 strikeouts in 77 innings. Brown was chosen as a third-team NJCAA All-American.9 He transferred back home to Meridian Community College and was drafted by Cleveland again in the 21st round of the June 1996 draft. He continued his college career at Meridian CC and started 5-0 with a 2.32 ERA.10 On May 15, 1997, he officially signed with Cleveland, and was assigned to Watertown of the short-season Class-A New York-Penn League.

Brown’s professional debut came on June 19 when he allowed just two hits in five innings in a 15-0 thumping of Williamsport. “I was expecting to be nervous, first time out, first professional start,” Brown said, “but I got out there and cleared my mind and everything.” He threw 66 pitches, struck out two and walked none.11 “He’s got three quality pitches right now and he’s got a plus arm,” pitching coach Carl Willis said. “I think the ability is there, the arm’s there, it’s just a matter of, like everyone else, learning how to pitch. When to use the stuff you have.”12 Brown finished the season 10-2 with a 3.08 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP.

Brown spent most of the 1998 season with Kinston of the Class-A Carolina League, where he went 11-9 in 27 starts with a 3.81 ERA and 1.19 WHIP in 172⅔ innings pitched. He finished the season with one start for Akron of the Double-A Eastern League. He arrived on such short notice that the seamstress didn’t even have time to sew “Brown” on his uniform. The nameless pitcher allowed just two earned runs in seven innings. “I didn’t even know my name was not on the shirt,” he said. “I was more concerned with going out there and having a good game.”13

Brown wouldn’t be nameless in Akron for long, as he spent four seasons (1999-2002) in the Rubber City. He was added to the Cleveland Indians’ 40-man roster in 1999 and threw 2⅓ scoreless innings in spring training. “I’ve learned how to pitch in front of a big crowd and against better hitters than what I was used to at Kinston,” Brown said. “Coming into this season, I know what to expect at this level.”14 In 1999 he went 5-9 with a 4.57 ERA and 1.30 WHIP, winning his first three decisions but losing nine of his last 11, one being a wasted 10-strikeout performance against Portland on June 14.15 Tendinitis in his right shoulder landed him on the disabled list most of July. Brown finished the season pitching one game for Triple-A Buffalo, winning with a five-inning relief effort.16 He pitched over the winter and went 0-4 with a 5.55 ERA in eight starts with Maryvale of the Arizona Fall League.17

Brown added a sinker to his pitching repertoire in 2000. “Carl Willis worked with me on changing my delivery, which allows me to throw from a downhill plane and I’m getting more movement and sink on the ball,” he said.,18 He started off hot in the chill of April, going 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA. “He’s got a big-time sinker,” said Willis.19 Brown suffered soreness in his back and missed most of May but was still a strong 5-1 with a 2.63 ERA in early June. The same bad back forced him to miss August and September. No doubt the injury affected his final numbers: 7-6 with a 4.38 ERA and 1.25 WHIP.20

Brown was plagued with arm problems, which cost him most of the 2001 season. He was limited to four starts (5.03 ERA) and had Tommy John surgery in August. He was ready to pitch again by June of 2002.21

After returning, Brown went 9-5 with a 2.78 ERA in 103⅔ innings with a 1.10 WHIP. He won six straight starts in June and July with a 1.93 ERA over that span. From July 21 to August 5, he pitched at least seven innings in four straight starts. Brown allowed five hits in six shutout innings as Akron clinched the Eastern League Southern Division title on August 21. After a playoff victory, he became the winningest pitcher in Akron’s history.22

In 2003 Brown began the year with Triple-A Buffalo (International League) and made his first start in late April after two relief appearances, throwing five scoreless innings. “This is my seventh year and I’ve always been a starter,” he said. “I’ve never come out of the bullpen. It’s a different feel. I’m still getting used to being a reliever. But I could do whatever, as long as I’m pitching.”23 He went 4-4 in 13 games with a 3.82 ERA and 1.01 WHIP for Buffalo before being traded to the Red Sox on June 22 for infielder Angel Santos. Brown moved from Buffalo to Pawtucket, the Red Sox’ affiliate in the International League, where he was used in relief in 15 of 18 games with a 2.26 ERA and minuscule 0.87 WHIP. In 51⅔ innings, he struck out 39 while walking just five. “I try to throw strikes and hit my spots,” Brown said. “My game is throwing strikes. I think I used to be a power pitcher before. After the surgery, now it’s more location, location, location. I’ve always had pretty good control, but my velocity’s down a little bit.”24

Brown and a handful of other prospects were invited to Boston in January 2004 for a first-year winter development program. To avoid the shell shock rookies face of ordinary Boston realities such as traffic and directions, the Red Sox provided them an early look at the city. “The stadium’s not the easiest to find and being here before for a couple of days and getting familiar with the area, it helped a lot,” Brown said. “We were here for four days. We had a workout and some interview sessions and classroom work. And the main reason was to just learn the area of Boston.”25 It certainly helped, because Brown would soon return.

Brown began the 2004 season with Pawtucket and continued his effectiveness, going 3-1 with a 2.84 ERA in six starts, striking out 27, and walking only two in 38 innings while limiting opponents to a .199 batting average. Those numbers were more than enough to impress the Red Sox, who needed pitching help. Reliever Byung-Hyun Kim had been ineffective with a 6.23 ERA and was sent to Pawtucket and Brown was called up on May 12. “This is a dream come true,” he said enthusiastically. “I was just waiting for the call. The last couple of years, I feel like I’ve had good numbers.”26 He had a good locker spot, between Pedro Martínez and Keith Foulke, and his first few hours in the clubhouse he spent playing cribbage with Scott Williamson. “We had an off day,” Brown said of his interrupted Pawtucket schedule, “and I was just going to spend it with my family before I go off on a road trip.”27 Instead, Brown set off on a road trip with the Red Sox, visiting Toronto and Tampa Bay, where he made his major-league debut. After parts of eight seasons in the minors, the Mississippi native got his chance in the major leagues. The first-place Red Sox were 24-16, a half-game ahead of the New York Yankees in the AL East.

On May 20 the Red Sox trailed the Devil Rays, 8-6, in the bottom of the seventh. Brown came in for his major-league debut. He surrendered a ground-rule double to Geoff Blum and a single to Brook Fordyce as the Red Sox fell behind, 9-6. Brown pitched a scoreless eighth and Rocco Baldelli became his first strikeout. The Red Sox mustered no comeback and lost, 9-6. “I was just a little nervous and a little tense out there,” Brown said. “I was anxious to get in there and get the first one out of the way.”28

Brown had three more relief appearances in May. He threw a scoreless inning against Oakland on May 25 in a 12-2 Red Sox blowout. On May 27 he was knocked around for six hits and three runs in 2⅔ mop-up innings by the A’s, who defeated Boston, 15-2. His final appearance was again in a mop-up role, finishing the last two innings of a 13-4 loss to Baltimore. Brown had no record in his four appearances with a 5.87 ERA and a 2.48 WHIP.

On June 9 left-hander Mark Malaska was activated from the disabled list and Brown was sent back to Pawtucket. He never returned to the major leagues. Malaska was not the left-hander the Red Sox wanted as they drove toward a postseason berth. In early August they acquired lefty specialist Mike Myers from Seattle and to make room for him on the 40-man roster, Brown was designated for assignment.29 He returned to Pawtucket and struggled, finishing the season 4-6 with a 4.82 ERA and 1.14 WHIP. The Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years, and Brown received a World Series ring.30 Although his time with the Red Sox was short, Brown enjoyed the experience and said Boston was a “one-of-a-kind place to play.”31

Brown spent 2005-2008 overseas with the Hanshin Tigers of the Japan Central League and the Samsung Lions and LG Twins of the Korean Baseball Organization. His overall record in these four years was 28-23 with a 3.66 ERA and 1.26 WHIP, starting 71 of 76 games. His 11-9, 2.68 ERA, 1.050 WHIP (sixth best in the KBO) in 2006 helped Samsung win the Korean Series championship. Brown retired after the 2008 season.

Brown married Melissa Lang in 2000. He started his own investment firm, Munro Investments, LLC.32 He also went back to his roots and became the pitching coach for his alma mater, West Lauderdale High School. As of 2022, their son Dylan was a star baseball athlete at West Lauderdale and signed with East Central Community College in Decatur, Mississippi. The Browns also have a younger son, Ridge.33

Sources

College statistics were taken from the baseballcube.com. Besides sources listed in the Notes, the author was aided by the following:

Baseball-reference.com

“Brown, Lang,” Franklin County Times, February 25, 2001. Retrieved June 26, 2022. m.franklincountytimes.com/2001/02/25/feb-18-2001-5/

Familysearch.org

Findagrave.com

Retrosheet.org

Notes

1 Jeff Edwards, “Diehard Red Sox Fan Fulfilling Dream … One Name at a Time,” Meridian (Mississippi) Star, January 16, 2007. Retrieved June 13, 2022. meridianstar.com/sports/diehard-red-sox-fan-fulfilling-dream-one-name-at-a-time/article_b1a40cce-8abb-5196-b9b8-ddedffadb9a1.html.

2 Jamie Brown, interview with the author, July 10, 2022.

3 Austin Bishop, “Red Sox Call Up Jamie Brown,” Franklin County Times, May 13, 2004. Retrieved June 14, 2022. Franklincountytimes.com/2004/05/13/red-sox-call-up-jamie-brown/.

4 “Mooreville Wins 2A Title,” Jackson (Mississippi) Clarion-Ledger, May 29, 1992: 4C.

5 Robert Wilson, “West Lauderdale Rains Over Pontotoc in 3A,” Jackson Clarion-Ledger, May 29, 1993: 1C, 4C.

6 Todd Kelly, “Warriors Can’t Pierce Knights’ Title Armor,” Jackson Clarion-Ledger, May 20, 1994: 4C.

7 “Briefly,” Jackson Clarion-Ledger, June 2, 1994: 2C; Bill Spencer, “Rolison Commands All-American Kudos,” Jackson Clarion-Ledger, February 24, 1995: 4C

8 Spencer, “Rolison Commands”; “Clinton Blanks Biloxi; Tupelo Nips Brandon,” Jackson Clarion-Ledger, April 28, 1995: 4C; “No. 4 Prep Puts Heat on No. 3 Hillcrest Christian,” Jackson Clarion-Ledger, May 3, 1995: 4C; Todd Kelly, “West Lauderdale Moves 1 Step Closer to Four-Peat,” Jackson Clarion-Ledger, May 17, 1995: 4C; Derrick Mahone, “West Lauderdale Wins Crown 10-3,” Jackson Clarion-Ledger, May 19, 1995: 4C; “Clarion-Ledger All-State Baseball,” Jackson Clarion-Ledger, June 4, 1995: 6D;

9 “MCC Team Members Sign to Various Colleges,” Clarke County Tribune (Quitman, Mississippi), November 27, 1996: 8A.

10 Steve Swogetinksy, “Talking Sports,” Clarke County Tribune, March 26, 1997: 1B.

11 Rob Oatman, “Taylor Touches Off Tribe’s 15-Run Tirade,” Watertown (New York) Daily News, June 20, 1997: 15.

12 Rob Oatman, “Indians Losing Money,” Watertown Daily Times, September 7, 1997: D5.

13 David Lee Morgan Jr., “Nameless, Not Winless,” Akron Beacon Journal, September 6, 1998: D5.

14 David Lee Morgan Jr., “Brown Will Be the Man in Bowie,” Akron Beacon Journal, April 8, 1999: B6.

15 David Lee Morgan Jr., “Morgan Still Fighting to Move Up,” Akron Beacon Journal, June 15, 1999: D3.

16 David Lee Morgan Jr., “Many Are New to Young Team,” Akron Beacon Journal, April 7, 2000: E13.

17 2004 Boston Red Sox Media Guide, 75.

18 David Lee Morgan Jr., “Cold nor Wait Keeps Brown from Shutout,” Akron Beacon Journal, April 12, 2000: C5.

19 David Lee Morgan Jr., “Brown Undefeated as Aeros Win, 8-3,” Akron Beacon Journal, April 27, 2000: D8.

20 2004 Boston Red Sox Media Guide, 75; David Lee Morgan Jr., “Aeros’ 14-13 Victory a Long Time in Coming,” Akron Beacon Journal, June 12, 2000: C3.

21 David Lee Morgan Jr., “Aeros Notes,” Akron Beacon Journal, April 19, 2001: C3; David Lee Morgan Jr., “White, Bullpen, Lead Aeros to 6-3 Victory Over Ravens,” Akron Beacon Journal, June 2, 2002: D9; Tom Reed, “Brown Records Bittersweet Record for Aeros,” Akron Beacon Journal, September 2, 2002: C1.

22 2004 Boston Red Sox Media Guide, 75; David Lee Morgan Jr., “Aeros Clinch Southern Division,” Akron Beacon Journal, August 22, 2002: C1, C5; “Brown Records Bittersweet Record.”

23 “Brown Helps Herd Salvage Split with PawSox,” Buffalo News, April 25, 2003: C7.

24 Matt Kalman, “Baseball – Brown Turns Right – Finds Way to Big Leagues,” Boston Herald, May 13, 2004: 102.

25 Kalman.

26 Austin Bishop, “Red Sox Call Up Jamie Brown.”

27 Gordon Edes, “He’s All for Long Tossing,” Boston Globe, May 13, 2004: 66.

28 Bob Hohler, “Hurling a Stinker,” Boston Globe, May 21, 2004: D6.

29 Nick Cafardo, “Daubach Down, Malaska Called Up,” Boston Globe, June 10, 2004: C6; Jeff Horrigan, “Baseball – Red Sox Notebook – Sox Add Myers to the Mix,” Boston Herald, August 7, 2004: 41.

30 Jeff Horrigan, “Baseball – Red Sox Notebook – Sox Don’t Blink an Eye – Series Rings to get Opening Showcase,” Boston Herald, February 24, 2005: 108.

31 Brown interview with the author.

32 Brown interview with the author.

33 Drew Kerekes, “Jason Smith Credits Assistants, Players for West Lauderdale’s Title,” Meridian Star, June 11, 2021. Retrieved June 15, 2022. infoweb-newsbank-com.hpld.idm.oclc.org/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/18312A866888FFB8; Drew Kerekes, “West Lauderdale Sends 3 Baseball Players, 1 Soccer Player, to Next Level,” Meridian Star, November 10, 2021. Retrieved June 19, 2022. infoweb-newsbank-com.hpld.idm.oclc.org/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/18634794F0C35A48; Brown interview with the author.

Ellis Rena Burks was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on September 11, 1964. When he was 3 his family moved to the state capital, Jackson, where he completed elementary school and his father worked as an electrician. As a child in Jackson he had no real opportunities to play organized sports but he learned to love baseball by playing sandlot games with his cousins. He was not particularly skilled at the game as a child, however, and his cousins used to tease him because he batted cross-handed and they liked to inform him, “You don’t know how to play, Ellis, you don’t know how to play.”1

At 10, the family moved to Fort Worth, Texas, and Ellis started to get serious about baseball, playing in a summer league after his freshman year at O.D. Wyatt High School. His varsity baseball coach, Bill Metcalf, would become an important influence upon him. As a sophomore, Burks was more than happy just to earn a varsity letter but Metcalf conveyed to the 15-year-old that he had uncommon instincts for the game and could become a special player.2 As a senior, Burks transferred to nearby Everman High School, the local baseball powerhouse. He had an outstanding senior season at Everman, playing for coach Jim Dyer. It was at Everman that Burks adopted the batting stance of his favorite major leaguer, Jim Rice. “I tried to look exactly like that in high school,” he once said. “I had his number, 14. I adopted his stance. My feet were pretty much placed the same as his in high school, junior college, and the minor leagues.”3

Despite a torrid senior season at the plate, college scholarship offers were slow to materialize. On one occasion his grandmother, Velma Burks, asked him about his college plans and Ellis informed her that he would be going to Ranger Junior College, although the coaches at Ranger had not yet contacted him with an offer to play baseball.4 He also entertained the thought that he might be selected in the major-league draft, but he escaped the notice of scouts despite the fact that he capped his impressive senior season by being the first high-school player to hit a ball out of Arlington Stadium.5 (He did it in a high-school all-star game.) His grandmother died in March of his senior year but Ellis honored his promise to her and committed to Ranger even after other schools began to show interest.

At Ranger Junior College, Burks played for coach Jack Allen. Allen was a master of homespun homilies delivered to full effect with a Texas drawl and he had quite the influence on the 18-year-old Burks. On one occasion, Burks hit a routine groundball to shortstop and was running to first at slightly less than full speed. Allen surprised Burks by inquiring if he was, perhaps, nursing an injury of some sort. When Burks informed him that he was fully healthy, Allen lectured him in no uncertain terms and stated, “By golly, I don’t care if you can throw a strawberry through a battleship or run a hole in the wind … on this team we play at full speed!”6 It was a lesson Burks would never forget and his hustle became a trademark of his professional career. The Ranger team was a real powerhouse during Burks’s freshman year and he led the parade by tearing the proverbial cover off of the ball throughout the fall season. He was excited because a number of scouts planned to attend a coming game, and he was shocked when game day arrived and Allen told him he wouldn’t be in the lineup because the coach was afraid the scouts would see him and that Allen would lose Burks, his best player, in the coming January draft. Burks assured his coach that, even if drafted in January, he would not sign with a pro team until the end of the spring season and Allen relented and allowed Burks to play the game.

Indeed, the scouts had a very favorable opinion of Burks and on the advice of scout Danny Doyle, he was selected by the Red Sox with the 20th overall pick of the January 1983 draft. Five of Burks’s teammates were also selected in that draft, including future major-league pitchers Mike Smith and Jim Morris. As Burks had promised Coach Allen, he did not sign with the Red Sox until the end of the spring college season.

Burks made his first stop in professional baseball with the Elmira (New York) Pioneers of the New York-Pennsylvania League as an 18-year-old playing short-season A ball in 1983. At the plate he hit just .241 that season with two home runs but demonstrated his range of abilities as he stole nine bases and contributed five outfield assists. He was promoted to high-A ball at Winter Haven in the Florida State League the following season where he was a full three years younger than the league average but displayed a mature set of skills. In 112 games for Winter Haven, he stole 29 bases and contributed 12 outfield assists. Burks had the good fortune of meeting his idol, Jim Rice, then still with the Red Sox. “I met him in spring training. I was in ‘A’ ball, and I got called up for a split-squad game. He was in the clubhouse. I said, ‘Excuse me, Mr. Rice, my name is Ellis Burks. It’s a pleasure to meet you.’ He said, ‘Yeah, I know who you are, kid.’” Burks added, “I was like, whoa, how does he know who I am?” I happened to sit beside him on the bench that day. I was pretty much in awe. I was too scared to ask him any questions. The next year, I was on the roster, and he told the spring-training clubhouse attendant to put my locker next to his. It was unbelievable to grow up idolizing a guy, and now he wanted my locker next to his.”7

Burks spent the 1985 and 1986 seasons at New Britain in the Double-A Eastern League and it was here that he really caught the attention of the big club. Red Sox coach Johnny Pesky became an admirer and declared that Burks “can run, hit, throw, and catch the ball. He may be ready for the big leagues sooner than people may think.”8 Burks’s ascent through the Red Sox system was slowed slightly by two right-shoulder injuries but his power began to blossom with 24 home runs over the course of the two seasons. It was the 31 stolen bases that he collected during the 1986 season in New Britain, however, that really caught the attention of the Boston front office. The Red Sox system had many promising young hitters in addition to Burks, including Mike Greenwell, Brady Anderson, Todd Benzinger, and Sam Horn, but it was the baserunning abilities Burks displayed that made him stand out from the other quality hitting prospects as the big-league club was sorely deficient in basestealing. (The 1986 Red Sox finished a distant last in the major leagues in stolen bases with just 41, of which six were by 36-year-old first baseman Billy Buckner.)

Burks made a strong impression on the Red Sox with an outstanding spring training in 1987. He was the team’s last cut, optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket.

The Red Sox did not have a strong sense of urgency to bring up their younger players to start the 1987 season; the team was coming off of a tremendously successful and memorable 1986 season in which they won their first American League pennant since 1975, and a heartbreaking seven-game loss to the New York Mets in the World Series. Lofty expectations for the 1987 Red Sox were misplaced as the team floundered to open the season. In late April, they had a 9-12 record and were in fourth place, 9½ games behind the high-flying Milwaukee Brewers. The Red Sox suddenly looked like a team that was past its prime and needed contributions from some of its talented prospects.

Burks had played a mere 11 games at the Triple-A level for Pawtucket when he was summoned to the big-league club. On the night of April 30, 1987, Boston manager John McNamara inserted 22-year-old Burks into the starting lineup as the Red Sox center fielder. Burks was batting ninth as the Red Sox faced pitcher Scott Bankhead and the Seattle Mariners in the Kingdome. Burks was hitless in three at-bats in a career that began with a weak groundball back to the mound, followed by a strikeout and a foul popup. He also dropped a line drive on which he had attempted to make a diving catch during the 11-2 Mariners victory. The game marked the first occasion that Burks had played on artificial turf,9 a circumstance that contributed to a base hit skipping past him in the outfield. Burks reflected great dismay and determination. “I felt bad after that first game. Everything happened so fast and I was not happy at what happened. I just wanted to come right back in my next game and show it wasn’t me,” he told a sportswriter.10  Skipper McNamara assured Burks that he would be in the starting lineup again the next game.11 The next night in Anaheim brought out the “real” Burks as he collected his first major-league hit in the second inning, a double down the right-field line off Urbano Lugo that brought home two runs. He went 3-for-3 as he shook off the jitters. In that series against the Angels, he showed a dazzling display of speed by sprinting from shallow center field to haul in a drive hit by Gary Pettis. Burks apparently liked Angels pitching because he connected for his first major-league home run, against future Hall of Famer Don Sutton, in the third inning of a game back in Boston on May 10. He later hit five home runs during a single road trip and brought his home-run total to 10 by June 18. When he hit a go-ahead home run off the Yankees’ Bob Tewksbury on June 21 it was the third time the rookie had provided the Red Sox with a game-winning blast.                                    

Burks’s success fueled the Boston youth movement. In short order, Todd Benzinger, Sam Horn, and Jody Reed were promoted to the big-league club to join Burks and Greenwell and the look of the team began to change. Burks split time in center with Dave Henderson and they became close friends rather than rivals. In fact, Henderson provided great help to Burks in outfield positioning and in reading hitters and Burks later identified Henderson as one of his greatest influences and closest friends in the game.12 The front office liked what it saw from Burks so much in center field that it traded Henderson to Oakland on September 1. General manager Lou Gorman said, “Henderson’s home run put us into the World Series. He did everything we asked of him, but Burks just came along and took his job.”13 Don Baylor, who had provided enormous offensive and leadership contributions during the previous season, was also traded, to Minnesota.  The 1987 Red Sox finished 78-84 but the infusion of young talent brought great excitement to Beantown.

Burks’s 1987 batting line exceeded all expectations with 20 home runs and 27 stolen bases to accompany 59 runs batted in and a .272 batting average. He became only the third Red Sox player to total 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in the same season. He had 15 outfield assists, which as of 2017 remain the most in a season for a Red Sox center fielder. But Burks stood out for his entire game and his unusually refined skills, such as the ability to correctly read the flight of the ball off the bat. These defensive skills caught the attention of Lou Gorman who stated that Burks reminded him of a young Amos Otis.14 Don Baylor was notably impressed by Burks’ defensive prowess and paid him the highest of compliments by comparing him to Paul Blair.15

The young but talented Red Sox entered the 1988 season with high hopes. Burks set a personal goal of 40 stolen bases.16 However, a bone chip in his ankle required offseason surgery and he was unable to open the season with the team. Upon returning, he compiled six multihit games in his first nine games. A jammed left wrist slowed him temporarily but he finished the 1988 campaign with a .294 average, 18 home runs, 92 runs batted in, and 25 stolen bases. On September 4, the Red Sox assumed a permanent hold on first place in the American League East on their way to an 89-73 record and the American League East title. Postseason play was less noteworthy as the Sox were swept in four games by the Oakland Athletics as former Red Sox pitcher Dennis Eckersley saved all four games and Dave Henderson threw some salt in Boston’s wounds by going 6-for-16 with a home run. Burks was 4-for-17 in the series.

The 1989 season proved challenging for the team and for Burks. The team stumbled out of the blocks and was slow to recapture its form from the previous season. On April 30, the Red Sox faced the Texas Rangers in a game at Arlington as Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens faced off on the mound. It was not much of a homecoming for Burks as a Ryan fastball in the first inning glanced off his shoulder and caught him behind the left ear. He was removed from the game and was not pleased with the situation. Burks said, “Why should I be when a guy who throws 100, throws one at my head?”17 The same two pitchers were matched up in their next start, at Fenway Park on May 5. This time Burks exacted some revenge against Ryan and the Rangers by going 3-for-4 with a stolen base. In the seventh inning a Ryan fastball zipped under Burks’s chin, causing Ellis to glare out at the mound and Ryan to take a step toward home plate. “I was making a statement,” Burks commented.18 In return, Ryan said, “Everyone was on edge because of what’d been said or written after the incident in Texas.”19 When order resumed, Burks fouled off a couple of pitches and then singled home Jody Reed to give the Red Sox the lead for good in a 7-6 victory.

New Red Sox manager Joe Morgan was very impressed with Burks and considered him to be highly capable in every aspect of the game. “He’s way above average in everything,” Morgan said. “Hitting, hitting with power, throwing, running, catching the ball. Everything. And he’s a good fellow. The other day I yelled out to him, ‘Burks, I hope you never change,’ and he said, ‘I won’t change.’”20 The biggest challenge Burks faced seemed to be staying healthy. While attempting to make a diving catch in a game against Detroit on June 14, he tore cartilage in his left shoulder. He underwent surgery and missed the next 41 games. The season came to an abrupt end for Burks during a September 6 game in Oakland in which Burks had gone 3-for-3 before he suffered a shoulder separation in a collision with Mike Greenwell in the outfield and surgery became necessary. Burks was limited to 97 games in the 1989 season, batting .303 with 21 stolen bases.                                                                               

Burks completed a strong 1990 season that led to some overdue recognition as one of the top players in the game. He batted .296 and contributed 21 home runs and 89 runs batted in as the Red Sox compiled an 88-74 record and won the AL East Division title. His clutch hitting was particularly important as 23 of his first 43 runs batted in were delivered with two out. Against Cleveland on August 27, he became the 25th major leaguer to hit two home runs in one inning. The team’s stay in the postseason was again brief; they fell once again in four straight games to the Oakland Athletics in the ALCS. Burks went 4-for-15 in the series. Burks received a Silver Slugger Award as a recognition of his excellence over the 1990 season. He was the only 20-home-run hitter that season for a Red Sox franchise traditionally known for its power. He also earned his first Gold Glove Award, joining fellow outfielders Ken Griffey Jr. and Gary Pettis. He was selected for his first All-Star team although he did not play in the game due to injury. Burks finished 13th in the American League MVP voting.

The subsequent two seasons in Boston brought a steady diet of frustration. The 1991 season was seriously compromised by tendinitis in both knees and continual back pain. The tendinitis disrupted Burks’s timing and power at the plate and he had only two home runs in his first 29 games. The back pain increased over the course of the year and kept him out of the lineup for 11 games during a key late-September stretch run. The back problems proved to be a persistent foe over the coming years and Burks was later diagnosed with a bulging disk. His totals for the season reflected the extent to which he played hurt as he had only a .251 average with 14 home runs and 56 RBIs. A better reflection of the effects of the injuries was his uncharacteristically poor success rate on the bases with only 6 stolen bases in 17 attempts.

Trade talk percolated after the 1991 season but new Red Sox manager Butch Hobson was committed to Burks and batted him primarily in the leadoff spot in 1992. The knee problems compromised Burks’s speed and these issues were compounded when he played on artificial turf. The back problem did not respond to rest and medication and his season was limited to 66 games and 235 at-bats, which yielded an uncustomary .255 batting average with 8 home runs and 30 runs batted in. The Red Sox did not tender Burks a contract for 1993 and he was left off the team’s original 15-man protected list for the expansion draft, only to be pulled back when the Rockies selected Jody Reed.21 Nonetheless, the Red Sox made no effort to sign him.

The Chicago White Sox emerged as the club with the greatest interest in Burks and he signed with the team in early January of 1993. The White Sox had assembled a talented and experienced team, and in spring training, GM Ron Schueler commented, “ … Right now, Ellis looks as good as I’ve seen him look since I was scouting him years ago. If we can keep him going, he would give us a whole added dimension.”22 On April 16, and in his ninth game as a member of his new team, Burks made his return to Fenway Park. Facing Danny Darwin in his first at-bat of the game, Burks turned on a 3-and-2 pitch and launched a shot well over the left-field wall. As he rounded the bases, Burks received a standing ovation from the 26,536 fans. He commented, “It hasn’t been an easy transition. … I gave it a lot of thought this winter how it would be in this game. In spring training it hit me — I was wearing different colored socks.”23 The 1993 season marked a strong return to form for Burks. He batted .275 with 17 home runs and 74 RBIs. More importantly, he was able to stay free of serious injury and played in 146 games. The White Sox realized expectations in winning 94 games against 68 defeats and claimed the American League West title. They met the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series but fell, four games to two. Burks went 7-for-23 with a home run.

Burks became a free agent after the season and all indications were that he would re-sign with the White Sox, where he felt wanted and appreciated. “I’ll take anything — three years, five years, ten years — whatever they want,” he said. “It’s been great here. One of the reasons I wanted to come here in the first place was a chance to win, and we’re doing that.”24 But the White Sox offered only a two-year deal and wanted Burks to play right field25 and so he was willing to consider other offers. The Colorado Rockies sorely needed a quality center fielder and offered Ellis a three-year, $9 million deal, which Burks accepted.

A new chapter in Burks’s career began when he signed with the Rockies but the story had some familiar elements. In Colorado he was reunited with two teammates from his rookie year in Boston in manager Don Baylor and hitting coach Dwight Evans. Playing for the Rockies had an additional allure as the franchise had just set a major-league attendance record in their inaugural season by drawing nearly 4.5 million fans to Mile High Stadium. Playing there was a hitter’s dream and a pitcher’s nightmare as the altitude and reduced air resistance translated into additional carry on batted balls. Defense became a priority in this park, and particularly in the outfield, where outfielders needed speed and arm strength to handle the largest outfield in the majors. Playing 81 games a year in Denver also came with costs, including the physical demands of playing long games and chasing down a lot of batted balls yielded by a pitching staff that had the National League’s highest ERA during the previous season.                                                                         

The 1994 season was the second and final season for the Rockies at Mile High Stadium. They moved to Coors Field in 1995. Burks began the 1994 season just as he and the Rockies had hoped. He hit a home run off Curt Schilling of the Philadelphia Phillies in his first at-bat at Mile High Stadium and he was batting a lofty .354 with 12 home runs through his first 34 games. However, in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 17 he tore a ligament in his left wrist on a checked swing. He missed the next 70 games and when he returned to the club, every swing of the bat proved to be painful. He was limited to 42 games but still managed to hit .322 with 13 home runs. The 1994 season was shrouded by the specter of labor unrest and there was little movement in talks between owners and players as the season progressed. Indeed, the players union struck and the season concluded for the Rockies and all of the other major-league teams on August 11, and the 65,043 fans in attendance that night witnessed the last major-league baseball game to be played in Mile High Stadium, an otherwise forgettable 13-0 pasting of the home club by the Atlanta Braves. The Rockies finished 53-64 in their abbreviated season. Burks underwent surgery immediately after the season ended and his wrist remained in a cast for three full months following the surgery.                                           

Resolution of the labor dispute was not reached until April 2, 1995, after a 232-day work stoppage that wiped out all 1994 postseason play. After an abbreviated spring training, the Rockies opened the 1995 season on April 26 in their brand-new ballpark, Coors Field. The 1995 lineup featured the “Blake Street Bombers,” so named because Blake Street bordered the new ballpark on the east side and the lineup contained an assemblage of certifiable sluggers that included Burks, Andres Galarraga, Dante Bichette, and Larry Walker. Vinny Castilla proved to be an unexpected but formidable additional power source and became the fifth member of the brigade. On April 26, the Rockies baptized their new park in unforgettable fashion as Bichette hit a three-run walk-off home run in the 14th inning off Mike Remlinger of the New York Mets to provide the 47,228 fans with an 11-9 victory. Burks was not able to join the fun until May 5 when he came off of the disabled list. The strong play of Mike Kingery in center field in his absence, and the presence of Bichette in left field and Walker in right field resulted in limited playing time for Burks for the rest of the season. His first home run of the season did not come until June 2 when he launched a walk-off pinch-hit three-run homer against Dan Miceli to beat the Pirates. Burks was able to play in only 103 games with 14 home runs and a .266 batting average to show for his injury-limited 1995 season. The team finished just one game behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West and they earned their first postseason berth courtesy of the wild-card spot. The Rockies lost three games to one in the first round of the postseason to the eventual champion Atlanta Braves as Burks went 2-for-6 in limited postseason playing time.        

Burks arrived at spring training three days early in 1996 knowing that quality preparation and good health were going to be the keys to his success during the coming campaign. “For years I’ve just been trying to stay healthy and to get rid of that stereotype that I can’t stay away from injuries,” he said.26 More than anything, he was determined to erase the memories of 1995 when he was relegated to a role as the Rockies’ fourth outfielder. He was slotted to spend more time in left field during the season as manager Baylor wished to minimize the wear and tear on Burks and to see if center field might be a fit for the athletic Larry Walker.

A full season of good health enabled Burks to have a remarkable turnaround in 1996 and he carried the Rockies offensively as injuries to Walker and Bichette severely affected the team’s attack. Burks played in a career-high 156 games, and 129 of those games were spent in left field. His .344 batting average was second in the National League only to Tony Gwynn’s .353 mark, and he led the league with 142 runs scored and also drove in 128 runs. Burks’s 93 extra-base hits, 392 total bases, and  .639 slugging average all led the league. Although some skeptics attributed his numbers to the “Coors Field Effect,” his road statistics were more than sufficient to reject that notion. Away from home, Burks hit .291 with 17 home runs and had 49 runs batted in with a .903 OPS in 75 games.

As Burks went, so went the Rockies in 1996. He batted .413 with 10 home runs when leading off an inning. He hit .362 with runners in scoring position and .369 with two outs and runners in scoring situations that year. Against the vaunted Atlanta Braves staff that featured three future Hall of Famers (Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz), Burks hit .380 (19-for-50).  His 32 stolen bases were more than he had compiled in the previous five seasons combined. He joined Henry Aaron as the second player in history to record 40 home runs, 200 hits, and 30 stolen bases in a season. He finished third in the NL MVP voting behind Ken Caminiti and Mike Piazza and he received his second Silver Slugger Award. His WAR of 7.9 led the Rockies. Galarraga (47), Burks (40), and Castilla (40) became the first trio of teammates to reach 40 home runs in a season since Davey Johnson, Darrell Evans, and Henry Aaron accomplished the feat for the 1973 Atlanta Braves.         

Burks became a free agent but was re-signed by the Rockies for the 1997 and 1998 seasons with an $8.8 million deal that included incentives. Burks had no regrets about re-signing and commented, “I signed early because I knew what I wanted. I’m sure I could have gotten a lot of money elsewhere. But money isn’t the main issue with me.”27 Preseason expectations were high for the club in 1997 as Walker and Bichette were expected to make stronger contributions after their previous injury-plagued seasons. In fact, Walker contributed even more than expected with 49 home runs, 140 RBIs, and 33 stolen bases to accompany a .366 batting average that earned him the National League MVP Award. Burks began 1997 slowly but his first four hits were home runs. His biggest nemesis during the season was a groin injury that caused him to miss a full month and he reinjured the groin in his second game back. He also had wrist and ankle injuries that lingered throughout the season and limited him to 119 games. Nonetheless, he batted .290 with 32 home runs and 82 RBIs and had a .934 OPS. His season total of just seven stolen bases, however, was evidence of the physical limitations he encountered during the year.                                                          

As the 1998 season opened, Burks said he felt he could not continue to play center field beyond the current season due to the effects of the hamstring, back, and knee problems that continued to limit his mobility.28 One of the major highlights of his season occurred on April 2, when he connected off the Diamondbacks’ Brian Anderson for his 100th home run in a Rockies uniform. The Rockies fell from contention early in the season and they made a move to fill their need for a younger center fielder capable of patrolling spacious center field at Coors. At the July 31 trading deadline, they sent Burks to the San Francisco Giants for center fielder Darryl Hamilton and minor-league pitcher James Stoops. They later received another minor leaguer, Jason Brester, to complete the deal. Burks concluded his time with the Rockies with a .306 batting average and 115 home runs in 520 games, and his 1996 season will be remembered as one of the greatest individual seasons in Rockies history.

Burks was a solid contributor to the Giants, batting .306 with 5 home runs and 8 stolen bases as the team went 31-23 following his arrival to conclude the 1998 season in second place in the National League West. Manager Dusty Baker planned to play him in right field during the 1999 season and to provide Burks with scheduled rest days to reduce his injury risk. Two offseason knee surgeries resulted in pain and soreness that compromised his power as he began the season. As the season progressed, Burks began to drive the ball into the gaps. Despite playing just 120 games in 1999, he concluded the year with 31 home runs and 96 runs batted to go with a .282 batting average and a .964 OPS. He nearly became the first National League player to drive in 100 runs in fewer than 400 at-bats as he fell just four short of 100 in 390 at-bats. The Giants once again finished second in the NL West.

The 2000 season marked a strong return to excellence for Burks despite two additional knee surgeries in the offseason. He batted.344, which equaled his best mark, set in 1996 with the Rockies, and he complemented the high average with 24 home runs and 96 RBIs. Burks’s contributions in San Francisco were duly noted as the team had the best record in the National League with a 97-65 mark and won the NL West title by 11 games over the Dodgers. They fell in four games to the New York Mets in the National League Division Series, in which Burks was 3-for-13 with a home run.

Burks became a free agent after the season and the American League seemed like the logical destination: He could serve as a team’s designated hitter and limit his time in the field to accommodate the knee issues. In only 284 games in a Giants uniform, Burks had hit .312 with 60 home runs and 214 runs driven in. Remarkably, Burks had a better OPS with the Giants (.971) than he had in his previous five seasons in Colorado (.957).

The Cleveland Indians signed the 36-year-old Burks to a three-year, $20 million offer in 2001 with the hope that he could play 100 to 120 games a year. Burks broke his right thumb in mid-July but still hit 28 home runs and drove in 74 runs with a .290 batting average. The Indians won their division with a 91-71 record and headed to the ALCS, where they faced a Seattle Mariners team that had compiled an all-time major league record of 116 wins. Burks went 6-for-19 in the series with a home run but the Mariners prevailed in five games.  

Burks assumed the designated-hitter role for the Indians during the 2002 season and showed what he could do when provided a full season with the bat. He played 138 games and had 32 home runs and 91 runs batted in to accompany a .301 average. He completed his fourth consecutive season with an OPS above .900 (.903) with each coming after the age of 34. After the season, Burks required surgery on his left shoulder but he was in the Indians’ starting lineup again on Opening Day in 2003. He began the season well and continued to drive the ball with authority through the early part of the year. However, right elbow pain hampered his swing and he was required to end his season on June 7 in order to undergo ulnar nerve reconstruction surgery. In his abbreviated third season with the Indians, Burks batted .263 with 6 home runs and 28 RBIs. The Indians released Burks after the season, but he was not yet ready to retire from the game.

Burks’ career came full circle when he signed with the Red Sox as a free agent on February 6, 2004. At a press conference he said, “I can let you know that I will retire a Red Sox.”29 He was attracted to Boston by his wish to finish out his career where it had started and also felt that the team had a chance to reach the World Series. In turn, the Red Sox felt that Burks’s leadership abilities provided an important contribution to a team hoping to finally end their World Series drought.

Burks appeared in nine of the team’s first 17 games but underwent additional knee surgery in late April. Although he was unable to resume playing for many months, Burks remained with the team and even accompanied the Red Sox on road trips as he recovered from his injury. His commitment to the team was duly noted and appreciated by his teammates and Burks later commented that he wanted to contribute in whatever way that he could to a team that he felt was destined to win the World Series.30 After missing nearly five months with the injury, he returned to the lineup on September 23. In the season’s next-to-last game, at Camden Yards in Baltimore on October 2, manager Terry Francona inserted Burks into the lineup for his 2,000th major-league game. Batting fifth and in the DH role, he singled in his first at-bat in the second inning of that game for his 2,107th and final career hit. In the bottom of the fourth inning he was replaced by rookie Kevin Youkilis. The Red Sox capped their dream season with their first World Series title since 1918 by sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series although Burks was not on the roster for the playoffs.

The 2004 World Series title vanquished the bitter memories of previous seasons and will always be regarded as one of the greatest accomplishments in Boston sports history. A largely unknown part of the story involves the team’s triumphant return home from St. Louis. As the plane approached Boston, Pedro Martinez asked for everyone’s attention and delivered an impromptu speech in which he recognized the contributions of the players on the field in contributing to the historic accomplishment. As Martinez continued, he singled out “The Old Goat” in reference to Burks and provided special praise for the teammate who had remained with the club and who had contributed his knowledge and leadership over the five long months of his injury rehab. At the request of Martinez and his teammates, Burks led the team down the steps of the plane to the tarmac at Logan Airport carrying the World Series trophy overhead.31

Ellis Burks retired after the 2004 season with a .291 lifetime batting average to go with 352 home runs. He is one of just a few major-league players to have hit 60 or more home runs with four separate teams. Injuries robbed Burks of the opportunity to put up even more impressive numbers and a possible berth in the Hall of Fame, but he looked back on his career with no regrets and said that he “loved every minute of it.”32 Burks received the respect of his peers for his professionalism and his willingness to play with pain. He remained in the game, working for the Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, and San Francisco Giants.

The Ranger College baseball team now plays at Ellis Burks Field. As of 2017 Burks worked for the San Francisco Giants as an instructor, scout, and talent evaluator. He, his wife, Dori, and their daughters, Carissa, Elisha, and Breanna, resided in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. His son, Chris, began his own professional career in the Giants’ minor-league system in the summer of 2017.

Last revised: March 1, 2018

This biography originally appeared in “Major League Baseball A Mile High: The First Quarter Century of the Colorado Rockies” (SABR, 2018), edited by Bill Nowlin and Paul T. Parker.

Sources

In addition to the sources noted in this biography, the author also consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and the SABR Minor Leagues Database, accessed online at Baseball-Reference.com.

Notes

1 Mel Antonen, “Red Sox Ellis Burks Steals Into the Spotlight: Fastest Player on the Team Learns by Survival,” USA Today, April 8, 1991.

2 Author interview with Ellis Burks, November 20, 2017 (Hereafter cited as Burks insterview).

3 Ellis Burks, as told to Matt Crossman. “My Idol,” The Sporting News, July 6, 2009.

4 Burks interview.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

7 Ellis Burks, as told to Matt Crossman.

8 “Minor Leagues,” The Sporting News, May 20, 1985.

9 Ibid.

10 Joe Giuliotti, “Burks Brings Raw Speed to Red Sox,” The Sporting News, May 18, 1987.

11 Burks interview.

12 Ibid.

13 Joe Giuliotti, “In Boston, the Spotlight Shifts,” The Sporting News, September 14, 1987.

14 Moss Klein, “AL Beat,” The Sporting News, May 25, 1987.

15 Ibid.

16 “AL East: Red Sox,” The Sporting News, February 22, 1988. 

17 “AL East,” The Sporting News, May 15, 1989.

18 Phil Rogers, “Ryan-Roger Rematch Not So Hot,” The Sporting News, May 15, 1989.

19 Ibid.

20 Jerome Holtzman, “Red Sox’s Burks Really on His Way,” Chicago Tribune, May 4, 1989.

21 Joe Giuliotti, “Boston Red Sox,” The Sporting News, November 30, 1992.

22 Peter Pascarelli, “Bo or No, White Sox Look Like Contenders,” The Sporting News, March 9, 1993.

23 Joe Goddard, “Burks Homers in Homecoming,” The Sporting News, April 26, 1993.

24 Joe Goddard, “Burks Should Be Back in ’94,” The Sporting News, September 20, 1993.

25 Joe Goddard, “Chicago White Sox,” The Sporting News, November 29, 1993.

26 Tom Verducci, “The Best Years of Their Lives,” Sports Illustrated, July 29, 1996.

27 Tony DeMarco, “Colorado Rockies,” The Sporting News, December 30, 1996.

28 Tony DeMarco, “Rockies,” The Sporting News, March 23, 1998.

29 David Heuschkel, “Burks’ Return: It’s Been Ages,” Hartford Courant, February 6, 2004.

30 Burks interview.

31 Ibid.

32 Ibid.

After the game, rumors that Garciaparra refused manager Terry Francona’s request to pinch-hit in the late innings rubbed salt into the wound. Although a divorce seemed imminent, the July 31 trade to the Chicago Cubs shocked New England. Gone was the franchise shortstop and in his place was Orlando Cabrera, a less distinguished player who toiled in the relative obscurity of Montreal. Had this been a fantasy league swap, the commissioner might have fielded irate calls from players seeking to void such a lopsided transaction.1 But baseball is not played on paper and the Boston front office was convinced that Cabrera was a better fit. They would have two scant months to prove their point.

Orlando Luis Cabrera was born on November 2, 1974, in Cartagena de Indias, a city on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. His father, Jolbert Sr., was a former Florida Marlins scout who instilled a strong competitive streak in his sons, Jolbert Jr. and Orlando: “I learned my passion for winning from my father,” Orlando once said. He hated to lose and so do I.”2 However, this was a dual baseball household, with his mother, Josefina, “a teacher for 44 years” who “would still find time to be at my baseball games and my brother Jolbert’s. She really knew her baseball.”3 Josefina preferred that her sons be supervised on the diamond rather than unmonitored on the streets.

Although baseball is a distant second sport to soccer in the hearts of Colombians, the country boasts deep baseball roots. The game entered Colombia in the late nineteenth century, brought by Cubans and Panamanians to Cabrera’s hometown. Baseball is king in Bolívar state, of which Cartagena is the capital; the country’s first league was founded here in 1916.4 The professional circuit (Liga Profesional de Béisbol Colombiano, or LPB), dates to 1948.5 Although the nation has not produced many big leaguers (31 as of the beginning of the 2023 season), it boasts the first major leaguer born in Latin America, Lou Castro.6

Cabrera began playing at 6 years old, often in the outfield. His slight build made teams wary of trusting him with a key defensive position, though Cabrera soon proved his mettle. When he moved into the infield, he modeled his game after Roberto Alomar and Barry Larkin, two future Hall of Famers against whom he would play in the big leagues. He soon moved from the sandlots to playing for an organized team,  named Barakat after its mattress-making sponsor.7 The brothers would often play together, and although Jolbert was seen as a better prospect – he signed with the Montreal Expos – Orlando worked hard to develop his skills: “I was 14 when my brother signed to play professional baseball. I thought if he could make it maybe I had a chance.”8 Although he would eventually reach 5-feet-99 and was listed at 195 pounds, his stature was still seen as an obstacle: “They signed my brother, but they didn’t sign me. There were a lot of high expectations for me in Colombia, even from my family, but I figured it wasn’t going to happen.”10

Despite his father’s connections, teams passed on Cabrera in no fewer than 15 tryouts, prompting him to enroll in college at his mother’s urging. He continued to excel in athletics while studying maritime engineering, but both his father and scout William Marrugo remained in contact with various franchises. Another Colombian scout, Arturo DeFreites, a friend of Jolbert Sr.’s, enticed Montreal to sign Cabrera sight unseen. He bypassed the size concern by inflating the shortstop’s height. Two months into the college semester, the Expos offered Cabrera a contract with a $7,000 signing bonus. He accepted it and was assigned to the Dominican Summer League.11 The franchise almost backed out of the deal when Cabrera stepped off the plane, but he proved his ability on the field.

In 1994 Cabrera played 22 games in the rookie Gulf Coast League and batted a solid .315 (23-for-73) with 6 stolen bases. Unlike many Latin players on their first foreign experience, he was not alone, as brother Jolbert was also an Expos farmhand: “That was a big help. He helped me settle in and he taught me how to order food.”12 The GCL Expos also boasted two of the organization’s top prospects: Vladimir Guerrero and Javier Vázquez, taking their first steps toward the big leagues.

Cabrera played with the Vermont Expos of the short-season Class-A New York-Pennsylvania League in 1995 and hit well (.282/.323/.407) in 65 games. He appeared in three other contests with the advanced Class A West Palm Beach Expos and went 1-for-5. He was promoted to the Class-A Delmarva Shorebirds of the South Atlantic League for the 1996 season and led the club with 134 games played, 580 plate appearances, 86 runs, 14 home runs, and 51 stolen bases, and made the league all-star team.13

Cabrera progressed through three minor-league levels in 1997. In 69 games for West Palm Bach, he hit .276/.340/.412 and was promoted to the Harrisburg Senators of the Double-A Eastern League. He improved his offense to .308/.378/.549 and thus prompted the Expos to move him up to the Ottawa Lynx of the Triple-A International League. Cabrera played 31 games for the Lynx and batted .262/.306/.385. He was now regarded mostly as a shortstop, and his defense steadily improved as he climbed the ladder. After committing 20 errors in 64 games in West Palm Beach, he had only 8 miscues in 66 contests with the Senators and the Lynx.

Once rosters expanded, Cabrera reached the major leagues in September but at first was used only as a pinch-runner, pinch-hitter, and late inning defensive replacement. On September 22 he made his first start and collected two hits in five at-bats against Greg Maddux. Cabrera had watched Maddux “pitch on the super-station [TBS] and I knew he always pitched outside so I was ready.  I got two hits against a future Hall of Famer in my first game!”14 For the Expos he hit .222/.263/.222 in 20 plate appearances and was praised by skipper Felipe Alou, who envisioned him as a leadoff hitter, saying: “He has good speed, is a pure base stealer, and hits the fastball.”15

As the 1998 season began, rookies Brad Fullmer, José Vidró, and Cabrera were expected to join Grudzielanek in the infield. A 1-for-16 stretch in the Grapefruit League, punctuated by several defensive mistakes, led to a reprimand from skipper Alou.16 Despite being ranked as the 92nd prospect in Baseball America’s preseason rankings, Cabrera began the season in Triple A and hit only .232/.298.294 in 66 games with Ottawa. Still, he was recalled on June 24. He hit his first major-league round-tripper on July 21, an inside-the-park home run against Mark Portugal of the Phillies. Since Cabrera was cheaper, a few years younger, and “already … a better defensive shortstop than Grudzielanek,” the Expos traded the latter to the Dodgers.17 Cabrera performed admirably in 79 games in both middle infield positions (.280/.325/.414).

Cabrera played winter league baseball in Venezuela with the Tigres of Aragua. Although official statistics are incomplete, he was credited with a .285 batting average and a .391 slugging percentage in 39 regular-season games and a .239 average in 16 postseason contests.18

Montreal named Cabrera as its starting shortstop for the 1999 season. He was dependable and played in 104 of the team’s first 108 games before a severely sprained ankle in August forced him out of the lineup. After the season The Sporting News described him as “flashy and effective” though it added, “[O]ffensively, he had some good moments, but he neither hits for power nor average.”19 Like his teammates, he went 0-for-3 against David Cone on July 18; his third at-bat marked the final out of Cone’s perfect game.20

During the offseason, Cabrera played in the winter league in Colombia to rehabilitate his injury. He reported to spring training with “pain only when … hitting and pivot(ing) on the ankle.”21 However, off-the-field tragedy struck as Jolbert Sr. died unexpectedly in 2000 and Cabrera suffered through a tough season: .237/.279/.393.

Cabrera focused on his physical conditioning and plate discipline during the offseason, as new teammate Tim Raines preached about working the  count. Cabrera credited Raines with “making him more aware of the value of a walk” and showed “a better eye at the plate.”22 Often the cleanup hitter, Cabrera hit .267 in his first 43 games, made only two errors, and batted .324 with runners in scoring position.23 He won a Gold Glove “despite playing 81 games on a surface that resembled a parking lot with holes.”24 He registered two 34-game streaks without an error, played in all 162 games, compiled a 2.1 Defensive WAR (fifth in the NL), and led the league’s shortstops in fielding percentage.

Though Cabrera enjoyed playing with the Expos, the franchise’s struggles in Montreal played a heavy role in his looming free agency. New Expos hitting coach Bill Robinson suggested that Cabrera work on hitting to the opposite field in the 2002 season.25 Mixed results followed: Bothered by a bad back, Cabrera stole more bases and walked more, but his slugging percentage dropped by 48 points. He clashed with management early in the season, questioning their support when he was asked to bunt twice in a row in an extra-inning game. José Vidro, his double-play partner, had matured into a consistent .300 hitter, and Montreal boasted young prospect Brandon Phillips in the minor leagues, adding to the frustration. Perhaps the only highlight of the season was the June 21 game against Cleveland, which featured the Cabrera brothers as opponents for the first time in the major leagues.26

The Expos sought to sign Cabrera to a multiyear deal, but the parties could not agree to terms and the franchise started to explore trades. Cabrera’s last full season in Montreal (2003) was his finest wearing the Expos uniform. He appeared in every game and hit .297/.347/.460 (105+ OPS) as the Expos finished in fourth place (83-79) in the competitive NL East.

Montreal struggled early in the 2004 season and Cabrera seemed lost at the plate (.246/.298/.336), but his fielding was spectacular (seven errors in 101 games). As the franchise played out the string before its move to Washington, it traded some of its assets to contending clubs. Cabrera was as shocked as anyone once he learned about his trade to the Red Sox from Expos manager Frank Robinson: “I thought, oh, my gosh, I’m in trouble” upon realizing he would replace Garciaparra.27 He figured he would be dealt to a team without an established shortstop, not to one with an All-Star at the position.

Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy complained that “the club has some explaining to do because it didn’t get enough for [Garciaparra] in the trade,” bemoaning not necessarily Garciaparra’s departure, but rather what many Red Sox fans felt was an insufficient replacement.28 Cabrera paid little attention to the newspapers thanks to counsel he received from former Expos teammate  Pedro Martínez: “(He) gave me some good advice. He said, ‘Do the interviews but don’t ever read a paper here.’”29 Cabrera acknowledged that “the first days were very hard with the media. Fans don’t expect an idol to be replaced, but if he were, by someone from the same level … and I knew that I would not reach Nomar Garciaparra’s level. … He was an offensive powerhouse, but he was not the same defensive player I was … so I had to play to my strengths and make the team more fundamentally sound.”30

Despite the hostile press, Cabrera received the backing of the Red Sox pitching stars. Martínez noted, “I remember Cabrera as a young, good steady player at shortstop in Montreal, but he’s gotten even better over the years. He’s going to be a good player for us.”31 Curt Schilling agreed: “I know Cabrera from playing against him and he’s one of the best shortstops in the game. He can hit and he can play good defense for us. He is a game-changer in the field for me.”32 Manager Terry Francona also provided a vote of confidence: “I saw him play when he was with Montreal and thought he was an excellent player. Everyone in Boston found out right away how good he is defensively. (Red Sox bench coach Brad Mills) was with him in Montreal last year. He thought (Cabrera) could again become the hitter he was last year and would thrive in this type of environment. He was right.”33

Cabrera proved his worth from his very first at-bat. The Red Sox battled the Twins in Minnesota on August 1 and Cabrera, in Garciaparra’s old third spot in the batting order, hit a home run against Johan Santana in the first inning. He made an error in the eighth inning that allowed the go-ahead run to score in a 4-3 Boston loss. However, Cabrera’s value, as the front office anticipated, soon became apparent as the Red Sox defense improved. His sold hitting, though, was a bonus.

Ron Jackson, the team’s hitting coach, helped Cabrera take advantage of his new surroundings: “I was hitting about .230 and (Jackson) said, ‘Orlando, I want you to concentrate on pulling the ball. You’ve got that wall out here in left field, and if the ball is in the zone, I want you to pull it.’ It was like a light went off from there on.”34

Cabrera hit a robust .294 in the regular season for Boston, including a walk-off home run on September 22 against the Orioles. His ebullient personality fit in with the scrappy Red Sox but Cabrera knew when to be serious. After Manny Ramírez begged off playing a game because of a headache, Cabrera told he mercurial outfielder “There’s no way you’re coming out of the lineup. I’ve never been in the playoffs.”35 The statement convinced Ramírez, whose ill-timed requests were often the bane of management.

Perhaps nervous in his first postseason series, Cabrera hit .154 in the Division Series against the Angels but a blistering .379 versus the Yankees in the AL Championship Series. To Cabrera, the Red Sox “organization launched (my) career.”36 The ALCS “was amazing. It’s something that will always live in my memory and my heart. It was one of the best-played series in my career, as a team to come back after that three-game deficit and win the next four, especially against the team that the Yankees had that year, it was special. After that, in the World Series, it was so much easier to win those four games, and it will always have a very big space in my mind.”37

Often overlooked in Colombia, Cabrera now became the topic of incessant media attention. “I was doing interviews to every single news outlet in Colombia. It was crazy. Nonstop. … (T)here was so much excitement – I couldn’t sleep. I was talking and talking and talking and thinking, ‘Wow, this is incredible.’”38 Cabrera hit .235 in the World Series, but the robust Red Sox offense did not need his bat. On the field, Cabrera’s glovework was flawless as he played every Red Sox defensive inning in the postseason. Cabrera recalled “the friendship and the trust … the chemistry of the team” that galvanized the roster toward Boston’s first World Series championship in 86 years.39

A first-time free agent, Cabrera was well-positioned to secure a lucrative contract. Boston chose to pursue Edgar Rentería instead of re-signing Cabrera. Though Rentería had been one of the few Cardinals whose bat was not silenced in the World Series, Cabrera had earned the pitching staff’s trust. Years later, Cabrera would have a falling out with his business partner, Rentería’s brother. The relationship between the two shortstops turned cold over a provocative ESPN Magazine article that planted the seeds of discord.

Cabrera was not the only playoff hero not to return in 2005. Mientkiewicz and Dave Roberts left for other teams, leaving the Red Sox without anything to show for the Garciaparra trade – except for the World Series trophy. A more nuanced look reveals other domino effects. The Red Sox received two draft picks from the Anaheim Angels as part of the compensatory draft; those extra slots yielded Jacoby Ellsbury and Jed Lowrie.40

The Angels signed Cabrera to a four-year deal worth $32 million, though Cabrera acknowledged that “it would have been nice to stay in Boston.”41 Indeed, the fans gave him a standing ovation when he returned as an opponent on June 3. “I will never forget that moment,” he said in 2014.42 Cabrera hit .257/.309/.365 in 141 games for the Angels in 2005 as they reached the ALCS but fell to the eventual World Series champion Chicago White Sox. Statistically he was arguably the AL’s best shortstop, with a 19.6 UZR, 7 errors, and a .988 fielding percentage in 140 games.43 However, Derek Jeter was the Gold Glove winner at shortstop.

Cabrera’s 2006 statistics (.282/.335/.404) demonstrated marked improvement. Cabrera reached base in 63 consecutive games, the sixth-longest streak in major-league history, surpassed only by Ted Williams (three times) and Joe DiMaggio (twice). Despite baseball’s sabermetric revolution, the accomplishment flew under the radar of many, including Cabrera himself: “It was a good run. With all the greatest players to have played the game, to even be on that list is crazy. It’s just crazy, me doing that kind of stuff. I’m a free-swinging hitter. Reaching base every day? It was hard to believe I was doing it.”44

Cabrera won his second Gold Glove in 2007 and finished 15th in the AL MVP voting with a career-high .301 batting average. His 11 sacrifice flies led the league for the second consecutive season. This was the last season Cabrera would enjoy with a permanent home. With one year remaining in his contract, the Angels traded him to the White Sox for pitcher Jon Garland.

Cabrera was durable for Chicago; he played 161 games and won the Defensive Player of the Year Award.45 He overcame an awful start (.215 in his first 27 games and challenged scoring decisions that assigned him errors) to finish at .281/.334/.371 and a 14.9 UZR on the field. Though he butted heads with Ozzie Guillén over perceived lack of managerial support, the feisty former White Sox skipper lauded Cabrera’s efforts: “He’s a winner and always has been. … He had a great career.”46

Cabrera became a free agent on November 1. He signed with the Oakland Athletics on March 6, 2009, and played in 101 games (.280/.318/.365) before the perennially cash-strapped club flipped him to Minnesota for Tyler Ladendorf. He helped the Twins in the stretch drive, providing veteran leadership and stability on the field while hitting .289, but hit only .154 in Minnesota’s Division Series loss to the Yankees.

Cabrera returned to the National League in 2010 with the Cincinnati Reds and played in 123 games, his fewest since 1999. At age 35, his offense dipped to .263/.303/.354. A free agent again, he split the 2011 campaign with Cleveland (91 games, .244) and San Francisco (39 games, .222) after a July 30 deal for Thomas Neal.

After 15 years in “The Show,” Cabrera retired before the 2012 season. “It was time,” he said. “I love baseball too much to ever play at less than 100 percent.”47 His lifetime totals (1,985 games, 2,055 hits, 459 doubles, 985 runs scored, 123 home runs, 216 stolen bases, 21.33 WAR) are second among Colombian players, behind only Rentería. Though not a power hitter, his 459 career doubles surpass Hall of Famers Rod Carew, Jimmie Foxx, Roberto Clemente, Larkin, and Eddie Collins.

Cabrera hit .228 in 37 postseason contests, reaching the playoffs in six years (2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010) with five different teams. Post-Boston, Cabrera played in 1,023 games and obtained 1,111 hits (.275 average). With his glove, Cabrera is credited with a .977 fielding average, above Hall of Famers Jeter, Larkin, and Luis Aparicio.

Cabrera was successful against Joe Saunders (14-for-27), Jae Weong (Seo) 2-for-22), Matt Morris (8-for-21), Brandon Duckworth (13-for-34), Liván Hernández (16-for-37), Félix Hernández (16-for-36), Maddux (16-for-47), and Schilling (15-for-44) but could not figure out Antonio Alfonseca (0-for-12), Octavio Dotel (0-for-20), Joe Nathan (1-for-17), Rick Porcello (2-for-18), Kris Benson (2-for-24), Barry Zito (3-for-32), and John Smoltz (4-for-27).48

During his playing days, Cabrera started the Prospect Sport Foundation, which has helped young baseball talent in Colombia, especially from ages 12 to 16. (Sixteen-year-olds can be signed to professional contracts in the United States.) He consults (as of 2023) with GenTrust Wealth Management in Miami to help young players handle the sudden influx of money that often accompanies a professional contract.

Cabrera paid $200,000 to repave streets surrounding his foundation’s offices and a neighboring park, with plans for medical facilities. The foundation partnered with the US Embassy to conduct baseball clinics in 2019 taught by former major leaguers Yamid Haad, Sugar Ray Marimon, and Yhonathan Barrios.49 Cabrera stressed the importance of the effort by noting that “Cartagena will always be the cradle of baseball in Colombia; I am convinced of our young talent, and we must support them.”50 He stressed the criticality of playing in the winter leagues and noted “some scouts and people who have not played (in the winter leagues) don’t know the importance in the development of those youngsters. You find players who have competed in Triple-A, Double-A, the majors, the rookie leagues, and some who have not yet signed a contract.”51

Nevertheless, a 2008 attempt to join the governing body for the league was unsuccessful due to disputes about sponsorship and funding. After that Cabrera focused his efforts on player development. He wishes it were more focused on development, noting that as the number of Colombians in the minor and major leagues has grown, the number of franchises in the Colombian league has dwindled. He commented, “Big leaguers don’t play in Colombia because they weren’t given the opportunity growing up, and now that they have reached the majors, they are being asked to play. They resent that.”52

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he provided economic assistance to 77 coaches of the Bolívar State Baseball League.53 Cabrera said he “wanted to support those coaches … to lend a helping hand, let them know we have not forgotten about them, and that the Prospect Sport Foundation depends on them.”54 The lockdown prompted the Cabrera brothers to collaborate on a podcast, Colombianos MLB, hosted by Diego Martínez that covered topics such as superstitions, how to learn English, the role of the agent, and how to overcome slumps.55 The podcast is the top social media source for Colombian baseball.

Orlando joined Jolbert’s coaching staff prior to the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Colombia’s second appearance in the event. The entire Cabrera family cheered from the stands, led by their mother, Josefina. The team beat Mexico, 5-4, in its first game, but lost its next two contests, 7-5 to Great Britain and 5-0 to Canada. The team gave the United States a scare but lost 3-2 in a tight game that saw both nations struggle to hit. Six members of the roster were products of Cabrera’s Foundation, adding an extra layer of pride to the occasion. Rentería was also a coach, thus reuniting the country’s baseball triumvirate.

Orlando and his family live in New Hampshire. Being in New England keeps him close to the Red Sox faithful, who “are the way any fan base should be. If you show support for your team, you deserve to have a good team. The fan base in New England is always with you, you should always do your job, and if you do this, you will always be loved here.”56 Reflecting on his career during a TV interview, Cabrera noted that he “wasn’t an All Star, but I had the privilege to walk among them. … My career, whatever I did, was always past my expectations.”57

Acknowledgments

Bill Nowlin for connecting the author to Katie Cabrera.

Katie Cabrera for connecting her husband, Orlando, to the author for an interview.

Sources

Unless otherwise specified, quotes stem from the author’s telephone interview with Orlando Cabrera on June 27, 2023.

Notes

1 The transaction, as complex as it was shocking, involved four franchises: Boston received Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz; the Twins obtained Justin Jones; the Expos received Francis Beltran, Álex González, Brendan Harris, BRENDAN HARRIS; and the Cubs obtained Garciaparra and Matt Murton.

2 Herb Crehan, “Orlando Cabrera Remembers the 2004 World Championship,” Boston Baseball History, November 7, 2014. https://bostonbaseballhistory.com/new-orlando-cabrera-remembers-the-2004-world-championship/.

3 Crehan.

4 Gustavo Adolfo Acuña Romero, “El béisbol también se juega en municipios del Caribe,” El Espectador, October 21, 2020. https://www.elespectador.com/deportes/mas-deportes/el-beisbol-tambien-se-juega-en-municipios-del-caribe-article/.

5 Mariano Panchano, “Colombia Making Its Mark in Baseball, One Step at a Time,” MLB.com, March 4, 2023. https://www.mlb.com/news/featured/colombia-making-its-mark-in-baseball-one-step-at-a-time.

6 Castro was born in Medellín, Colombia, in 1876 and played 42 games for the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League in 1902. Esteban (Steven) Bellán, a Cuban, played with the Troy Haymakers (1871-72) and New York Mutuals (1873) of National Association (NA), but the NA is no longer considered a major league.

7 “Orlando Cabrera y el legado de una leyenda del béisbol colombiano,” Infobae, November 3, 2022, https://www.infobae.com/america/colombia/2022/11/03/orlando-cabrera-y-el-legado-de-una-leyenda-del-beisbol-colombiano/.

8 Crehan.

9 Though often listed as 5-feeet-11, Cabrera is, by his own admission, 5-feet-9.

10 Art Davidson, “On Baseball: Cabrera Making It on His Own,” Milford (Massachusetts) Daily News, October 3, 2004. https://www.milforddailynews.com/story/sports/2004/10/03/on-baseball-cabrera-making-it/41182959007/.

11 Baseball Cube, Orlando Cabrera page. https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/player/993/prospects/.

12 Crehan.

13 Baseball Cube, Orlando Cabrera page. https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/player/993/awards/.

14 Crehan.

15 Jeff Blair, “First Order Is to Find a Lead-Off Man,” The Sporting News, September 8, 1997: 44.

16 Stephanie Myles “Baseball: Expos,” The Sporting News, March 16, 1998: 22.

17 Stephanie Myles “Baseball: Expos,” The Sporting News, July 13, 1998: 31.

18 Venezuelan League Statistics, Orlando Cabrera page. https://www.pelotabinaria.com.ve/beisbol/mostrar.php?ID=cabrorl001.

19 Stephanie Myles “Baseball: Expos,” The Sporting News, December 13, 1999: 68.

20 Expos at Yankees Box Score, July 18, 1999. https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA199907180.shtml.

21 Stephanie Myles, “Baseball: Expos,” The Sporting News, February 14, 2000: 60.

22 Stephanie Myles, “Baseball: Expos,” The Sporting News, May 7, 2001: 27.

23 Stephanie Myles, “Baseball: Expos,” The Sporting News, May 28, 2001: 47.

24 Stephanie Myles, “Baseball: Expos,” The Sporting News, November 19, 2001: 50.

25 Stephanie Myles, “N.L. East,” The Sporting News, December 24, 2001: 57.

26 Indians at Expos Box Score, June 21, 2022. https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2002/B06210MON2002.htm.

27 Crehan.

28 Dan Shaughnessy, “No Room for Neutrality,” Boston Globe, August 4, 2004. https://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2004/08/04/no_room_for_neutrality/.

29 Crehan.

30 “Orlando Cabrera en ‘el Magazine Deportivo’: Entrevista con el ex-MLB exclusiva de Caribe Sports,” originally streamed July 27, 2022, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlHZxQ7zp0Q.

31 Crehan.

32 Ben Shapiro, “Orlando Cabrera Retires: Looking Back on 3 Months That No Sox Fan Will Forget,” Bleacher Report, January 19, 2012. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1030622-orlando-cabrera-retires-looking-back-on-3-months-that-no-sox-fan-will-forget.

33 Davidson, “On Baseball: Cabrera Making It on His Own.”

34 Crehan.

35 Jorge Arangue Jr., “Now It’s Personal,” ESPN, April 21, 2008. https://www.espn.com/espnmag/story?id=3356524.

36 Michael Smithers, “2004 World Champion Orlando Cabrera Visits Polar Park April 13 for ‘Throwback Thursdays’ Debut.,” milb.com, April 18, 2023. https://www.milb.com/worcester/news/orlando-cabrera.

37 Smithers.

38 Ian Browne, Idiots Revisited: Catching up with the Red Sox Who Won the 2004 World Series (Thomaston, Maine: Tilbury House, 2014), 149.

39 Author’s telephone interview with Orlando Cabrera, June 27, 2023.

40 Baseballism Blog. http://baseballism.blogspot.com/2011/02/why-do-teams-keep-passing-on-orlando.html.

41 Crehan.

42 Crehan.

43 For Ultimate Zone Rating, see https://www.fangraphs.com/players/orlando-cabrera/766/stats#fielding.

44 Bill Shaikin, “‘A Good Run’ for Cabrera,” Los Angeles Times, July 9, 2005.

45 The DPOY award is now part of the Esurance MLB Awards and was voted by the fans. It is not connected to the Wilson Defensive Players of the Year Award (2012-present). For more information, consult Baseball Almanac, https://www.baseball-almanac.com/awards/defensive_player_of_the_year_award_plch.shtml.

46 Ozzie Guillén, “Rumbo a Chicago para una visita,” Ozzie Habla, January 19, 2012. http://ozziees.mlblogs.com/tag/orlando-cabrera/.

47 Crehan.

48 “Selected Batter-Pitcher Matchups for Orlando Cabrera,” Retrosheet. https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/C/MUS0_cabro001.htm.

49 US Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia, August 30, 2019, @USEmbassyBogota. https://twitter.com/USEmbassyBogota/status/1167602979270250496.

50 “Ex beisbolistas de grandes ligas desarrollan en Cartagena las Clínicas de Béisbol,” Noti Cartagena, date not published, https://noticartagena.com.co/ex-beisbolistas-clinicas-del-beisbol/.

51 “Orlando Cabrera en ‘el Magazine Deportivo’: Entrevista con el ex-MLB exclusiva de Caribe Sports.”

52 “Orlando Cabrera en ‘el Magazine Deportivo’: Entrevista con el ex-MLB exclusiva de Caribe Sports.”

53 Ernesto de la Hoz, “Cabrera entregó 77 mercados,” El Universal, April 24, 2020. https://www.eluniversal.com.co/deportes/cabrera-entrego-77-mercados-DY2717948.

54 Juan Manual Ulloque, “‘Hemos querido aportar un granito de arena en las necesidades de muchos afectados’: Orlando Cabreda,” Primer Tiempo, May 1, 2020. https://primertiempo.co/beisbol/hemos-querido-aportar-un-granito-de-arena-en-las-necesidades-de-muchos-afectados-orlando-cabrera/.

55 Orlando Cabrera and Diego Martínez, “El camino a las grandes ligas,” Spotify Podcasts. https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/elcaminohacialasgl/episodes/El-slump-en-el-bisbol-eepsl7.

56 Smithers, “2004 World Champion Orlando Cabrera Visits Polar Park April 13 for ‘Throwback Thursdays’ Debut,” The016. https://the016.com/videos/25/29131/orlando-cabrera-interview-with-michael-smithers.

57 “Pillow Talk Show Episode 5: Orlando Cabrera,” NESN, August 11, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0valS3Vcbk.

Curt Gowdy was the Cowboy behind the mike. Ned Martin quoted Ted Williams and Eudora Welty. Ken Coleman meant the Jimmy Fund. Bob Starr had a gentle lummox William Bendix kind of charm. In evaluating the Red Sox during the mid-to late 20th century, all helped baseball bewitch. Ken Harrelson was the Red Sox’ Southern-fried television analyst. Jon Miller mimed Vin Scully in English, Spanish, and Japanese. Don Orsillo left his father’s farm for Fenway Park. Jerry Remy fled the Red Sox infield to “talk a good game,” said the Boston Globe. Dave O’Brien traded the Mets for the Sox and ESPN. All treated losing like Starr’s partner after an Olde Towne Team loss. “Joe Castiglione is sitting here, looking like he’s been harpooned.” In New England the Red Sox are required study; thus, their Voices take defeat hard.

In 2015 Castiglione set a record for consecutive years broadcasting Red Sox radio and/or TV: 33 since 1983, topping Martin’s 32 (1961-92). On July 20, 2024, he received the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence – arguably sport’s most prestigious individual radio/TV honor.

Long ago Joe left a Hamden, Connecticut, youth to make Sox wireless his baseball leitmotif. “I’ve never met a man more comfortable in his own skin,” mused club president Larry Lucchino. Joe’s warmth is a reason why soldiers of Red Sox Nation in pink and red shirts, pants, and hats fill parks wherever the Townies play. “We travel well,” Joe describes their Diaspora, packing Camden Yards, Safeco Field, and Anaheim’s Big A. O’Brien adds: “There may be somewhere without Sox fans, but I haven’t found it.”

In 2010, Forbes magazine wrote, “[They] are so devoted they top our list of ‘America’s Best Sports Fans.’” Under extreme makeover, Castiglione evolved into everything Red Sox from a boyhood that was “all Yankees,” he said, there being little 1950s and early ’60s Sox interest west of the Naugatuck River. “Later, the area swung Boston’s way, but back then Mel Allen was the globe.” Once the Yankees’ radio/TV Voice hailed a taxi at night in Omaha, the driver not seeing who it was, and said, “Sheraton, please.” The cabbie swiveled his head, almost driving off the road. Variety termed Allen among “the world’s 25 most recognizable voices.”

Yogi Berra said, “If you can’t imitate him, don’t copy him.” Emulating Mel, Joe called backyard fungos like the 1940-64 Yankees announcer, asked Santa for a beer glass to pour sponsor Ballantine Ale, and half a century later confessed that “Allen’s the reason I’m in broadcasting today.” A “great vocabulary and greater pipes” sustained rout and rain. “He’d weave stories, so tough to master, never caught short” on a two-strike tale. “A Gowdy was great on nuts, bolts, and action.” Mel was the nation’s ultimate celebrity sportscaster, a thespian, not technician, whose 1964 pinstriped firing stunned.

“Allen was almost bigger than the product. I wonder how he’d have handled the Yankees’ fall” – no 1965-75 pennants after 14 in the prior 16 years. “As it was, they lost their identity,” harder to accept than the banal 1950s and early ’60s Sox having none. At Colgate University, Joe aired football and basketball, was a campus disc jockey, and hitchhiked 23 miles each Sunday to a commercial outlet to “spin records and read news.” He called the best part of college “Cooperstown being down the road,” his priorities sure. In 1967 he interned at Yanks affiliate WDEW in Westfield, Massachusetts, for the first time visiting Fenway. “It knocked me out,” said Castig, seeing the light. No Evil Empire could match the Sox’ Impossible Dream.

Castiglione graduated in 1968, then, “hating it,” moonlighted as a part-time salesman before getting a master’s at Syracuse. To pay tuition and “bolster my résumé,” Joe also worked at NBC-TV’s local WSYR as voiceover, Hollywood Matinee fill-in, and The Today Show cut-in. In 1970, at Youngstown, Ohio, his “one-man band” played football, hoops, sports at 6 and 11 P.M., and “six radio shows a day for very little money.” He spent the next decade in Cleveland news and sports, covered the Edmund Fitzgerald’s 1976 sinking in Lake Superior, and aired another wreck, the 1979 Indians. In 1981, Joe called the Brewers’ split-season title, paraphrasing Russ Hodges: “The Brewers win the second half! The Brewers win the second half!” Cheeseheads still chant it among bowling, brats, and beer.

A year later Joe returned to Cleveland’s struggling The Sports Exchange, TV’s first regional network, headed by Ted Stepien. By January 1983, all staff but Castig had been canned. One day mikeman Casey Coleman, Ken’s son, sent Joe’s tape to Sox flagship WPLM, looking to replace Jon Miller. Brewers broadcast guru Bill Haig gave a thumbs-up: “especially good on word-pictures.” What wasn’t good was timing. Joe was scheduled to meet Monday with Stepien – “my assignment, to bring doughnuts.” Instead, he flew to Boston four days earlier to interview, meet WPLM head Jack Campbell, and visit Coleman pėre Friday night.

Next morning Campbell cautioned, “You’ve got the job, but don’t tell anybody. We’ll announce you Monday.” In Ohio, neither doughnuts nor Joe arrived; Stepien refused later to talk to him on the phone. The ex-college DJ – “Give me the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, and my favorite, Motown Sounds” – found Ken caught between Bing Crosby and Patti Page. “Sort of like the Red Sox fan, likes things as they were.” On the field, 1983 sixth-place things were dismal. “People ask, ‘How do you sound excited working when your team is down 20 games?’” said Joe. “They don’t understand that no two games are the same. It’s like a lousy long-playing record. You look for a good song to play.”

Jim Rice‘s song played a league-high 39 homers and 126 runs batted in. Boston’s purest hitter post-Kid played another melody. Wade Boggs was superstitious, “eating chicken at all his meals,” said Marty Barrett, “and running sprints at the same time each night.” He was experimental, as girlfriend Margo Adams showed, and a Merlin at bat, taking the 1983 and 1985-88 AL titles (.361, .368, .357, .363, and .366, respectively). The most abiding tune, “Yastrzemski Song,” by Hub radio/TV’s Jess Cain, to the melody of the Hallelujah Chorus, hailed a man who retired in 1983, running around the field in his final game, handshaking everywhere, and playing left field for the first time since cracking his ribs in 1980: “The love-in complete,” said Ned. To Peter Gammons, it “passionately explain[ed] that he understood what makes the Olde Towne Team what it is.”

Yastrzemski played every inning in a Boston uniform. In 1981 George Steinbrenner and Ted Turner offered to pay him “three times what I could make here. But I didn’t want to leave,” Yaz said. “I liked it here. I liked … what the [Red Sox] are.” No. 8 ranked first lifetime in AL games (3,308) and third in total at-bats (11,998), major-league baseball games, and walks (1,845), sixth in total bases (5,539) in the league, and ninth in AL RBIs (1,844). At 43, he was also the oldest to play center field. “I saw the sign that read, ‘Say It Ain’t So, Yaz,’ and I wish it wasn’t,” he had said, thanking the Nation, ownership’s Jean and Tom Yawkey, and third-year manager Ralph Houk in his 1983 farewell. “I wish we could have been together for [all] 23 years, “cause I know we’d have won more pennants.”

None of this reassured Joe as a rookie – “part of Jack Campbell’s cost-cutting program,” he joked, living the whole season at Boston’s Susse Chalet, his family in Cleveland because it couldn’t sell the house. “Twenty-six dollars a night,” he said. “But the worst part was packing my trunk and taking it to the basement each time we went on a road trip so I wouldn’t be charged for the room while I was away.” Meanwhile, Hub print treated him, as Ring Lardner once wrote, like a side dish it declined to order. Why was Miller in Baltimore? Why wasn’t Martin on the wireless? The Boston Herald’s Jim Baker had Joe fired. “I got ripped a lot that first year,” said Castig, “and it hurt.”

By 2000 the Globe’s Bob Ryan wrote, “It’s time someone finally said it: Joe Castiglione is the official ‘Voice of the Boston Red Sox.’” Typically, Joe demurred. “It’s different today,” he said, “with the proliferation of media. There’s [cable], over-the-air TV, and radio – not like the good old days. To call one person that would be misleading.” In turn, Ryan cried tommyrot: “The No. 1 radio man will always be the essential link between a … team and its fans.” In New England “that voice belongs to Joe Castiglione.” Ryan conceded Joe’s “voice ripe for parody – comparatively thin and reedy and nasally.” Offsetting it were traits undervalued in 1983, including decency, credibility, precision – writer Jack Craig said that if a ground ball took three hops, Castiglione would say three, not two or four – and encyclopedic baseball knowledge.

“I’ve always been blessed with good recall,” he told Ryan. “But I have a system. I start a file card on every player. I still do them in longhand because it helps the recall process.” His freshman year, Joe recalled growing up and watching on New York Channel 11 the Mantle–Maris Yankees, managed by Ralph Houk, once decorated in the Battle of the Bulge, The Major’s pinstripes made the 1961-63 World Series. “You assumed the Yanks’d make it every year,” said Joe. In late 1983, the now-Sox skipper asked how he was.

“I don’t know, Ralph,” said Castiglione. “I’m not sure I’m coming back.” His boyhood manager then put an arm around the rookie. “Everybody’s happy,” Houk said. “You’re doing a hell of a job.” At that moment, Joe likely mourned being too young to have served the Major at Bastogne.

The 1984-85 Red Sox finished fourth and fifth, respectively. John McNamara, a baseball lifer, succeeded the retired Houk as manager. March 1986’s Sport magazine wrote, “The Red Sox are the most boring team in baseball.” On April 29 they hosted Seattle on a “chilly, misty night,” said Joe, “the kind of game that brings out only the diehards – and the announcers.” In 1984 Roger Clemens went 9-4; in 1985, had shoulder surgery; in 1986, needed a van to move his hardware. “This night the basketball Celtics played a playoff set at Boston Garden – a big game,” said Martin. “So our [WSBK] TV audience was limited, and so was the crowd” – 13,414.

Before the game, Castiglione had a premonition. “I knew Roger was on his game that night, because batters usually hit a lot of fouls off him.” That evening, the Mariners mostly swung and missed. “Something’s going to happen,” Joe said. What did: “the most memorable game of the most memorable season of my life.” (He spoke before 2004.) Clemens had 12 K’s by the fifth inning. Word filtered to the Garden, which began emptying: The Rocket was on a roll. Steve Carlton, Nolan Ryan, and Tom Seaver held the bigs’ nine-inning mark of 19 strikeouts. Roger K’d the last two batters in the seventh inning, the side in the eighth, and the first two in the ninth – 19 total. After the final man fanned, TV’s Martin spoke as if still on radio: “And here they come up at Fenway! A new record! Clemens has set a major-league record for strikeouts in a game! Twenty! What a performance by the kid from the University of Texas!” Joe gulped, “One after another – and I felt a thrill like I’ve never known in baseball.” Clemens added: “The strikeouts just came on coming.” He finished 24-4, had a league-low 2.48 ERA, and won the Cy Young and MVP.

“We weren’t a powerful club, not a lot of homers, but fate seemed to like us,” said Joe, ironically, as fate later showed. One ninth inning Boston trailed Texas, 1-0, as Barrett and Steve Lyons each slid into second base – “me from one direction,” Lyons said, “Marty the other.” Outfielder George Wright’s throw took a wrong turn into the Rangers’ dugout. Both scored: Sox win. Another day, down, 2-1, in the 12th, Don Baylor popped between home plate and third base to ex-Townie Rick Burleson, “of all people,” laughed Castiglione, “playing for the Angels at the end of his career.” The Rooster’s dropped pop and a balk helped Boston win, but masked a flaw. On CBS Radio’s “Home Town Inning,” Joe called Dave Henderson the fastest Sox runner. Analyst Sparky Anderson was amazed: “If you think that guy’s fast, that shows how slow your team is.”

Despite being station-to-station, the Red Sox rallied from a 3-1 game deficit to win the LCS. Then, 13 times they needed only one pitch in the 10th inning of Game Six to take the World Series against the Mets. Michael Dukakis had just finished a gubernatorial debate with his GOP foe “when I saw the ball go through Bill Buckner’s legs.” Waiting to interview the imminent champion Sox in their clubhouse, Joe heard a clubhouse security agent turn on his radio. Finding the score tied, Castig raced for the booth, reached the runway, and heard a roar. “I never saw the play, but my heart sank. I knew it was over.” In 2001, former US Senator George Mitchell, hoping that life “lasts long enough to see the Red Sox win a World Series,” said that 1986 still made him ask: Was he dreaming, “kidding himself once more?”

In California, a Bostonian called by The Wall Street Journal “America’s greatest thinker on crime, punishment, and historical order” had been at a meeting “at the worst possible time.” Adjourning, James Q. Wilson raced to his Los Angeles hotel. “No longer would Red Sox fans have to bear the crushing hex put on them by the sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees, a sale that seemed to end forever any chance of the Sox owning the baseball world.” In his room, the Harvard professor watched “the most famous, agonizing, gut-wrenching [10th] inning of baseball that I ever watched.” One more out – and “the Sox would own the world. I would be ecstatic, emotionally young forever.”

Meantime, Bob Stanley and Mookie Wilson staged an extraordinary battle. Even after the Boston reliever’s seventh pitch was wild, scoring the tying run, “all was [still] not lost. If Mookie were put away, the Sox could score again in the 11th. One more strike and Red Sox fans could breathe.” James Q. Wilson picked up the telephone, dialed the area code of his home and first six digits of his number, and readied to press the last digit on Mookie’s out: “My wife and I could celebrate at least staying alive.” Instead, he put the phone back in its cradle. “My youth was over. I was now, at least for baseball, an old man. The Curse lived on.” Back east, a friend asked if he knew that Buckner, so depressed at missing the ground ball, had leapt in front of a speeding bus. “Oh, no,” Wilson said. “Not to worry,” the friend replied. “It went between his legs.”

Half a million graced a Sox post-Game Seven parade through Boston. “For me it took away some sting,” said Castiglione. “Not for McNamara.” Entering skip’s office to say goodbye, Joe found Mac disconsolate. “Why me, why me?” John said. “I go to church, have my whole life. I don’t understand why this had to happen.” Neither did Wilson, ultimately teaching at Boston College near children and grandchildren. Said The Wiser but Sadder Man prior to his death in 2013: “They have a legal obligation to be within 30 minutes of Fenway Park.”

American dramatist and humorist George Ade said, “The time to enjoy a European tour is about three weeks after you unpack.” It took a long time to unpack 1986’s baggage. In 1987, Joel Krakow of the Newton, Massachusetts, Captain Video Store knew where to put the 1986 Series highlight film: the horror/science fiction section. That fall McNamara sat in the dugout before the last regular-season game: “You know, I sit here thinking and I still can’t believe we lost the [Series] sixth game. … There’s a part of me that just doesn’t believe it: one f – ing out. That’s all we needed was one f – ing out.”

Retiring, Reggie Jackson batted a last time in 1987 in Boston. Sherm Feller, 69, had been Sox P.A. announcer since 1967, mixing beloved understatement and exacting prose. Each game began, “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Fenway Park.” Feller’s drip-drop cadence kept it simple – “Number 23, Luis Tiant. Pitching, Tiant” – due to calling a game without his dentures. On Jackson’s adieu, Feller, who died in 1994, said memorably: “Number 44, Mr. October.” Reggie’s pending absence was not Boston’s sole change. In 1988, Margo Adams, a former mortgage broker, filed a $6 million suit for breach of oral contract against Boggs, charging that he reneged on repaying her for time and wages lost traveling with him on the road. The media went kablooey. On TV’s Donahue, Margo described the married Wade crashing teammates’ rooms and shooting compromising photos of them with other women – maneuvers aka “Delta Force.” No force could save the skipper, radio talk crying “Knife the Mac!”

Mrs. Yawkey convened a meeting, Mac leaving July 14 – Bastille Day – with his head, if not job. Coach Joe Morgan – Castiglione’s best friend, Walpole native, and Massachusetts Turnpike worker – became “interim manager.” One Joe loved the other’s line: “Interim is not in my vocabulary. I am the manager until they tell me otherwise.” Morgan Magic began with a 12-game win streak and AL record 24 straight wins at home. Rice and Dwight Evans had defied Mac. This skipper didn’t cower. When Morgan inserted a pinch-hitter to bunt, Rice yanked him into the dugout runway. Joe traded shoves, emulating Studs Terkel: “I’m the manager of this nine.” Margo’s squeeze hit .366. Clemens’ eight shutouts were Boston’s most since Ruth. The Townies hailed Oakland’s LCS sweep by uncorking a bender on their flight home. On Hub TV, Rocket mourned having to carry his luggage and how “there are … things that are a disadvantage to a family here.” To Castig, the Sox were making the Bronx Zoo look like Mayberry.

Joe thought Morgan “the most colorful-ever” Sox skipper” – the “original Honest Abe.” By 1989, Boston platooned catchers: lefty-swinging Rich Gedman, “a great guy,” and righty Rick Cerone, “not a great guy.” One night Chicago started righty Shawn Hillegas. After the pre-game show, Joe said, “Maybe I should have asked this on air, but why is Cerone, not Gedman, catching?” Morgan said: “Hillegas is left-handed. Therefore, Cerone’s going to catch.” Castiglione shook his head. “Hillegas is right-handed” “Oh, gees, I screwed up,” said Morgan, not saying gees. “What am I going to tell Gedman?” Joe went to find him and confess. Naturally, Cerone homered to win the game, and Castig mused, “Should I give the background, or not? No, Joe’s my friend. What good would it do to say, ‘Here’s why Cerone’s playing’? I let it go, we’ll see what happens.” Since Morgan played the racetrack, writers asked, “Did you have a hunch, like a horse, playing Cerone?” Joe said, “No, I screwed up. I thought Hillegas was a lefty. That’s why Cerone played, and why I apologized to Gedman.” On second thought, said Castig, “Maybe Morgan is George Washington, who never told a lie.”

By turn, Adams posed nude in Penthouse magazine. Boggs confessed he was addicted to sex, Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd called him “a sex fiend,” and in Tampa a bomb threat forced a change in planes. Around the league, fans chanted “Mar-go!” GM Lou Gorman, trying to trade Wade, whiffed. “You’d think the law of averages would even out – that they would win one,” said the club’s greatest second baseman, Bobby Doerr. You’d think. In August, the Sox added Yaz’s retired number 8 on the right-field façade to Williams’ No. 9 and Joe Cronin’s 4 (from 1984) and Doerr’s No. 1 (1988). The list scrawled half-taunt and half-lament: 9-4-1-8, the month of the last Red Sox world title. Seeking less to forget than redeem himself, Bill Buckner made the 1990 Sox: cheered Opening Day, but retired by June. The year ended aptly: Boston won its third AL East title in five years, lost LCS Games One-Three, then imploded. Clemens argued a call, shoved one umpire, and threatened another. Players scuffled, reliever Larry Andersen leaving the pen to restrain Rocket’s rage. Oakland swept. A Herald cartoon drew Clemens as a baby on the mound, a bottle in one hand, shouting “Bleep!”

“Some Okie I am,” Sooner-born and ex-Angels Voice Bob Starr said, succeeding Coleman on 1990 Sox radio. Joe recalled “his wearing plaid dotted shirts, loving golf, and Ken-like vintage music.” Three years later Starr returned to Anaheim, dying in 1998 from a lifetime of chain smoking. He missed 1995: New flagship WEEI aired the LCS first “wild card” preamble – best-of-five Division Series (DS). 1996: Boston fired a Kennedy – skipper Kevin – unthinkable by ballot. In a designated hitter’s league, Rocket singled “up the middle,” said Joe. “Can you believe it?” – a phrase to use again. Jimy Williams became manager, speaking “Jimy-wocky”: e.g., “If a frog had wings, it wouldn’t bump its booty.” 1998: Slugger Mo Vaughn, arrested for drunk driving, braved a withdrawn Sox contract and mandatory psychological test for alcoholism. Acquitted, he felt insulted. “You can’t ignore the human equation,” said Joe of Mo’s exit. GM Dan Duquette, staff explained, was not a people person.

In 1998 Montreal’s Pedro Martinez joined the Sox, proceeding to throw a 1-0 complete game – “First at Fenway in a decade!” chorused Joe. 1999: Before Fenway Park’s first All-Star Game since 1961, Ted Williams rode a golf cart through a hole in the center-field bleachers down the warning track, along the boxes, around the plate, and toward the mound, All-Stars circling The Kid. The crowd went over the moon. “Do you ever smell the wood burn?” Ted asked Mark McGwire of bat on ball. Rafael Palmeiro refused to leave: “That’s the chance of a lifetime.” MVP Martinez K’d five of his first six batters. The sport had seldom seemed more certain of its place. Boston rallied against Cleveland to win the Division Series, three games to two, the final 12-8 “on the best pitcher in baseball’s … six no-hit innings in relief coming off an injury,” Joe said of Pedro.

In 2000 Ned Martin entered the Red Sox Hall of Fame, whose room shook on his introduction. The ovation stunned him, bringing tears. In 2002 Teddy Ballgame, 83, died of cardiac arrest. That July 22, Ned attended the Ted Williams Tribute at Fenway Park – his first trip back since a 1992 firing. “He’d had a bad back and knee and hip replacement, but wouldn’t miss it,” said son Roley. “He just enjoyed the whole night, especially the videos at the end, the Field of Dreams song, [and] ‘Taps.’” Martin, Yaz, and Gammons reminisced in an on-field ceremony. Ned saw longtime employees, inevitably treating them like royalty, and spoke to Remy, Pesky, Gowdy, and Coleman, who said, “He had a style all his own. He loved the game, and the history of the game.”

Castiglione called next morning by cell phone, finding Martin, 78, “very chipper.” Ned flew to Raleigh-Durham Airport, caught a shuttle bus, and had a massive heart attack. The Sox were playing when news of his death reached Fenway. Red-eyed, Remy reported it on the New England Sports Network (NESN), later saying, “I think what made it tougher is that I’d just seen him the day before.” A moment of silence and a video screen goodbye preceded the next game. “Those who always feel the ‘good old days’ were better than the present might … this time … be right,” wrote the Globe’s Bill Griffith. Said daughter Caroline: “[Papa’s] love was his family [wife Barbara, of 51 years, three children, and nine grandchildren], and his dogs and cat, Emily, and the country.” Mercy! Martin was the cat’s meow.

Ned would have nodded as USA Today called Fenway Park “a cathedral,” daily filled pew by pew. Even on the road the Red Sox were SRO. Baltimore’s color scheme skewed red. Castig met a man who had seen every Boston game in Kansas City since it got the A’s in 1955. In Anaheim, the Nation filled seats of many leaving after the seventh inning to miss traffic. “We’re the home team,” Joe laughed, “for at least half of our games away.”

In 1914 British Foreign Minister Sir Edward Grey lamented World War I: “The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.” New England’s lamps went on in late 2001, when new ownership bought the franchise. That December 20, the Yawkey Trust accepted an estimated $660 million offer, plus $40 million in assumed debt, for Fenway Park, the Red Sox, and 80 percent of NESN from a group led by former Orioles head Larry Lucchino, Hollywood producer Tom Werner, hedge-fund manager John Henry, and other partners. The sale saved Fenway, though that was not then clear. Within a decade the Red Sox became baseball’s model franchise, selling out a big-league record 820 straight games.

Boston won a wild-card spot in 1998-99 and 2003, but again dropped the Division Series or League Championship Series. Defeat obscured Sox building blocks. Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield seven times won 10 or more games starting and relieving, his ERA and record as good as 2.81 and 17-8, respectively. Jason Varitek became the regular catcher, three-time All-Star, and “our rock,” said Joe. Another block arrived in 2001 already having driven in 165 runs in a year – baseball’s most since Jimmie Foxx. Manny being Manny in later years meant loafing, faking injury, and huffing “Boston doesn’t deserve me” – teammates, sick of him, agreed. Then, Manny Ramirez meant awesome strength, plate discipline, and hand-eye skill. He could spray the ball, pull 400 feet with one hand, and hit best when it counted most: e.g., a record 29 postseason homers. In 2004 Manny hit 44 doubles; in 2005, he parked 45 dingers; in 2006, Ramirez batted .321. His real au revoir was 2007’s LCS, with nine walks and 10 RBIs.

Four straight years Johnny Damon topped the Red Sox in steals. Boston had two 20-win pitchers for the first time since 1949: Derek Lowe 21-8, Pedro 20-4. In 2003 David Ortiz, a 6-foot-4, 230-pound Dominican who greeted people as “bro” or “papi” – hence, Big Papi – left Minnesota for the Fens. The worst of his next five years combined .288, 31 homers, and 101 RBIs. The 2003 Sox hit a franchise-record 238 homers, scored a second-best-to-1950 961 runs, beat Oakland in a five-game Division Series, then went forth to the LCS – the usual rival, with the usual result. “I’ll never forget Martinez jabbing a finger into the side of his head,” said Castiglione of Game Three at Fenway. “Some [like Yankees coach Don Zimmer] thought it meant a beanball coming.”

Next inning Manny protested a high strike call. As benches cleared, Zim charged Pedro, who, confused by role reversal, threw the ex-Sox manager, 72, to the ground. On air, Sox radio’s Jerry Trupiano did a double-take: “Nobody does this, beating up a guy: This can’t be happening.” Castiglione took a longer view: “Look at Zimmer, Clemens, changing teams: in one fight, the Red Sox-Yankees intersection.” New York’s 4-3 decision ended with reliever Jeff Nelson and a groundskeeper scuffling in the bullpen. Down 6-4 and in games, 3 to 2, Boston rallied to tie the series, 9-6, Trot Nixon homering in the ninth. “His second of the game!” Joe ooh-ahed. “What a game!” You ain’t seen nothing’ yet.

The final threatened to cast the Curse in perpetuity. Pedro led, 4-0, then 5-2. In his book, Now I Can Die in Peace, Bill Simmons claims that general manager Theo Epstein and ownership told second-year skipper Grady Little to yank Martinez when he a) threw 100 pitches or b) finished the seventh inning, whichever came first. In the eighth, Pedro yielded another run, had two men on, and looked up to see his skipper. “Let me stay in,” said Martinez. “No, out,” Little said. “I feel good. I can get through it,” Pedro replied, the Sox pen kaput. “OK,” Little said, guessing wrong. Two hits tied the score at 5-5. “Here we go again!” Castiglione chorused. Few remember Nixon’s, Ortiz’s, Kevin Millar’s, or Jason Giambi’s two homers: only Aaron Boone, past midnight at The Stadium, arcing Wakefield’s 11th-inning pitch. “Swing, a long drive to left field! Down the line! Deep toward the corner! If it’s fair, it’s gone! And it is – gone!” said Joe. “A home run! The New York Yankees have won the pennant!” The Pinstripes’ Charley Steiner bellowed, “And the Yankees are going to the World Series for the 39th time in their remarkable history!” Sox history was remarkable, too, if you could look past the pain.

Regard postseason as a TV cliffhanger – “cliff-dweller,” Mets manager Wes Westrum malapropped – like Dallas’s “Who Shot J.R.?” Ought-three’s seguéd to 2004 like two veins from a common mine. Terry Francona replaced Little as manager. Curt Schilling led the AL in victories (21-6), second in ERA (3.26), and third in innings (226⅔); he and Pedro the first Sox teammates with 200 K’s in a year. “We need guys who save runs,” said Epstein, trading Nomar Garciaparra for first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz and shortstop Orlando Cabrera. Papi and Manny meant runs: first post-1931 AL mates to tie .300, 30 homers, and 100 RBIs.

By then, Castiglione taught broadcast journalism at Northeastern and Franklin Pierce Universities, was Jimmy Fund charity-club liaison, and grasped retired Jesuit priest Boston College historian John Day terming radio an apostolate to the shut-in, disabled, and elderly. “That showed me I was freeloading for life,” he said, writing 2004’s Broadcast Rites and Sites, advice for the road. It was not required reading. The October of its release is. Boston swept the Division Series from the Halos. Schilling lost the LCS opener – the Yanks again – 10-7. Next night Pedro pitched, having said, “They beat me. I just tip my hat and call the Yankees my daddy.” The Bronx crowd unloosed a Bronx cheer: “Who’s Your Daddy?” – Stripes, 3-1. A change of scenery further unhosed the Sox, 19-8, Joe thinking, “The ’04 Red Sox are better than this” – just not good enough to pivot a 0-3 game deficit, since no postseason team had.

What happened next helped redeem the past 86 years. Game Four took 5 hours and 2 minutes and had “the single most important steal in Red Sox history,” said Castiglione, conceding little competition. In the ninth inning, up, 4-3, reliever Mariano Rivera walked Millar, thrice threw to first base, then tossed outside as the pinch-runner tried to steal. “Here is the throw! Roberts dives, and he is safe!” said Joe. “Stolen base, Dave Roberts the hand tag. [Derek] Jeter took the throw. It was close – very close at second.” Bill Mueller then singled to tie the score. In the 12th, Papi channeled the right-field seats, 6-4. A night later Ortiz’s 14th-inning bloop gave the Sox another win, 5-4. “And a little flare, center field!” Trupiano crowed. “Here comes Johnny Damon with the winning run!”

The Townies’ history flaunts tales in which the Red Sox have been rich. 1941, Williams’ .406 average; 1948, Lou Boudreau, clubbing journeyman Denny Galehouse in the first AL playoff; 1960, The Kid’s Final Swing; 1975, Carlton Fisk’s Game Six sock hop; 1978, Jim Woods’ crying of Bucky Dent, “Suddenly the whole thing is turned around”; 1986, Vin Scully’s “gets through Buckner” call. Few top the Bloody Sock. Doctors had vainly tried to stabilize Schilling’s ankle tendon, which kept popping out of place. Before Game Six, team doctor Bill Morgan’s new procedure – “three sutures forming a wall to keep it intact” – helped Curt pitch seven innings, his stirrup soaked in blood. In the eighth, up, 4-2, Boston’s Bronson Arroyo got tying run Alex Rodriguez to dribble near the mound, tagged him near the line, then had A-Rod dislodge the ball: “It rolls down the right-field line!” said Joe. “Jeter hits third, and he’s going to score! A-Rod at second! He should have been out!” It seemed “a mental ‘Not another Red Sox tragic moment!’”

Instead, umpire-in-chief Joe West called Rodriguez out for obstruction, leading bad apples to throw debris, Boston to leave the field, and Big Apple police to wear riot gear. That night, the series tied, Castig previewed his LCS-ending call – “Before, why would I? The Yankees had history on their side.” Joe found that Boston’s last “significant victory” over them had been in 1904 – “then-Highlander Jack Chesbro’s wild pitch scoring Boston’s pennant-clinching run” – one hundred years earlier! Since then, the Stripes had won every crucial set. Next night Ortiz “hammered a [first-inning] drive deep to right field!” said Joe. “And this ball is gone!” – 2-0. Next inning Damon lined “back toward the corner! [Gary] Sheffield looking up! Grand slam!” He later went deep again. An 8-1 lead gave Joe more time to think. “My call had to mention this unparalleled comeback, and how it beat the Yankees.”

Boston’s heart of darkness was not so easily assuaged. In suburban Brookline, ex-presidential nominee Michael Dukakis turned to wife Kitty and said, “You know, we could still lose.” At almost the same time, he later learned, Lucchino turned to Werner at The Stadium and said, “You know, we could still lose.” At 12:01 A.M. October 21, pinch-hitter Ruben Sierra grounded to second base. “Pokey Reese has it!” whooped Castiglione. “He throws to first! And the Red Sox have won the American League pennant [10-3]! Their greatest victory in team history! In the 104 years of the Boston Red Sox, this is the most important of them all” – beating “their archrival. Move over, Babe, the Red Sox are American League champions!” Later, Joe termed his view fact, not opinion, “for without that victory what happened next doesn’t happen.”

Like the 1963 Dodgers, 1966 Orioles, and 1989 Athletics, the 2004 Red Sox never trailed in the World Series. Still, Joe mocked the thought of letdown, since “beating the Yankees would have meant less if the Sox had lost the Classic” – another what-if. Instead, the Series versus St. Louis scripted what John Henry called “the biggest story in New England since the Revolutionary War.” Not wishing to contradict, Castiglione mused, “I think he understates.” Unlike the LCS, Boston’s 3-0 game edge let Joe anticipate Game Four’s finish. This presumed a Series-ending victory, Boston leading, 3-0, in the fifth inning. That morning Castig decided the script must write itself: “I just hoped the final out would be definitive, no checked swing, did he or didn’t he trap the ball?” In the seventh inning, he went to a restroom to change, expecting a postgame bath.

By the ninth, Trupiano was in the clubhouse, Joe alone, so focused “I wouldn’t have heard a firecracker go off under me.” Reliever Keith Foulke got Scott Rolen to fly out and Jim Edmonds to fan, Busch Stadium oozing Red Sox caps and shirts, non-ticket-holders admitted late by gracious ballpark brass. A lunar eclipse hung above the yard – a World Series first. Light bulbs resembled a phalanx of fireflies. Before now, Joe said, his greatest call “hasn’t happened yet.” It did Wednesday, October 27, at 10:40 P.M. Central Time. “Swing [by Edgar Renteria] and a ground ball, stabbed by Foulke! He has it! He underhands to first! And the Red Sox have won baseball’s world championship for the first time in 86 years! The Red Sox have won baseball’s world championship! Can you believe it?” The question was rhetorical.

“The Boston Red Sox have forever put that 1918 chant to rest as this band of characters who showed great character all season have won the world championship for New England!” said Castiglione, who recited, “And there’s pandemonium on the field!” – Martin’s 1967 encomium – and Bart Giamatti’s essay Green Fields of the Mind: Baseball “breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart,” except that now it sounded, as Fitzgerald wrote, “like a tuning-fork that had been struck upon a star.” In 1975 a then-record 124 million people viewed all or part of the Red Sox-Reds World Series. Game Six of the 1986 Mets-Sox fall classic wooed 81 million, still baseball’s most-watched-ever match. In our cable-fractured age, the 2004 Townies lured the highest Series TV audience since 1996. The Boston Globe swelled its daily press run from 500,000 to 1.2 million, selling out.

The Saturday after the Series, a rolling rally of 17 amphibious vehicles began at Fenway, turned onto Boylston Street, then Tremont Street and Storrow Drive, before entering the Charles River. It passed under the Harvard Bridge, a mass above and upon each bank – Boston’s largest-ever event drawing three million of the devoted and crazed. Offseason the Red Sox took the Commissioner’s World Series trophy to the far outposts of New England and beyond, Castiglione’s signet now “Can you believe it?” In New Haven, Lucchino, the Yale Law alum, asked Joe to repeat it, rapture all around. By phone, mail, in person, and by Internet, the Nation hailed, as fife and drum had at Yorktown, “The World Turned Upside Down.” The getting that was good got even better as the Sox also won the 2007, 2013, and 2018 Series. Such a makeover is hard to find.

On Opening Day 2005 in the Fens – Sox 8, Yanks 1 – Castiglione got a World Series ring, each Townie’s presented by soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. Watching was Joe’s son Duke: a New York Fox 5 sports anchor and Sports Extra and WWOR Yankees postgame host. Formerly, Duke had been WHDH Hub anchor, ESPN SportsCenter and Around the Horn guest host, and Sunday Night Baseball, World Baseball Classic, and WCBS New York reporter. (Joe’s and wife Jean’s other children were son Tom and daughter Kate.) The ’05ers looked to Wakefield: Sox-best in wins, ERA, innings, complete games, and strikeouts. A year later, Schilling got his 200th victory and 3,000th K. “Unbelievable control,” said Joe, “could be a prima donna, but ice cold under pressure.” An old cigarette ad puffed, “I’d walk a mile for a Camel.” Schilling would walk that long for a camera.

Boston won the 2005 wild card, losing the Division Series to Chicago. In the offseason the team obtained Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell. Reliever Jonathan Papelbon had a 0.92 ERA in 2006. That September a Papi home run broke Jimmie Foxx’s 1938 franchise-high 50. “There’s a fly ball! Right-center field deep! Back by the bullpen!” said Joe. “And David Ortiz has set a Red Sox record,” leading in homers (54) and RBIs (137). The Sox finished third, their worst standing since 1997. In 2007, they swept the Division Series against California, edged Cleveland in a taut seven-game LCS, and swept Colorado in the Series. To Joe, 2004 was “for dead relatives and friends who hadn’t lived to see a title,” many putting balls and caps and pennants on a gravesite, including his brother-in-law on Joe’s late dad’s. Signs at the rolling rally cited a college mate, Uncle Fred, “You won for my grandma” – catharsis. Ought-seven hailed success. “We were baseball’s best team,” said Castig, not certain in 2004. Beckett’s 20-7 record topped the AL. Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka – aka “Dice-K” – finished 15-12. Lowell led in RBIs (120), played a Fort Knox third base, and was a model citizen: to Castiglione, “maybe the most popular Red Sox since Yaz.”

Papi had a fifth straight season of at least 31 homers (35) and 101 RBIs (117) or more. Dustin Pedroia (.317) had a dirty uniform by batting practice. The Sox stole 96 bases in 120 tries. Jacoby Ellsbury, 23, stole nine in 33 games while hitting .353,

The Series was as one-sided as 2004’s. Boston’s .333 Series average, trailing only 1960 New York’s record .338. In Game Four, the team’s best fireman since Dick Radatz faced Seth Smith in the ninth. “Got him!” Joe said of Papelbon. “The Boston Red Sox become the first team in the [new] century to win two world championships!” Lucchino reminded you, “We won. They lost,” the rivalry still going yard. Another duck boat ride through downtown ensued. One feature was Ellsbury, who’d quickly become a teen heartthrob. “Some signs at our rolling rally proposed marriage [to him],” said Joe. Others would once have made mama wash out her daughter’s mouth with soap.

Joe would win the Dick Young Award for excellence, enter the Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame, air New England College and Northeastern hoops, and have part of Franklin Pierce University’s ballpark named in his honor. The New Englander knew that objectivity was in a listener’s ears. “We don’t openly root, but we pull, for the Sox.” The history major knew how they “are a historical team in a region filled with history.” Joe realized, as one-time baseball broadcaster Ronald Reagan said, that if a person hears 15 facts and one story “told well, it’s the story he recalls.” Daily, people met in Castig’s “office” – Fenway Park – an usher, groundskeeper, vacationer from Canada; a “peanut vendor and a sausage guy across the street.” Inside, “fans never see the passageways and shortcuts”: grounds equipment behind the Monster, door behind the scoreboard, staircase leading to an interview room, batting cage, or pen. Joe felt Fenway ideal for hide-and-seek – as mysterious as Stephen King and unpredictable as Poe.

Personae helped fill baseball’s dead air. In a three-hour game, the ball may be in play eight minutes. In 1960, another Joe, Garagiola, wrote the seminal Baseball Is a Funny Game. Boston’s Joe especially liked to call “gotcha” on himself. One night in 2007 Dave O’Brien addressed how Castig was no techie: retexting past messages, making an accidental 3 A.M. phone call, and a song about Joe somehow appearing on his iPod next to Marvin Gaye’s. He liked high-definition TV – assuming he could turn it on. “I could really use a permanent Geek Squad,” Joe confessed. “You need a personal assistant,” Dave agreed. “That’s going to be my Christmas gift for you. A full-time PA.” Castiglione: “I’ll take it.” After a commercial break, O’Brien praised his partner’s “good-naturedness” about being technically challenged. Joe replied, “I know my limitations.” No high-tech could save an especially slow game. “So we’ve played two really quick innings here,” said Castig. Dave: “Yeah, moving right along.” Joe: “You were clean shaven when this game began.”

In 2011, Castig covered Epstein’s “Dream Team” that by September 2 had leapfrogged the American League East, nine games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays. Boston then braved an epochal 7-20 year-end collapse: a fold even worse than 1978’s 3-14 September apocalypse. The Townies blew a last regular-season playoff spot, then finished last in the next year’s 2012 train wreck. Worst to first: Stunningly, the poor-on-paper 2013ers won the franchise’s third World Series in a decade. First to worst: The 2014 Sox went down the up staircase, placing last. In 2019, the year after their most recent title, they began another period of malaise on the diamond.

In 2015, the franchise feted Joe’s record 33rd straight season on the air, passing the beloved Martin. Daily Sox co-flagships WEEI and WEEI FM “made sure,” said Castig, “you can get us anywhere on the dial.” Their eight-state radio network boasted 65 outlets, including 15 in New Hampshire and Massachusetts and 13 in Maine: also Vermont (9), Connecticut (5), Rhode Island (1), and New York (6). The Empire State presence numbered three in the author’s home city of Rochester – Red Sox Nation’s westernmost fort save Wyoming’s one affiliate. The network is among baseball’s largest in states and outlets. Fittingly, in 2022, the team named Fenway’s radio booth in Joe’s honor.

From time to time some wonder why the Townies so matter. Tell them to visit New England in the summer before the wind turns harsh and the trees turn bare and a day matches night’s jaw-dropping chill. Read the Boston Globe and Herald. At a diner, hear Sox TV mikemen trade baseball patter. On a beach, listen to the wireless, as ubiquitous as body oil. Have a clergyman ask, “How about those Sawx?” Thanks largely to Joe Castiglione, you will understand what the religion of the Red Sox means.

Throughout, two constants have animated baseball’s unaverage Joe. The first is the Jimmy Fund, the Red Sox official charity to fight childhood cancer. Patients at its clinic are often visited by Castiglione and Boston players. Without a second constant, the Sox would not be the Sox – Fenway itself. No one described a ball hit toward left field’s Green Wall like Castig, “never knowing if it might scrape the paint coming down.” Want a drive to carry? “Pray the wind blows out,” he said. Want a fielder disrobed? “Hit to the Triangle.” Hope a bouncer over first becomes an inside-the-parker? “You’ve found the right place.”

To Joe, The Wall’s “nooks and crannies” – Fenway’s “eccentric angularities,” said Bart Giamatti – seemed especially magical when the Sox returned from the road in Sinatra’s “wee small hours of the morning.” It was empty as Castig “looked out on the field,” he said, making the yard “almost mystical. Imagine a fabled ballpark to yourself. You walk alone up a gangway, view the field lit only by the clock, see lights on Ted Williams Way, and watch Fenway just before dawn – well, it’s breathtaking.”  

In late 2024, Castiglione retired as Boston’s lead Voice, saddening its vast audience, most of whom have never met him, yet deem Joe part of an extended family: honest, an encyclopedia of baseball lore, and unerringly precise. Should the need arise, Castig may even call some Sox games next year, showing how baseball play-by-play prizes conversation, evoking wearability and easy listening.

Through good years and bad, writes David J. Halberstam, Joe Castiglione has “wafted softly through New England summers, a steady soundtrack on the radio. No nicknames, no hype and no gloom.” He became the region’s personality of the pastime in the flesh, reaching the pinnacle at Cooperstown in his last full big-league season. “Can you believe it?” You bet.

Author’s Note

This biography was originally published in The 1986 Boston Red Sox: There Was More Than Game Six (SABR, 2016). It has been updated at various points since then, most recently in November 2024.

Acknowledgments and Sources

I am indebted to several sources for the radio play-by-play and analysis contained herein: WEEI Radio executive sports producer Jon Albanese; noted major-league archivist John Miley; and Tom Shaer, former WITS Boston wireless reporter, now head, Tom Shaer Media in Chicago.

Virtually all other material, including quotes, is derived from my books:

America’s Dizzy Dean (St. Louis: The Bethany Press, 1978)

Voices of The Game: The Acclaimed Chronicle of Baseball Radio & Television Broadcasting – From 1921 to the Present (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992)

The Storytellers: From Mel Allen to Bob Costas: Sixty Years of Baseball Tales from the Broadcast Booth (New York: Macmillan,1995)

Of Mikes and Men: From Ray Scott to Curt Gowdy: Broadcast Tales from the Pro Football Booth (South Bend, Indiana: Diamond Communications, 1998)

Our House: A Tribute to Fenway Park (Chicago: NTC/Contemporary, 1999)

Voices of Summer: Ranking Baseball’s 101 All-Time Best Announcers (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2005)

The Voice: Mel Allen’s Untold Story (Guilford, Connecticut: The Lyons Press, 2007)

A Talk in the Park: Nine Decades of Baseball Tales from the Broadcast Booth (Washington D.C.: Potomac Books, 2011) 

Mercy! A Celebration of Fenway Park’s Centennial Told Through Red Sox Radio and TV (Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books, 2012)

The Presidents and the Pastime: The History of Baseball and the White House (University of Nebraska Press, updated version, 2024)