Monday, August 13th, the baseball fans were in grief. The well-known Johnny Pesky, adored by generations of Red Sox fans, died at 92, after more than 60 years of playing, managing and broadcasting for the Red Sox team.
‘The national pastime has lost one of its greatest ambassadors,” baseball commissioner Bud Selig said. ”Johnny Pesky, who led a great American life, was an embodiment of loyalty and goodwill for the Boston Red Sox and all of Major League Baseball.”
On August 5th Pesky visited Fenway, when Boston defeated Minnesota Twins 6-4, and one week later he left the baseball world forever. Most certainly fans will remember him from the April 20th, 100th Fenway Park anniversary, when Pesky was moved to tears by a pregame ceremony. On September 27th, 2006, on his 87th anniversary, Pesky got an amazing gift from his fans and officials: the ‘Pesky’s Pole’, his own plaque at the base of the foul pole just 302 feet from home plate.
”There wasn’t a greater gentleman of the game,” said Hall of Famer Wade Boggs, a star third baseman with both the Red Sox and Yankees. ”Johnny was loved by everyone. He would light up your day when he walked in the room.”
On Monday night, right before the game against the Texas Rangers in New York, a moment of silence was held at Yankee Stadium. Pesky died at 92 at the Kaplan Family Hospice House in Danvers. Pesky was a Red Sox since 1939, when his mother urged him to join the team.
