10/27/2006 3:37:57 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

10/24/2006 5:32:03 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

We couldn't have done it without you, big guy.

10/23/2006 10:55:09 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Pellagrini, second from left, with Ted Williams, John F. Kennedy, and Hank Greenberg

FORMER RED SOX INFIELDER EDDIE PELLAGRINI

PASSES AWAY AT AGE 88

BOSTON, MA - Former Red Sox infielder Eddie Pellagrini passed away on Wednesday morning in his hometown of Weymoth, Massachusetts. Mr. Pellagrini was 88 years old.

A funeral mass for Mr. Pellagrini will be held on Friday morning at 11:00 a.m. at St. Francis Xavier Church, 234 Pleasant St., in South Weymouth.

After serving in the United States Navy during World War II, Mr. Pellagrini made his major league debut with the Red Sox on April 22, 1946 versus Washington, and homered in his first at bat. Seeing action at both shortstop and third base, he played in 22 games for the A.L. champs in 1946 and 74 games in 1947 before being traded to the St. Louis Browns.

Mr. Pellagrini participated in the first pitch ceremony and was honored as part of the Red Sox’ 60^th anniversary salute to the 1946 American League Champions prior to Boston’s 2006 home opener on April 11.

“Eddie was a dear and life-long friend,” commented Johnny Pesky, who played with Mr. Pellagrini on the 1946-47 Red Sox teams. “We were very close as players. Eddie was outgoing, friendly, funny, and articulate. We had a lot of good times together, and I will miss him.”

Mr. Pellagrini had a .226 career average with 20 home runs in 563 major league games with the Red Sox, Browns (1948-49), Phillies (1951), Reds (1952), and Pirates (1953-54).

Following his retirement, he entering the coaching profession in the Boston area, culminating with his appointment as head baseball coach at Boston College in 1957. Mr. Pellagrini won 359 games and took the Eagles to three College World Series appearances before his retirement in 1988. The baseball diamond at BC’s Commander Shea Field is named in his honor.

Edward Charles Pellagrini was born on March 13, 1918 in Boston. He was a member of both the Boston College Varsity Club Hall of Fame and the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Mr. Pellagrini’s name to the Boston College Diamond Club.

10/12/2006 4:38:44 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. — A. Bartlett Giamatti

I’m glad I waited for three and a half hours in the sodden chill yesterday. It was worth it.

The weather was perfect, in a way; the half-filled park seemed intimate, full of rain-soaked diehards.

There was strange sense of weary accomplishment, a solidarity borne of a season's hard struggle.

And what do you know? We got a great game, even if it was only five innings long.

We got to see Devern Hansack pitch a no hitter (sort of).

We got to see Mike Lowell and Eric Hinske and Mark Loretta go deep.

We got to say thank you to David Ortiz.

And we got to cheer Trot Nixon long and loud. (Yeah, I teared up. When he doffed that pine-tarred helmet, when he laced a single up the middle, and when he jogged in from that huge right field for what probably was the last time. And I’m not ashamed to admit it.)

It was an emotional day. The mood was wistful and sad, even with the blowout win.

I won’t miss this woe-filled season, but I’m gonna miss this team.

There will be no baseball in Boston this October.

It’s going to be a long five months.

10/2/2006 11:49:35 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |