The lowest point in Red Sox history (repost)
September 25, 2008
To my fellow Sawxheads = this is a repost from May. I think it's worthy of reposting today - September 25. 43 years ago today , the Red Sox had their lowest point in post-WW2 Red Sox history, and arguably the worst point ever. There were some worse Red Sox teams, but I think that my blog - and the excellent Sports Illustrated article to which links are contained, tells what it was like to be a Red Sox fan in the hopeless days of 1965. The prospect of seeing a World Series, realized two years later - was definitely an "Impossible Dream".
Tonight, I was looking for a picture of the old Pennant Grill. If you're an old-timer, you might remember that what is now called "The Cask and Flagon", on the northeast corner of Brookline Avenue and Lansdowne Street, was once a non-descript , modest, urban watering hole.
In an attempt to find one by using Google, I came across a June, 1965 article from Sports Illustrated, describing the state of the Red Sox in that year. This article was wriiten in real-time 1965, and while it provides a look back, it was designed to give the reader an accurate, yet woeful view of the Red Sox.
What happened in 1965?
The Red Sox finished 62-100, forty games behind the pennant winning Twins.
Ironically, they did not finish in last place, because the pitiful Kansas City Athletics lost 103 games.
They finished the season with a four game home stand, where they split a pair with the Angels, drawing -- 461 fans to one game, and 409 to another. Yes, you read that correctly. On the final weekend, they dropped a pair to the Yankees, drawing 4300 fans on Saturday and 5933 on Sunday. Their total attendance for the season = 652,000.
And those were the days of 25c MBTA fares, $3.50 box seats, and $1.00 bleachers.
Sox reach their nadir, the target of a publicity stunt
The low point? I would have to say it came on September 25, 1965, in Kansas City, where the Sox eked out a 5-2 victory. Now, how can you say something's bad when they WIN?
Well, there's "the rest of the story". Charlie Finley owned the KC Athletics, which had functioned largely as a "major league farm team" for the Yankees. But, that arrangement ended when he bought the team, and he would do anything to bring people into the decaying stadium.
Satchel owns the pitiful Red Sox
And so, Satchel Paige, with an official age of 59 but likely a few years older, was brought in to pitch in a publicity stunt. League officials had to approve his participation, lest the move in both teams' rotations affect any pennant race. With the Twins safely in first, Paige's appearance was permitted. If there were pension enhancements for him associated with the game, I'm not aware of them, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were.
The game began, with the visiting Sox up first. After Jim Gosger popped up, Dalton Jones reached second on an error but was thrown out trying to advance to third. Yaz doubled, and then the Sox were, somewhat embarrassingly, stunned, as Satchel mowed down the next seven batters in a row! Paige left the game after pitching three scoreless innings -- one hit, one strikeout, and he had a 1-0 lead.
The Sox did come back to tie the game in the seventh and went ahead 5-2 in the top of the eighth, but it had to be one of the most humiliating games in Red Sox history.
Note = you may read, in some "historian's writings" that they saw this game at Fenway Park. It was NOT played in Fenway, but in Memorial Stadium in KC. You can look it up on www.retrosheet.org.
What to make of all this?
The article below pre-dates the Paige debacle, but it gives a fairly accurate picture as to what the Sox were like -- a club with a country-club atmosphere, with a lot of aging players riding out their careers while "out to pasture"; an attitude that defeat is okay, with some players not going along for that ride; and an owner and general manager, who just didn't seem to be concerned about what was going on.
At the time, Fenway was not "cherished", and all four pro sports teams would have had little problem accepting a new multi-purpose facility. As usual, it came down to who was going to pay for it, and fortunately, the Sox were "stuck" in Fenway.
Of course, the farm system was under reconstruction under Neil Mahoney, and in 1966, it bore some fruit. The Sox won more in the second half of 1966 than they lost (50-47 from June 22 on), and the following year is history. New manager Dick Williams said prior to 1967, "we'll win more than we lose", but that was partially based upon the previous season's optimistic finish.
But, fellow Sawxheads, please read the article. It conveys what being a Sox fan was like in the years where there was no hope of winning, and the attitudes in and around Fenway in some of the club's darkest years.
http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1077374/1/index.htm
Enjoy!
Greg (section15)
-section15
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