The Little Professor, Tony C, and Dewey: An outfield of Forgotten Numbers.

Once in a while, the radio or tv announcers talk about those episodes when the new generations ask their parents about what’s such a big deal about those ballparks everybody calls “historic” in baseball like Wrigley Field or Fenway Park. During a “Game of the Week” on a Saturday afternoon, one announcer talked about this story between a father and his ten-year-old son. They went to the bleachers of center field at Fenway Park. There was a big argument among three or five guys discussing the numbers retired by the Boston Red Sox. The most vehement of them kept raising his voice: “The Red Sox have a lot of debts with some of his ballplayers from the past. That list will never be complete until including in it Dominic DiMaggio, Tony Conigliaro, and Dwight Evans”. That guy, white-bearded, blue eyes, shorthands, recited the numbers with a broken voice: “The seven for the Little Professor, the 25 for Tony, and the 24 for Dewey should have been retired a long time ago…” Recently the New York Yankee announced they will retire the number of outfielder Paul O’Neil: 21. This is an honor that the Yanks policy has always recognized their fiercest and hustling players no matter they aren’t Hall of Famers. It’s a big difference for example with the Boston Red Sox. No matter they retired Johnny Pesky’s number despite not being a Hall of Famer, and also retiring David Ortiz number the next season after his retirement when he still had to wait some years to be in the Hall, these two cases seem to be an exception among Bobby Doerr, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice, Carlton Fisk, Pedro Martínez. That’s a very regrettable and arguable point of view since some players weren’t second of nobody in a baseball field and made the Red Sox a very competitive team in an era when other teams were very powerful. For sure there are other cases, but in my opinion, at first, the time factor gives them an edge that is greatly complimented by their integrity, leadership, and courage while playing at the field or performing at home plate. We are talking about the merits of Dominic DiMaggio, Tony Conigliaro, and Dwight Evans to deserve his jersey numbers retired by the Boston Red Sox. The youngest of the DiMaggio brothers has been maybe one of the most underrated players not only in the Boston Red Sox history but in the MLB. Dominic DiMaggio was the best defensive center fielder of his era, even better than his superb brother Joe. He led the American League centerfielders in putouts in 1947 (401), 1948 (487), 1949 (425), and in MLB history he holds position 40 (3.513). He also led the American League center fielders in assists in 1942(19), 1947 (19), 1949 (14), 1951(17), in MLB history he is in 13th place (143). In errors committed as a center fielder, he led the American League in 1941 (15), 1947 (10), 1949 (10), 1951(11); he’s at 20th place (89) in MLB history. In double plays as a center fielder, he led the American League in 1942 (7), 1947 (4), 1952 (4); in MLB history he’s at place 27th (30). He also led the American League in fielding % as a center fielder in 1949 (.978). Dom DiMaggio also commanded the American League in runs: 1950 (131), 1951 (113); and in triples 1950 (11).

Maybe Tony Conigliaro didn’t play enough to be considered to retire his number 25, but in the seven seasons he played for the Red Sox he showed the intensity, the drills, the integrity, the mental quickness, to propel those Boston’s teams mediocre to keep competing until collaborating in that memorable 1967 season, even at the level of Carl Yastrzemski through that terrible night of August. Even in the foggiest night of April, Tony C chased complicated line drives to the right-field until catching them when everybody thought the ball was bouncing at the farthest corner of Fenway Park in what for sure would be a three-base hit. Conigliaro was the kind of player who never surrendered, never gave up, never ran away before difficulties. Dick William, his manager in that unforgettable 1967 season said: “Say what you will, the guy was a fighter…Between the lines, there was nobody who played harder…by having Tony Conigliaro in there fighting every day, the game of baseball was the winner.”

No right fielder in Boston Red Sox history has done what Dwight Evans accomplished with his glove and his arm. But maybe his most remarkable feature was the peace and humbleness he led the team during his greatest moments. He only had reflection and respect on any teammate having hard times. Instead of critiquing and judging Evans’ choice was to keep quiet, sympathetic, understanding. Like that incident when Don Baylor came to Evans because Jim Rice had a difficult attitude toward his teammates. The next day Evans came with a passage from the Bible and Baylor had to solve the situation by talking with Rice in the most considerate terms. Evans won eight gold gloves as a right fielder in the American League, five of them consecutive since 1981 through 1985. He led the American League right fielders in putouts four seasons: 1978(300), 1979 (303), 1982 (344), 1984 (315); third in MLB history with 4.247. He also led American League right fielders in assists three seasons: 1976 (15), 1976 (15), 1979 (15); 16th in MLB history with 155. He led the American League right fielders in double plays three seasons: 1975 (8), 1976 (4), 1980 (7); ninth in MLB history with 42. He led the American League right fielders in fielding % three seasons: 1974 (.990), 1976 (.994), 1979 (.988); 28th in MLB history with .987.

Enos Slaughter said that his unexpected sprint of the 1946 World Series, which ended giving the title to the Saint Louis Cardinals, almost was stopped at third base, but then he recalled that Dom DiMaggio wasn’t in center field. Dom had tied the game to three runs in the eighth inning with a two-run double, but he injured a muscle in his leg while sliding at second base and had to get out from the game. Dom says that watching Slaughter’s sprint to the plate in the World Series was very painful for him, before Harry Walker’s base hit he was giving signs from the dugout to his substitute, Leon Culberson, but he didn’t see the signs and didn’t get to the place where DiMaggio indicated. “The only ones who knew well who was Dom were the Boston’s fans, but in the rest of the country, they didn’t give him much credit. He could bunt, the hit and run play, he could hit the long ball if he had to, he could steal bases. He could beat you in so many ways”. Joe DiMaggio said this about his brother Dom. His teammate with the Boston Red Sox, Mace Brown always spoke about Dom’s defensive quality. “Dom played very shallowly in center field, his speed and intelligence allowed him doing so. Many games got saved and many rallies stopped because Dom came running to take pop-ups behind second base when they were about to fall and after taking the ball he didn’t fall but threw the ball where he had to”.

On Thursday, July 27, 1967, the Boston Red Sox played against the Los Angeles Angels at Fenway Park. The Red Sox trail 5-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning, dominated all afternoon by Jim McGlothlin, off to one of the best starters in the league. But Joe Foy smacks a two-run homer to get the Sox closer by just one, then Tony Conigliaro hits Angels’ reliever Bill Kelso’s pitch into the screen and the game is tied. The Red Sox finally win in the bottom of the tenth inning. George Scott, Tony’s teammate with the Impossible Dream Boston Red Sox recalls: “He wanted to be the man. In the eighth and ninth inning, he wanted to be up there. He was a clutch player. He was the best I’ve ever seen. Tony and Frank Robinson…I’d like to know who was ever more aggressive and more determined than those two”. On April 7th, 1969, the Boston Red Sox visited the Baltimore Orioles at Memorial Stadium and in the tenth inning, Tony Conigliaro attempting a comeback with a partially recovered left eye hit a homer against reliever Pete Richert to win the game 4-2.

Doug Hornig (Author of the Book: The Boys of October. 2003), asked Don Zimmer in an interview “How good was Dwight Evans as a right fielder?” Zimmer answered with another question: “Do you know the difference between a double by the rules and another by a fan’s interference?” Hornig said that a double by the rules was the consequence of the ball rebounding to the stands. And there would be interference if a fan touched the ball before it went out from the park. “Well,” Zimmer said. “If the ball goes to the bleachers on its own, the batter gets two bases ¿What does the batter get if a fan interferes?” Hornig was hesitant. “A double?” “Incorrect,” Zimmer said. “The chief umpire, at his best judgment, put the runners where he thinks they should be. When Boston played and there was an interference of a fan over a ball batted to the right-field line, guess what did happen?” Hornig shrugged. Zimmer crossed his hands. “The batter was sent to first base. Period. Well, the rival manager always was going to complain, shouting as a gangster. ‘That’s a double! That’s a fan’s interference! It has to be a double!’ The chief umpire smiled, pointed to the right-field, and said: ‘Uh, uh. Not with that guy there!’ What he meant was that except the ball went over his head, Evans always reduced it all to a single. If you tried to prolong it, he threw you out at second base.”

“Was he a better defensive center fielder than Joe? I think so, but when you see a guy every day, you come to appreciate the little things he does. He seemed to track balls as quickly as anybody. Comparing Dominic to Joe is like comparing a good little man to a good big man in boxing. The big man is always going to have the edge. You might say that pound for pound, Dominic was the best center fielder ever.” Johnny Pesky. Few and Chosen.Triumph Books. 2004.

“He hit thirty-six home runs blind. He couldn’t see the ball. That’s how much guts he had. He couldn’t see and he had the balls to get in there with them throwing ninety miles per hour.” Jerry Maffeo, a friend of Tony C. “There’s no doubt, I’ve said it a million times, if Tony had been in that lineup, we would have won”, Scott says. “He was one of those guys. Reggie Jackson was a big-game player. Tony was that kind of player”. Notes Yastrzemski, “I’d like to have seen the outcome of the World Series with his bat in there”. David Cataneo with the contribution of Linda Householder. Tony C. The Triumph and Tragedy of Tony Conigliaro. Rutledge Hill Press. Nashville, Tennessee. 1997. Pp. 123-124.

There was a game in the 1984 season where the Boston Red Sox visited the Oakland A’s at the Coliseum. Boston won 2-0 in the bottom of the ninth. With two outs, Carney Lansford hit a double to plate in Donnie Hill. Then Bruce Bochte hit a single to right field, the third base coach sent Lansford to the plate ¡Suicide! Evans threw Lansford out with a magnificent throw. “It hurts in the soul to lose a game that way but we didn’t have any alternative”, Jackie Moore defended his choice of sending Lansford to home plate. “Of course, we knew about Evans’ arm. But he had to throw perfectly. Totally perfect.”

Alfonso L. Tusa C. March 18th, 2022.©