IL Worcester Red Sox

Ballou on Baseball: July 28 Update

Published on July 29, 2022 under International League (IL)
Worcester Red Sox News Release


It is inevitable that some day, a few years down the road, a former Worcester Red Sox player will do exactly what former Pawtucket Red Sox player David Ortiz did on Sunday.

Speak at his Hall of Fame induction in Cooperstown.

Four other former Triple-A PawSox are also enshrined -Wade Boggs, Dennis Eckersley, Jim Rice, John Smoltz - and Roger Clemens belong there, too.

This year's ceremony provided great bookends for the intertwined baseball histories of Worcester and Pawtucket. Ortiz was there representing one city. Pioneering African-American player Bud Fowler descendants were there representing him, 144 years after he was with Worcester.

Fowler, the first black player in professional baseball, pitched one game in 1878 for the minor league Worcester Live Oaks of the International Assn. before moving on to a long career in and out of the professional game. Fowler was Worcester's earliest connection to Cooperstown but not the only one.

Six different members of the Hall of Fame played professionally here. Seven others have a connection. The players are:

Fowler; pitcher John Clarkson of the National League Worcesters in 1882; Jesse Burkett, who played here before and after he was a major leaguer; Gabby Hartnett (1921 Eastern League); Billy Hamilton, another before-and-after major leaguer; and Casey Stengel (1925 Eastern League).

Others with Worcester-area ties include Jimmy Collins, part-owner of the 1906 Busters; Candy Cummings, who invented the curveball and wound up as a paper hanger in Athol; Jack Chesbro, who pitched for Whitinsville in the factory leagues after getting out of the majors; Lefty Grove and Hank Greenberg, who played for East Douglas in the Blackstone Valley League; Frank Selee, a part-owner of Worcester's Triple-A team in the early 1900s; and Rube Marquard, who served as pitching coach at Assumption in 1931 and '32.

There will be more to come. The next one will likely have worn a Worcester Red Sox uniform at some point in his career

TRIPLE A TRIVIA

1. Which popular Boston Red Sox infielder was the first player to be officially sent to Pawtucket on a Triple-A rehab assignment?

2. Which Pawtucket Red Sox player, who later in the year graduated to Boston, is the last man to win a team Triple Crown, leading the PawSox in batting average, home runs and RBIs?

THE WEEK AHEAD.....

There is no figuring it, but the WooSox play better on the road than at Polar Park so their upcoming visit to Buffalo should give them a boost in the standings. Worcester plays the standard six-game set there. The WooSox are 22-14 versus Buffalo all-time and an impressive 9-3 at Sahlen Field, where they will be playing this week.

In general, Worcester loves its visits to New York. The WooSox are 30-17 in the Empire State since commencing play last season. The Bisons swept Rochester last weekend and are 6-2 in their last eight games.

While last week's homestand was not a particularly good one for the WooSox, they did set a little team history with Sunday's 10-8 comeback victory. Worcester trailed by 6-0 early in the game and the eventual triumph marked the best comeback ever by a WooSox team. Worcester had previously come back to win from four runs down twice, but never more than that. ... In contrast, Chris Murphy got just one out as a starter, the shortest start ever for a WooSox pitcher. Second on that list is Carlos Martinez, who got two outs on May 8. ... Worcester has gone four full games and 40 innings since hitting a home run. That's the second-longest drought, innings-wise, of the season. The all-time longest was a five-gamer last year that, when over, lasted 48 innings. The WooSox have been outhomered, 7-1 in their last seven games. ... The Worcester bullpen has been pretty good at keeping inherited runners from scoring. Unofficially, the pen has stranded 45 of 81. Eduard Bazardo has been the best, stranding 10 of 14. ... Cam Cannon is the 12th player to make his Triple-A debut for Worcester this season and the second from the 2019 draft. Cannon was a second-round pick that year. Murphy was taken in the sixth round. Cannon is also, by the way, the seventh different player to start at third base for Worcester this season. ... The four sacrifice flies hit by WooSox batters Sunday were twice as many as Worcester had hit in any previous game all-time. Manager Chad Tracy should give the sac fly signal more often - the WooSox are 8-0 all-time when they hit more than one in a game.

CATCHING UP WITH....

Blake Swihart, who played for Pawtucket during the years 2014-17 and who homered four times against Worcester last year while with Rochester, is on the disabled list with the Lexington Legends of the Atlantic League. He is batting just .157 in 53 games.

Tall righty Daniel Gossett, a mainstay in the Worcester rotation last season with 18 starts, began 2022 with the Twins' Triple-A team in St. Paul but has since been sent down to Double-A Tulsa. Gossett had a 9.73 ERA in St. Paul. It is a much better 2.95 in Tulsa.

TRIVIA ANSWERS

1. Dave Stapleton, whose career was shortened by injuries, was sent to Pawtucket on a 20-day rehab stint in 1985. He played just 5 games for the PawSox and only 30 more in Boston that season.

2. Mauro Gomez won both the Pawtucket Triple Crown and International League MVP honors in 2012. Gomez hit .310 with 24 home runs and 74 RBIs for the PawSox in 100 games, then batted .275 for Boston after being promoted late in the season.

LONG RELIEF

Hall of Fame weekend traditionally provides some time for reflection, and in regards to that, who is the oldest living former Red Sox Triple-A player?

It is Charlie Maxwell, 95, who played for Louisville from 1951-53 and later had a substantial major league career mostly with the Tigers and White Sox. Also 95, but a bit younger, is Billy Gardner. He is the oldest living ex-major league manager and played for Seattle in 1964.

From there it is Al Worthington, 93 (Minneapolis 1960); Pete Daley, 92 (Louisville 1950-54); Roman Mejias, 91 (Toronto 1965); Ken Aspromonte, 90 (Louisville, San Francisco 1953-57); Ted Wills, 88 (Minneapolis, Seattle 1959-61); Marty Keough, 88 (Louisville, San Francisco 1954-57); Jim Mahoney, 88 (San Francisco, Minneapolis 1956-60).

That is actually nine. We'll add longtime PawSox manager Joe Morgan to the list at age 91. He is the fourth-oldest living former major league manager.

Check out the Worcester Red Sox Statistics

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