GOOD NIGHT MR. AMBASSADOR

The goodwill ambassador of baseball, Johnny Pesky is gone. With him goes 60 years of baseball history, filled with some of the finest moments in the game, but greater still, he was beloved by the fans of Boston. His legacy is a permanent part of Fenway with the Pesky Pole — the right-field foul pole.

Until the past several years, he was always present at Red Sox spring training and at Fenway, where he always had time to chat with fans and still had knowledge to impart to players

But Johnny Pesky has a bit of notoriety about him, whether deserved or not. It was 1946 and the seventh game of the World Series. ‘Country’ Enos Slaughter was at bat with the score tied 3-3: Slaughter opened the bottom of the eighth inning with a single and with two outs; Harry Walker hit the ball to center field. Pesky, playing shortstop, took the cutoff throw from outfielder Leon Culberson, and according to some newspaper accounts, hesitated before throwing home. Slaughter, who ran through the stop sign at third base, was safe at the plate, and the best-of-seven series went to the Cardinals. Pesky always denied any indecision, and analysis of the film appeared to back him up, but the myth persisted.

"In my heart, I know I didn't hold the ball," Pesky once said.

The right field foul pole at Fenway Park, is just 302 feet away from home plate, and is named the ‘Pesky Pole’ in his honor. Pesky hit 17 homers in his career, six at Fenway Park. The ‘Pesky Pole’ was coined by former Red Sox pitcher Mel Parnell, who during a broadcast in the 1950s, recalled Pesky winning a game for him with a home run around the pole.

That tale, much like the Pesky "held the ball" story, appears to be a myth because team records show that Pesky never hit a home run at Fenway in which Parnell was the winning pitcher.

Coming out of the Red Sox farm system in 1942, in his rookie year Pesky hit .331 and had 205 hits, both a record for a rookie.

He was manager of the Sox in 1963-64, back again in 1969, and interim manager in 1980.

That’s all I wrote, folks!