Keith Foulke
“I wish I had my own baseball card,” Chris Singleton remembers Keith Foulke saying to him during a road trip in El Paso while they were playing together in the Giants’ minor-league system. “He wasn’t a guy who was highly touted, but I said, ‘You’re good, man. It’s just a matter of time.’ Now, here he is, however many years later, and he’s one of the top closers in the game.”1
Many kids in East Texas dream of becoming professional football players and Keith Foulke was no exception. In high school he played both football and baseball, but it was a baseball scholarship to Galveston Junior College that changed his aspirations and ultimately the trajectory of his professional sports career. Fate coupled with a competitive spirit and a desire to win found him on the mound on October 27, 2004. That cold October night would live on in the memories of Red Sox Nation, forever cementing Keith Foulke as one the game’s heroes. The evening had an ethereal feeling with a total lunar eclipse, the first during a World Series. Because of cloud cover in St. Louis, the deep red moon was not visible, instead lending a copper hue to the sky over Busch Memorial Stadium.2 But at the peak of the eclipse, while Red Sox fans “around the country watched with a red ball in the October sky[,]”3 the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years to end the Curse of the Bambino. Before the game Foulke said, “I hope we win tonight. I’m ready for this to be over.”4 All of Red Sox Nation would have agreed and to add to the historic significance – and the superstitions of that night – the game was played on the 18th anniversary of Game Seven of the Red Sox’ loss to the Mets in 1986, a painful World Series memory for all Red Sox fans.
Even the way Game Four ended was unprecedented, with a final out at first base that every Red Sox fan, breaths held, watched as if time had stopped. Best described by Red Sox broadcaster Joe Castiglione, “A 1-and-0 pitch. Here it is. Swing and a groundball, stabbed by Foulke. He has it. He underhands it to first – and the Boston Red Sox are the world champions. For the first time in 86 years, the Red Sox have won baseball’s world championship. Can you believe it?”5 Foulke later recalled, “I was so excited when I saw the ball coming right back at me that I jumped higher than I needed to. That is a moment I will never, ever forget.”6 “But as soon as I had it and I tossed it towards first that’s when everything was like ‘holy cow, we actually did this.’”7 All of this emotion is best captured by the image of catcher Jason Varitek leaping into Foulke’s arms.
The 2004 Red Sox team, affectionately dubbed the Team of Idiots, was filled with large personalities and big talents, like Curt Schilling, Kevin Millar, Pedro Martínez, and David Ortiz. So, no surprise, Keith Foulke could go unseen. I was “never big on hyping myself as a closer, I was very quiet. Get the job done. Go celebrate with your boys.”8 A self-described “unextraordinary athlete,” he made “the transition from little-known minor leaguer to All-Star reliever sound highly unlikely.”9 However, he closed out all four World Series games, with a win in the first game and a save in the fourth. In the 2004 postseason, Foulke pitched in 11 of the 14 Red Sox games, giving up only one earned run in 14 innings for an ERA of 0.64.
It was exactly this competitiveness and focus on constant improvement that came to define his baseball career.
The Red Sox’ ability to close a game lacked cohesiveness and once again led to a frustrating loss against the Yankees in the 2003 Championship Series. By the end of 2004, the team bet on Foulke, who delivered exactly what was needed. From 2000 to 2004, Foulke was considered one of the best closers in baseball.10 In a career spanning 11 years, he pitched in 619 games (786 innings) with 191 saves, 718 strikeouts to 194 walks, an ERA of 3.33, and a record of 41-37. In his All-Star season of 2003 with the Oakland Athletics, Foulke led the American League with 43 saves and ranked in the season’s top 25 in 15 other major statistical categories.11 For the 2004 season, the Red Sox were looking for a quality closer. Foulke’s fastball was in the upper 80s and, as manager Terry Francona said, “Good teams have deep bullpens.”12 Although not as overpowering as Mariano Rivera, “from 1999-2004, Foulke was about as valuable as any reliever in the game, amassing a 2.43 ERA and 171 saves in 521⅔ innings. As a comparison during those same years, Rivera had a 2.20 ERA but threw 100 fewer innings.”13
Keith Charles Foulke was born to US Air Force Sergeant Charles and Pauline (Hagen) Foulke at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, on October 19, 1972. Chuck Foulke, a native of Youngstown, Ohio, had served in Vietnam. After he retired from the Air Force, the family, including 5-year-old Keith, moved to Texas, where Chuck became a deputy sheriff in Harris County (Houston). Chuck, an avid baseball fan, encouraged his son’s early love of sports and helped coach him, even working nights to make it possible. From an early age, Chuck said, Keith declared that he would be a professional baseball player. In Little League he learned proper throwing mechanics and the importance of control. By high school, his baseball skills were evident. Al Spangler, a 13-year major leaguer, was Foulke’s coach at Hargrave High School in Huffman, Texas, and spotted his natural talent, describing him as “head and shoulders above everyone else. … He was by far the best athlete I ever had here.”14 In his senior year Foulke earned district MVP honors.15
In 1991, after graduating from high school, Foulke accepted his only scholarship offer and found himself at Galveston (Texas) Junior College. In the fall of his freshman year, the Galveston Whitecaps participated in the team’s first fall baseball tournament. Head coach Dick Smith called Foulke “our outstanding individual of the tournament.”16 By his sophomore year, Foulke was chosen for the National Junior College All-Star team representing the US at an international tournament in Merida, Mexico. The US team finished third behind Cuba (first) and Mexico (second).17 In May 1993 Foulke and the team went on to the Junior College Division 1 Baseball World Series in Colorado, losing in the sixth round. That summer Foulke pitched in the Alaska Summer League with the Anchorage Bucs and was the team’s ace, helping to win their fifth straight championship with a 4-0 record and a 1.98 ERA. This drew the attention of the Detroit Tigers, who selected Foulke in the 14th round of the 1993 amateur draft, but Foulke did not sign.18 Anchorage coach Ed Cheff was the baseball coach for Lewis-Clark State College, a powerhouse college baseball program in Lewiston, Idaho, and Foulke who was searching for a championship, enrolled there. Cheff taught Foulke the mental toughness he would eventually need for postseason play in the coming years. Soon he caught the eye of John Shafer, a scout for the San Francisco Giants, and was taken by the Giants in the ninth round of the 1994 draft.19
In 1993 Foulke met Mandy Nicole Whitted at Lewis-Clark State College. That Thanksgiving Mandy brought Keith home to Boise, Idaho, to meet her parents. Keith and Mandy married in July 1997. After the 2004 World Series, Mandy’s mother, Pat Jones, recalled asking Keith during that first visit about his intentions with her daughter. Keith firmly stated he was going to become a major-league baseball player and make millions. Thinking it was youthful arrogance, Pat just smiled. “This table discussion has become part of our family lore,” she said in 2004.20
When Foulke joined the Everett Giants of the Northwest League in 1994 he was coached by Keith Comstock, a left-handed pitcher who had sometimes relied on his screwball during his own career.21 In the 1980s pitchers including Roger Clemens had regularly used the split-finger fastball, but by the time Foulke arrived with the Giants, the coaching staff discouraged the use of the splitter, believing that throwing it would reduce a pitcher’s speed.22 Foulke worried that this change in pitching philosophy might doom his career, even calling his father with his concern.23 Comstock, however, showed Foulke how he threw a screwball, which Foulke adapted into his changeup, working on it for the next seven years until the late 1990s when he fully developed his “fastball up and in, and changeup down in the zone.”24 He learned early that control was his weapon and never sacrificed it for velocity, making him particularly effective against lefties.
Foulke moved through the Giants’ minor-league system very quickly, being promoted to Shreveport of the Double-A Texas league in 1996. There he met Doug Mirabelli, his future Red Sox teammate, who said, “He was a very confident guy, he threw strikes and he had three good pitches.”25 On May 21, 1997, Foulke debuted with the Giants, and pitched in 11 games that season. But the Barry Bonds-led clubhouse of the Giants was a tough environment, with Foulke commenting, “I was pretty overwhelmed.”26 In July he was traded to the Chicago White Sox along with five other prospects, in what was called the “White Flag Trade,” a controversial deal that many felt gutted the White Sox.27 When he was moved from starter to the bullpen, his feelings were a bit mixed, “but I loved to pitch and moving to the bullpen was my ticket to a big-league career so I did it.”28 Foulke never pitched like a closer and didn’t care to be called a closer. No matter where he was going to pitch in the game, he wanted to pitch the same way. But having been a starter, and one who liked to pitch multiple innings, ultimately helped him go further as a closer.
By 1998 Foulke was at home in the bullpen as the set-up man for closers Matt Karchner and Bill Simas. Late in the season he had arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder to remove a bone spur.29 After a painful season, the surgery increased his mobility and flexibility, and in 1999 results showed: a 2.22 ERA in 67 games and 105⅓ innings pitched, and a vote for the AL Cy Young Award. He was a workhorse on the mound, and in 2000 with Bob Howry struggling, Foulke was tapped as the White Sox’ primary closer and was an integral part of their AL Central Division title with 34 saves.30
Foulke continued to thrive, recording 76 saves in 2000-2001. Strong performance, however, was not enough to keep Foulke in Chicago. Even though he ranked third on the White Sox saves list, he struggled, losing his closer spot in 2002 and going without a save from June 28 to September 16. After the season Foulke was traded to the Oakland A’s for Billy Koch, one of the AL’s top closers. The deal allowed Oakland some flexibility with payroll while still keeping a focus on performance. Chuck knew the move hurt his son, “[but] he won’t make waves, he doesn’t have an aggressive personality… and it was all the best for him, because the situation in Chicago was one of turmoil and confusion.”31 Reflecting on his years in Chicago, Foulke contrasted the experience with Boston where fan enthusiasm and media attention was far more intense. He said he valued his six seasons with the White Sox, playing with the same guys for five or six seasons and helping rebuild that team.32
Foulke’s hard work paid off by the end of the season, becoming the A’s closer. For Oakland GM Billy Beane, Foulke was “still one of the premier end-of-the-game guys in our league.”33 In 2003 he led the American League with 43 saves, was named to the All-Star team, and won the American League Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award. The Sporting News named him 2003 AL Reliever of the Year. However, the 2003 season ended dramatically with the loss to the Red Sox in the Division Series. In one of baseball’s fateful moments that later felt more like destiny, Foulke gave up the game-winning double to David Ortiz in Game Four. “Losing. I hated losing and that’s all I really remember about that series,” he said in 2014.34
After being granted free agency in October 2003, Foulke was wooed by Theo Epstein, who took him to a Celtics game at the TD Garden. There he saw up close the enthusiasm for Boston sports. At the time of the Boston offer, Foulke commented, “Just the excitement of playing for a team with this heritage and this history is something I want to do before I retire. I would love to be part of a championship.”35 It also didn’t hurt that Foulke, a hockey fan, had a message on his answering machine from the Bruins hockey legend Bobby Orr, who told him, “You win in this town, you’re forever idolized.”36 He signed with the Red Sox on January 7, 2004, with a deal structured to pay him up to $26.5 million if he was the regular closer for the team through 2007. About signing with the Red Sox rather than Oakland, Foulke said, “I want to be a winner before I go out.”37 At age 31 and after seven years in major-league baseball, he had secured the opportunity he had been looking for: He was part of a team built around winning a championship and was in a challenging major market. He described the 2004 Red Sox clubhouse as “very professional, many of the players had already done great things in baseball – MVPs, championship winners. There was hardware around the room.”38 He had played with Doug Mirabelli and Bill Mueller as well as Terry Francona, who had been Oakland’s bench coach in 2003. Despite very different personalities, “when it came game time, everyone was there for the right reason. We didn’t have egos in the clubhouse.”39
The 2004 season started off strong for the Red Sox. They beat the Yankees in six of their first seven games in their April matchups. Foulke was a big part of the team’s early strength, able to act as a neutralizer to the great Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera, something the Red Sox lacked in 2003. Mike Timlin, who had been crucial in the 2003 season welcomed Foulke as an addition to the bullpen. “Last year we didn’t have the guy that could go out there and throw a scoreless [10th] and [11th]. The extra dimension we have – we have a three inning closer basically.”40 By the end of May, Foulke had converted 10 out of 11 saves and the team was essentially tied with the Yankees for first in the AL East.41 Despite the strong start, July found the Red Sox lagging the Yankees by 7½ games. For Foulke the turning point started on July 24 with their three-game series against the Yankees. After a loss in the first game, the Red Sox won the next two games, which saw a memorable confrontation between Jason Varitek and Álex Rodríguez on the 24th, with Foulke nearly running down Johnny Pesky as he burst out of the bullpen to get to his teammates on the field. About that series, Foulke said that the Red Sox were “not cowering to the Yankees anymore. It was time to stand up for the team.”42 Foulke, earning a save in the third game, knew the significance of the wins. “That was an important series. We knew we had to get by the Yankees to win anything and that weekend showed we could handle them.”43 Foulke was right. The team’s record improved to 45-20 and on September 27 they won the wild card over Tampa Bay exactly one month before their historic final game.
As the regular season wrapped up, Foulke’s performance was phenomenal, with 32 saves and a 2.17 ERA.44 Foulke found himself at the center of the Red Sox’ sweep of the Angels in the Division Series, pitching in two of three games with a save in Game Two. In the ALCS against the Yankees, Foulke pitched in five games without allowing a run. With the Red Sox down 3-0 in the series, he threw 100 pitches over the next three days to help his team force Game Seven.45 In Games Four and Five, he pitched for a total of four innings. Forgetting to bring his glove to New York, he had to borrow Curt Leskanic’s glove to return to the mound to shut down the Yankees in the ninth inning of Game Six, popularly known as “the bloody sock game,” and earn the save in the 4-2 Red Sox victory.46
Foulke’s continued mental toughness and steady performance was critical as he pitched in all four games of the World Series against the Cardinals, finding himself on the mound in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game Four with the Red Sox leading 3-0. The first batter he faced, Albert Pujols, singled into center field when the ball went through Foulke’s legs. Scott Rolen flied out to right field for the first out. Foulke then struck out Jim Edmonds, bringing Cardinals shortstop Edgar Rentería to bat. The first pitch was a ball and Pujols took second base. All season long, Red Sox Nation had been urged to believe: “Why not us?” With two outs and a runner on second, that belief once again was focused on Foulke, who had closed out a nailbiting ninth inning in Game Six of the ALCS on his 32nd birthday. On Foulke’s 1-and-0 pitch, Rentería hit the ball back to Foulke, who took a slight hop when he caught it and in what seemed like an eternity to Red Sox fans, jogged toward first and tossed the ball to Doug Mientkiewicz for the out that gave the Red Sox their first World Series championship in 86 years. Foulke has said many times that the play was “one of the greatest moments of my life.”47 On a personal level for Foulke the moment was “a whole lifetime of joy and a huge release of satisfaction, that I’d reached my ultimate goal.”48As “Why not us?” had become the rallying cry of the postseason, “Back to Foulke” has captured the euphoria and vindication all Red Sox fans felt with that final play.
Manny Ramírez was named the World Series MVP despite many sportswriters and fans believing the award belonged to Foulke, including Foulke himself. The New York Baseball Writers Association voted him the Babe Ruth Award, given to the player with the best performance in the World Series, essentially recognizing Foulke as their MVP. Speaking about the MVP award, Terry Francona said, “What Keith Foulke did was incredible. That’s how you win – when people do special things.”49
For Foulke, it did seem that the heroic effort was not without its downside. The 2005 season was the start of a challenging period for him, both personally and professionally. At the beginning of the season, he suffered with pain in both knees and his elbow. He had refused preseason surgery on his arm, which in 2012 he said he regretted, acknowledging that the decision to postpone “essentially ended my career as an effective pitcher.”50 He was not pitching well, was unhappy in his personal life, and his disappointment in his performance became a vicious cycle. “I wasn’t helping the team. It was bad news.”51 His struggles seemed to continue when, on June 28, 2005, he lost a three-run lead and gave up a ninth-inning grand slam to Cleveland’s Travis Hafner. He walked off the field to the fans booing and jeering him and later in the clubhouse in response to questions from reporters about his performance, Foulke said, “I’m more embarrassed to walk into this locker room and look at the faces of my teammates than I am to walk out and see Johnny from Burger King booing me. I’m worried about these guys, not everybody else.”52 The response struck some sportswriters as aloof and arrogant and generated a series of articles and commentaries on sports programs.53 The fuss confused Foulke, who said he never intended his comment as a snub or criticism of the fans, but rather was meant to be taken as a joke, which further fueled the press. “The whole thought was (even if they don’t believe), I still believe we’re going to win the World Series whether I go out and blow a game against Cleveland in June or not.”54 Foulke felt his humor and sarcasm was taken out of context by the media, acknowledging that he didn’t like the hero worship placed on athletes. “I spoke the truth to sportswriters,” he said.55 “I wasn’t belittling anybody when I said that. I have better things to do than to try and put myself above everybody else.”56 He never saw himself any different than Johnny Burger King.
Foulke had surgery on one knee in July, then on the other before the 2006 season, but lost his closer position to Jonathan Papelbon. Without an offer extension from the Red Sox, Foulke signed with the Cleveland Indians in 2007 as a free agent, “but in my heart I knew I couldn’t pitch at the big-league level.”57 He stepped down on February 16, 2007, before spring training. Cleveland’s GM, Mark Shapiro, recalled what a professional and classy decision this was, with Foulke expressing that he didn’t want to let his teammates down again.
On February 8, 2008, with his elbow surgery complete, Foulke left retirement and signed a one-year contract with the Athletics, where he was again a set-up man. Being on the West Coast let him be close to his family and he pitched in 31 games. In 2009, disappointed by no other forthcoming offers, he found himself pitching for the Newark Bears of the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, turning down Triple-A offers he later regretted.
Independent teams are not farm clubs of major-league teams, so players strive to play well enough to sign with an affiliate. The Bears’ strong reputation was a draw for many former major leaguers looking to get back to that level. Foulke wasn’t alone. Two-time All-Star Carl Everett, former Yankee Shawn Chacon, former Oriole Jay Gibbons, and former All-Star closer Armando Benítez faced similar circumstances. The Bears decided to stockpile their roster with well-known players as a strategy for attracting fans and winning games. With a modest team record and minimal fan support, the strategy didn’t work.58 Foulke hoped going to Newark would get him noticed but receiving $948 every two weeks and missing his family in Phoenix, he acknowledged, “It’s this or retire. I don’t want to retire.”59 Like the others in the locker room, he had something to prove, after “going out on other people’s terms.”60 His season started strong, with 12⅓ innings pitched and an 0.75 ERA,61 but ultimately, there were no phone calls to the Bears, no major-league teams seeking help on the last day they could acquire players for their postseason rosters.62
Foulke retired from baseball in 2009. Matt Pouliot, sportswriter for NBC Sports, recognized Foulke as one of the best dozen players eligible but left off the Hall of Fame ballot in 2013, commenting that, “It seemed like he pretty much gave up his arm for the Red Sox’s run in 2004, when he pitched 83 innings in the regular season and 14 more in the postseason (allowing just one run). 63 Foulke’s commitment to mentoring young ballplayers led to a role in player development for four seasons with the Red Sox, starting in 2016. As an adviser, helping young pitchers get into the big leagues, Foulke told the players he worked with to be “the best pitcher you can be on this pitch. Repeat, repeat, repeat.”64 He donated to the Huffman Little League and Huffman Athletic Booster, and sponsored the batting cages at the Hargrave High School baseball field, which have his name on them. “Many of the upgrades to our facilities are due to his generosity, time, and desire to help his alma mater,” said Hargrave baseball coach Tom DeBerry.65
Foulke is the father of three boys. His oldest son from his first marriage, Kade, followed in his footsteps, enrolling in Galveston Junior College. He spent the summer of 2022 pitching for the Brockton (Massachusetts) Rox of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League with the sons of David Ortiz, Pedro Martínez, and Manny Ramírez. The league “ranks a few notches below the prestigious Cape Cod League” but provides players entering college and those playing at the Division level access to consistent playing time. …”66 As of 2023, after he and his second wife divorced, he resided in Arizona with his two younger sons, Kyler and Kasen. Foulke said he was watching as his sons developed as athletes if they chose and was leaving the coaching to others. “I’ve taken a step back and being ‘just dad’ to my sons,” he said.67
For Foulke, coming to New England feels like a homecoming with each visit. “People still stop me on the street in Boston to thank me for what I did in 2004,” he said. “I enjoy coming back to Boston every chance I get.”68 He’s been seen raking the dirt on the Brockton Rox field, attending a UNH football game, or posing for photos with fans while attending a Rox game. For the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park in September 2012, Foulke threw the ceremonial first pitch to catcher Jason Varitek, with the two reenacting the famous World Series championship leap of Varitek into Foulke’s arms. Winning the World Series “was the best moment of my life,” he once said.69 It was “the first time I’ve ever won anything. Not in Little League. Not in high school. Not in college.”70
“At first, the victory was more of a personal thing,” Foulke said in 2014. “My personal battle with baseball and the years of work and all the sacrifices. It wasn’t until the parade that it soaked in. … There was a lot of emotion and that’s when you learned that Red Sox blood runs through these people.”71 Red Sox fans would agree that “[we] were all a part of that groundball,” he said in 2022.72
Adjusting to life after playing baseball in the big leagues has not always been easy, and as Foulke acknowledged, the shift to retirement happens abruptly from one day to the next.73 But after a career that spanned 11 seasons, playing for four major-league teams, Foulke’s heart ultimately belongs to Boston, he said. “I’m a Red Sox fan, and I live and breathe Red Sox baseball.”74
Sources
In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the authors consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org,
Baseball-Almanac.com, and Familysearch.org.
Notes
1 Susan Slusser, “Closing a Chapter/Keith Foulke: A’s Reliever Gets a Chance to Go Back to Chicago for All-Star Game and Show His Former Team They Made a Mistake,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 12, 2003: C1.
https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Closing-a-chapter-Keith-Foulke-A-s-reliever-2603717.php.
2 Joe Rao, “Lunar Eclipse Could Make Baseball History,” NBC News, October 22, 2004. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6309920.
3 Dan Shaughnessy, Reversing the Curse (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005), 226.
4 Pat Jones, “Pitcher’s Mother-In-Law Shares in Red Sox Victory,” Centralia (Washington) Chronicle, November 1, 2004.
https://www.chronline.com/stories/pitchers-mother-in-law-shares-in-red-sox-victory,236430.
5 Howard Herman, “Keith Foulke, to the Joy of Red Sox Fans, Makes a visit to Wahconah Park,” Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, Massachusetts), June 30, 2022. https://www.berkshireeagle.com/sports/local_sports/keith-foulke-to-the-joy-of-red-sox-fans-makes-a-visit-to-wahconah-park/article_c3e4f1e2-f620-11ec-a765-1f5e44dc35c5.html.
6 Tim Daniels, “Keith Foulke Talks 2004 Red Sox Title, Historic Comeback vs. Yankees in B/R AMA Session,” BleacherReport.com, October 27, 2020.
7 Herb Crehan, “Keith Foulke Remembers the 2004 World Championship,” BostonBaseballHistory.com, September 23, 2014.
https://bostonbaseballhistory.com/new-keith-foulke-remembers-the-2004-world-championship/.
8 Curse-Breaker ft. Keith Foulke, 2Seam, Episode 3, May 31, 2020, https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/2seam/episodes/Curse-Breaker-ft–Keith-Foulke-eeqk9d.
9 Slusser.
10 “Fenway’s Best Players: Pitchers.” Fenway Park Diaries. https://fenwayparkdiaries.com/best%20players/keith%20foulke.htm.
11 Lewis-Clark State College, Warrior Athletic Hall of Fame, Baseball, 2015.
https://lcwarriors.com/honors/warrior-athletics-hall-of-fame/keith-foulke/14.
12 Roch Kubatko, “Red Sox, Foulke Reach 3-Year Deal,” Baltimore Sun, December 14, 2003.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2003-12-14-0312140134-story.html.
13 Matthew Pouliot, “A Dozen Missed: The Best Players Left Off the Hall of Fame Ballot,” NBC Sports, November 26, 2013.
14 Slusser.
15 “Meet Your 1992 Galveston College Whitecaps,” Galveston Daily News, February 2, 1992: 23.
16 Manuel Moreno Jr., “GC Makes the Grade after 1st Home Tourney,” Galveston Daily News, October 16, 1991: 14.
17 Scott Archibald, “Whitecaps Well-Armed for Spring Campaign,” Galveston Daily News, February 7, 1993: 19.
18 “Keith Foulke Trades & Transactions,” Baseball-Almanac.com. https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/trades.php?p=foulkke01.
19 Crehan.
20 “Pitcher’s Mother-in-Law Shares in Red Sox Victory.”
21 Bill Plaschke, “There Was No Quitting: Because Padres’ Comstock Had to Keep Going/He Went Around the World,” Los Angeles Times, July 10, 1987: 52. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-07-10-sp-1787-story.html.
22 “Split-Finger Fastball, Once Popular, Is Falling Away,” New York Times, October 3, 2011: SP 6.
23 Keith Foulke, telephone interview with authors, August 7, 2023.
24 MLB Network Intentional Talk, “Keith Foulke Joins Intentional Talk,” May 27, 2022.
https://www.mlb.com/video/keith-foulke-joins-it.
25 “LCSC-to-San Fran Pipeline a Frequent Path to Pro Baseball,” Lewiston (Idaho) Tribune, November 4, 2010.
26 Crehan.
27 Paul Sullivan, “Running Up the White Flag Can Work Out,” Chicago Tribune, July 30, 2017: 3-5.
28 Crehan.
29 Scott Gregor, “Long, Difficult Season Taking Toll on Starter Sirotka’s Mental Game,” Chicago Daily Herald, September 10, 1998: 209.
30 Phil Watson, “White Sox: The Mount Rushmore of Sox closers: Keith Foulke,” Southside Showdown, February 14, 2021.
https://southsideshowdown.com/2021/02/14/white-sox-mount-rushmore-closers.
31 Slusser.
32 Keith Foulke, telephone interview with authors, August 7, 2023.
33 ESPN Baseball, December 5, 2002. http://espn.com/mlb/news/2002/1203/1470567.html.
34 Crehan.
35 Allen Wood and Bill Nowlin, Don’t Let Us Win Tonight: An Oral History of the 2004 Boston Red Sox’s Impossible Playoff Run (Chicago: Triumph, 2014), 6.
36 Wood and Nowlin, 6.
37 “Foulke Signs Three-Year Deal with Red Sox,” ESPN.com, December 13, 2003. https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=1685414.
38 Foulke interview.
39 2Seam, Curse-Breaker ft. Keith Foulke, Episode 3.
40 Tony Massarotti and John Harper, A Tale of Two Cities (Guilford, Connecticut: Lyons Press, 2005), 68.
41 https://bostonbaseballhistory.com/new-keith-foulke-remembers-the-2004-world-championship/.
42 Foulke interview.
43 Crehan.
44 Marc Normandin, “Red Sox Hire Keith Foulke as Player Development Consultant,” SBNATION: Over the Monster, March 3, 2016. https://www.overthemonster.com/2016/3/3/11152438/red-sox-keith-foulke-2004-world-series-the-25.
45 Elliott Lapin, “Former Baseball Star Foulke Has Big Impact at Hargrave High Long After Playing Days,” Lake Houston Observer, April 9, 2020.
46 Crehan.
47 Gio Rivera, “16 Years Later: Interview with Keith Foulke on the 2004 Boston Red Sox,” Boston Sports Report, May 22, 2020. https://bostonsportsreport445517378.wordpress.com/2020/05/22/16-years-later-interview-with-keith-foulke-on-the-2004-boston-red-sox/.
48 Wood and Nowlin, 265.
49 Wood and Nowlin, 269.
50 Gordon Edes, “Keith Foulke Catches Up,” ESPN.com, September 27, 2012.
51 Edes.
52 Nick Cafardo, “Closer Issue Open for Debate,” Boston Globe, June 29, 2005: 46.
53 Michael Holley interview with Keith Foulke, “It’s Johnny Cash vs. ‘Johnny from Burger King,’” Boston Dirt Dogs, boston.com, July 1, 2005. https://bostondirtdogs.boston.com/Headline_Archives/2005/07/johnny_cash_vs_1.html.
54 Karen Guregian, “Just Humor Us: Foulke Won’t Take Back ‘Funny’ Remark,” Milford (Massachusetts) Daily News, July 2, 2005. https://www.milforddailynews.com/story/sports/2005/07/02/just-humor-us-foulke-won/41341142007/.
55 Keith Foulke, telephone interview with authors, August 7, 2023.
56 Guregian.
57 Edes.
58 Jack Curry, “In Newark, Playing for a Return to the Big Leagues,” New York Times, September 9, 2009: B18.
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/sports/baseball/09bears.html.
59 Steve Politi, “From World Series Hero to the Bush Leagues; the Fall Was Fast for Keith Foulke,” Newark Star Ledger, June 11, 2009. https://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/politi/2009/06/former_boston_red_sox_closer_k.html.
60 Howie Kussoy, “Former Foulke Hero Toiling in Newark,” New York Post, May 23, 2009.
https://nypost.com/2009/05/23/former-foulke-hero-toiling-in-newark/.
61 Kussoy.
62 Curry.
63 Matthew Pouliot, “A dozen missed: the best players left off the Hall of Fame ballot,” NBC Sports, November 26, 2013.
https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2013/11/26/a-dozen-dismissed-the-best-players-left-off-the-hall-of-fame-ballot/
64 2Seam, Curse-Breaker ft. Keith Foulke, Episode 3.
65 Lapin.
66 Peter Abraham, “Sons Playing in Brockton for Love of the Game,” Boston Globe, June 12, 2022: C9.
67 Keith Foulke, telephone interview with authors, August 7, 2023.
68 Crehan.
69 2Seam, Curse-Breaker ft. Keith Foulke, Episode 3.
70 Bob Ryan, “Worth the Wait,” Boston Globe, October 29, 2004: 118.
71 Wood and Nowlin, 277.
72 Herman.
73 Foulke interview.
74 Joe McDonald, “For Polar Park Visitor Keith Foulke, Red Sox Championship Moment Still Rings True,” Worcester (Massachusetts) Telegram & Gazette, August 19, 2021. https://www.telegram.com/story/sports/mlb/woosox/2021/08/19/keith-foulke-boston-red-sox-2004-world-championship-joe-castiglione/8204942002/.
Full Name
Keith Charles Foulke
Born
October 19, 1972 at Ellsworth Air Force Base, SD (USA)
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