Johnny Pesky

        How do you replace a baseball legend? It's simple, you can't. Johnny Pesky embodied baseball and he cannot be replaced. Pesky lived in a simpler time when baseball was a simpler game. He was once quoted saying, "We got playing and we were winning and you thought it was never going to end. But it did end. It was just a fine time."
"The Needle" was close friends with fellow Red Sox legends, Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, and Dom DiMaggio, as the quartet were nicknamed, "The Teammates." His MLB debut was in 1942, but he missed the seasons from 1943 to 1945 due to his serving in World War II. He was an All-Star in 1946, the same season that the Boston Red Sox played in their first World Series since 1918. Pesky was deemed the "goat" of the Series due to the allegations that he "held the ball" in Game Seven when Cardinals right fielder, Enos Slaughter made his famous "Mad Dash" to score the championship winning run. In the wake of Pesky's passing, it prompted me to watch the clip of that play again. He never did hold the ball, did he?
Johnny Pesky did not end his playing career with the Red Sox, but rather with the Washington Senators. He finished his ten-year tenure with a .307 batting average and only seventeen total home runs. The Needle would finish his baseball career with the Red Sox, however, as he served as a commentator and held multiple coaching positions until becoming a team instructor in 1991.
Bill Nowlin wrote Pesky's biography and nicknamed him "Mr. Red Sox." He really was Mr. Red Sox, having spent sixty-one years of his life with the organization. His faith would be rewarded when the Red Sox won their first World Series in eighty-six years. He received a championship ring and along with Carl Yastrzemski, he raised the championship banner.
He got another ring and raised another banner in 2007 after Boston's seventh all-time World Series title. During the 2007 World Series run for Boston, he chronicled the days in his book, 'Diary of a Red Sox Season.' We were given a peek into Johnny Pesky's mind.
I remember in the summer of 2008, I read the Diary of a Red Sox Season. As I reminisced about the wonderful season, the words I read hung in my mind as I knew I was reading the words of the man who loved the Red Sox more than anyone. I remember his reaction in the book after each 2007 postseason win. He would say "Oh, that was wonderful." It was wonderful. He was wonderful.
And today, August 13, 2012, Johnny Pesky passed away at the age of ninety-two. With him, went a little bit of baseball. Johnny Pesky will forever be remembered as one of the Red Sox's best ever. He will live on in Fenway Park, though. Number six hangs on the right field facade and is to never be worn again. Also in right field is Pesky's Pole where he wrapped the majority of his seventeen home runs around.
It's impossible to replace a baseball legend, but for Red Sox Nation, it's harder than impossible to replace Johnny Pesky. Not only from a baseball standpoint, but from his presence. He was a human being like the rest of us. He lived in the North Shore and was seen often, according to many residents. When we saw him out at Fenway for the park's 100th anniversary celebration, Red Sox fans loved it. We had seen him all around and we thought Pesky was never going to end. But he did end. He was just fine. He was just wonderful.