Johnny Pesky has served the Red Sox in virtually every capacity&;as an All-Star player, a coach, a manager, a broadcaster, and a goodwill ambassador&;over parts of seven decades. A Boston legend, Pesky has worn the uniform longer than anyone else, and his namesake &;Pesky Pole&; marks the right field foul line at Fenway Park. Phil Pepe is the author of more than 40 books on sports, including collaborations with Yankees legends Mickey Mantle, Billy Martin, and Whitey Ford. He is a former Yankees beat writer for the New York Daily News and a former president of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Carl Yastrzemski is a former player for the Boston Red Sox, a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, an 18-time All-Star, and the recipient of seven Gold Gloves. Ben Affleck is a critically acclaimed filmmaker, an actor, and a philanthropist. He is a fan of the Boston Red Sox.

CHAPTER 1

Catcher

The moment is frozen in time, vivid forever in the mind's eye of every long-suffering Red Sox fan. It was Game 6 of the 1975 World Series between the Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds, "the Big Red Machine." Cincinnati was ahead in the Series, three games to two, and the score was tied, 6–6, as we came to bat in the bottom of the twelfth. We had been down to our final four outs, faced with elimination, when Bernie Carbo hit one of the biggest home runs in Red Sox history, a dramatic, pinch-hit, three-run shot in the bottom of the eighth to tie the score.

Neither team scored in the ninth, and the game went into extra innings, the tension, especially in Boston, building with each pitch, each base runner, and each out. The tenth inning was scoreless. So was the eleventh, thanks to a great game-saving catch by right fielder Dwight Evans who leaped high to take a home run away from Joe Morgan.

In the top of the twelfth, Rick Wise came in to pitch for us. He was the 34 player in the game and the 12 pitcher. Wise got the dangerous Johnny Bench to foul to Carlton Fisk, who made a nice catch leaning over the railing into the crowd. But Tony Perez and George Foster got back-to-back singles, and the Reds had runners on first and second. Wise got Dave Concepcion to fly to right and threw a third strike past Cesar Geronimo, and the Red Sox had dodged another bullet.

1. CARLTON FISK

2. SAMMY WHITE

3. BIRDIE TEBBETTS

4. RICH GEDMAN

5. JASON VARITEK

Fisk was the first batter in the bottom of the twelfth against right-hander Pat Darcy, the Reds' eighth pitcher of the game who had come in to pitch the tenth. On Darcy's second pitch, Fisk hit a towering drive down the left-field line. I was coaching at first base; Don Zimmer was coaching at third. When the ball was hit, I could see right away that it was deep enough and high enough to get over the left-field wall. There was no doubt it had the distance, it was just a matter of whether it would stay inside the foul pole. Because I was watching the ball, I didn't see Fisk's act in the batter's box, but I have seen the replay at least 100 times. Pudge was standing at home plate watching the ball. His body was leaning to the right, and he began to head for first base waving his arms toward right field as if to help keep the ball fair. The ball hit the foul pole, Fisk started skipping and hopping around the bases, and Fenway Park was going wild.

Pudge could do everything you want in a catcher. He could run (in 1972, he led the American League in triples with nine), he could throw, and he could hit with power. He called a good game behind the plate, was a great handler of pitchers, and, when he wasn't hurt, caught every day.

Fisk's home run, one of the most dramatic and maybe the most replayed home run in baseball history, won the game, 7–6, and forced a sudden-death seventh game, which we lost, 4–3, when Morgan hit a bloop single to center in the ninth to score Ken Griffey Sr. Another disappointment for the Red Sox.

For his home run alone, Fisk would merit a place on the all-time Red Sox team and in the Red Sox Hall of Fame. But Pudge was more than just a one-hit, one-game wonder. He had a Hall of Fame career and easily deserves to be selected as the greatest catcher in Red Sox history. No other catcher comes close.

Fisk's career spanned 24 seasons, 11 in Boston and 13 with the Chicago White Sox. He played in 2,499 games and caught more games, 2,226, than any other catcher in history. When he retired, Fisk had hit more home runs than any other catcher in history, 351 (although Mike Piazza will soon break that record).

Pudge could do everything you want in a catcher. He could run (in 1972, he led the American League in triples with nine), he could throw, and he could hit with power. He called a good game behind the plate, was a great handler of pitchers, and, when he wasn't hurt, caught every day. He didn't shirk his duties. Five times in his 11 years with the Red Sox, he caught more than 130 games. Twice, he caught more than 150. And he did it at the most demanding position on the field. That's why Pudge is in the Hall of Fame, where he belongs, and is first on my list of all-time Red Sox catchers.

After Carlton Fisk, it's pretty much a scramble among Red Sox catchers. The fact is, all other Red Sox catchers pale by comparison to Fisk. The Sox have had a lot of good catchers, some who were excellent defensively, others who were pretty good hitters. But nobody comes close to Fisk as an all-around catcher, as they say in football, on both sides of the ball.

When I joined the Red Sox, catching was the weak spot in our lineup, and the team kept changing catchers, looking for someone who was not only a good receiver but who could contribute to the offense.

In 1941, the year before I got there, they had Frankie Pytlak, who had come over after nine seasons in Cleveland, and Johnny Peacock. In 1942, my first year, we had Bill Conroy, who hit .200, and Peacock. In 1943, it was Roy Partee. Then came the war years. When I returned in 1946, our catcher was Hal Wagner. In 1947, we had Birdie Tebbetts, who manned the position for four years. Then in 1950 came Matt Batts, who didn't. He hit .273 and had only four home runs and 34 runs batted in while splitting time with Tebbetts. After Batts, we got Les Moss, who came from the St. Louis Browns and batted .198. He shared the position with Buddy Rosar, who hit .229.

In 1952, the year I was traded, Sammy White was just breaking in. He batted .281 that year and went on to be the Red Sox catcher for the next seven years, usually batting in the .260 — .280 range with from 10 to 15 home runs and from 40 to 70 runs batted in, which, at the time, made him the most productive catcher the Red Sox had ever had offensively. For that, I'll put him number two on my all-time list of Red Sox catchers.

I always had a soft spot for Birdie Tebbetts. He was a pretty good hitter and a good receiver, very smart. He wound up being a manager for Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and Cleveland, and for years he was a scout. He also was one of the great storytellers with that Irish blarney of his.

We got Birdie from Detroit in a trade early in the 1947 season, and he was a veteran catcher who fit in well with our team. He had spent eight years as the catcher for some pretty good Tigers teams. When we got him, he was 34 and didn't have a lot left, but he had all that experience and intelligence behind the plate, and he could still hit; he was a .280 — .290 hitter without much power, and for a few years, he solidified our catching.

Rich Gedman might have been better served with another year or two in the minor leagues, but when Fisk left to sign with the White Sox, the Red Sox had no other option at catcher, so they gave the job to Gedman. He always had a good left-handed bat...