Boston Red Sox Memories:All-decade 1960’s Red Sox team
By Rick McNair
The 1960s produced some notably Boston Red Sox players and here is my personal inventory for an All-Star team for that decade. A subjective exercise.
The first article I wrote covered the 1950s and this will focus on the 1960s which is a watershed in Boston Red Sox history.
In 1961, Ted Williams was gone and the Red Sox were in decline. There was a new look as baseball expanded and two teams were added to the American League. Boston managed to finish sixth (76-86), a mere 33 games behind the usual you know who.
Roger Maris was the highlight of the 1961 season with his breaking of Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record – asterisk attached. The Red Sox also had an award winner in a tall right-handed pitcher Don Schwall who won Rookie of the Year honors going 15-7. Schwall never came close to that first season.
The Red Sox had a managerial switch every two seasons starting with Pinky Higgins to Johnny Pesky to Billy Herman. None had a whiff of .500 until Dick Williams came to manage in 1967 and that became The Impossible Dream season and a turnaround in Boston baseball. No more decades of failure.