Mr. Red Sox: The Johnny Pesky Story [Hardcover]

BOSTON (AP) -- Johnny Pesky is the common thread that ties together more than six decades of hope and heartbreak for the Boston Red Sox.

Pesky, 84, will be at spruced-up Fenway Park on Friday when the team opens its home schedule against the Toronto Blue Jays, and like all Red Sox fans, he's sure this is the year they'll win it all for the first time since 1918.

``Of course, I thought last year we were going to do it too,'' said Pesky, who has been a player, manager, broadcaster, and now a special instructor in the organization. ``We've helped ourselves in a couple of ways, especially on the mound and in the bullpen.''

The Red Sox return most of a record-setting batting order, and strengthened their pitching with the acquisitions of Curt Schilling and Keith Foulke.

Pesky is the subject of a new book, ``Mr. Red Sox: The Johnny Pesky Story,'' by Bill Nowlin.

``Johnny is kind of an underappreciated ballplayer,'' said Nowlin, who has written a number of books on Pesky's former teammate Ted Williams. ``He is kind of like a goodwill ambassador for the Red Sox now. He'll talk to anybody and everybody and he's so humble. He loves to interact with the fans.''

And he loves to interact with the players. Spry, and in better shape than many men half his age, Pesky still hits grounders to today's superstars, teaching them the finer points of hitting and fielding.

Pesky's history with the team dates to 1939. Before the days of the amateur draft, a Red Sox scout wooed Pesky's mother with flowers and his father with fine bourbon. His parents, immigrants from what is now Croatia, didn't understand baseball, but they did feel the Red Sox were the best fit for their son even though other major league teams offered more money.

They were right.

John Michael Paveskovich, an Oregon native, played two years in the Red Sox minor league system before making his major league debut in 1942. That season he set the team record for hits by a rookie with 205, a mark that stood until 1997 when fellow shortstop Nomar Garciaparra had 209.

He spent three years in the Navy during World War II, although he did not see combat, before resuming his playing career. He was with the Red Sox through 1952 before being traded to the Detroit Tigers.

He spent two years with the Tigers before starting a coaching career that included a two-year stint as Red Sox manager in 1963 and 1964. He came back to the Red Sox in 1969 and has been with the team ever since.

``I've had a good life with the ballclub,'' Pesky said. ``I just try to help out. I understand the game, I've been around the ballpark my whole life.''

Nowlin got the idea for a book about Pesky from Elizabeth Dooley, a longtime Red Sox season-ticket holder, whom he interviewed extensively for his books on Williams.

``He asked me about doing it and I said 'It won't sell,' but he said he was going to go ahead anyway,'' Pesky said.

Nowlin conducted hundreds of interviews for the book, which includes some interesting tidbits, including the fact that Pesky was a disc jockey for a Boston radio station, spinning ballroom tunes.

``In those years, ball players had to have jobs in the offseason,'' Nowlin said.

The book, published March 31, is already in its third printing, Nowlin said. He and Pesky would set up a table outside the souvenir shop at the team's spring training facility in Fort Myers, Fla., and sell 75 to 100 copies a day, Pesky gladly autographing every copy and posing for pictures with fans.

Pesky is still going strong with no firm plans to retire.

``I've been saying if we get in and win the World Series I might retire, but my health has been pretty good,'' Pesky said.

Either way, Pesky's legacy with the team is set in stone.