"A New York Treasure" --Village Voice

Incredibly Beautiful People (Part Two)

Book Excerpt

From Red Sox Century

By Glenn Stout and Richard A. Johnson

(For Part One, click here)

Stanky got the message. The Red Sox were for real. Before leaving Fenway Park he meekly admitted Yastrzemski should be the starting All-Star left fielder for the American league. Then, as soon as he was out of town he made an empty threat to sue the Red Sox for not protecting him from their fans. The pennant race was becoming contentious. Boston had the attention of the other teams. Dick Williams loved it.

Even Boston fans were starting to wake up. Last minute wins were exciting and the Sox had a knack for coming from behind. Attendance started creeping up as older fans decided to check the team out, and young fans came for the first time.
The Sox were tough, too. How tough? When they went to New York in late June, third baseman Joe Foy visited his parents in the Bronx, found their home on fire and pulled them to safety. The next day, in a scene from a B-movie, he hit a grand slam to beat the Yankees 7-1.



In the following game, Yankee pitcher Thad Tillotsen recalled Foyís slam and threw at him.
Jim Lonborg knew what he had to do next. When Tillotson came to bat, Lonborg nailed him on the shoulder. The studious pitcher some called “Gentleman Jim” was learning, and before the end of the season another twenty American League batters would bear a bruise from a Lonborg pitch. As Tillotson glared back at Lonborg, Joe Foy shouted at the Yankee pitcher and both benches emptied. It took a dozen New York cops to break it up.
When Lonborg came to bat, everyone in the stadium realized it was payback time and both benches emptied again. This time cooler heads prevailed, but the two clubs threw at each other for the rest of the game, as Lonborg later brushed back Charley Smith and hit Dick Howser in the lopsided 8-1 Red Sox victory.

Following the game, Lonborg calmly told the press, “I have to protect my players,” and explained that he would no longer allow hitters to dig in on him. The victory was already his ninth, only one less than his total in 1966.

Then the Sox caught a series of breaks. On June 27, as Gary Waslewski beat the Twins 3-2, defending AL MVP Frank Robinson of Baltimore suffered a concussion in a base-running collision, and Detroit rightfielder Al Kaline broke his finger slamming his bat into the bat rack. The injuries to the two stars helped Bostonís pennant chances dramatically and made an already tight pennant race even tighter.
At the All-Star break the Red Sox were in fifth place, only two games above .500, but trailed first place Chicago by only 5 1/2 games. Following the break the Sox split the first two games of a home series against the Orioles, then won four in a row before heading out on a six-game road trip.

Healthy and hot the Sox went into Baltimore and beat the Orioles twice more behind Lonborg and Jose Santiago. The win pulled the Sox to within 1

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"This ain't football. We do this every day."
--Earl Weaver