Red Sox Memories: Three highly questionable managerial moments
Three crucial games in Boston Red Sox history that could have ended a curse before 2004. Each one came down to the manager.
All baseball managers have one thing in common and that is making bad decisions. During the course of a long baseball season that is what happens. Sometimes it is the result of thinking too far ahead or just the opposite. Often it can just be a long nightmare, such as Gene Mauch and the 1964 Phillies, which became the notable “Great Collapse” blowing a 6.5 game lead in the last two weeks of the season. Boston Red Sox fans saw a similar implosion in 1978.
Managers can have temperament interfere with decision-making, especially when a manager and a player have little or no rapport. Donie Bush – manager of the 1927 Pirates – decided to discipline future Hall of Fame player Kiki Cuyler by simply putting him on the bench. Cuyler played little and was sitting in the 1927 World Series that saw the Pirates eviscerated by the Yankees. Cuyler was traded to the Cubs and appeared in two more World Series.
The spotlight is full glare in the most crucial of times such as the playoffs which are where the bonehead plays and decisions become items of legend and the Red Sox certainly have their contributors from the bench. Here are a few from my memories – ones that certainly contributed to the pain of being a Red Sox fan. I will (thankfully) limit it to three.
The 1948 season was almost destined to be a trolley car series between the two Boston teams – the Braves and the Red Sox. Or making a short walk series since the parks were that close to each other. The Braves ran away with the National League title by a 6.5 game spread over the Cardinals, but the Red Sox it was a far different story.
The Red Sox finished in a tie with the Cleveland Indians and a one-game playoff was scheduled for October fourth to decide the American League pennant. As so often the decision of pitching becomes the key ingredient and Indians player-manager and AL MVP Lou Boudreau choose lefty Gene Bearden.
Bearden was not a surprise choice as he was a 20-game winner (20-7) and led the AL with a 2.43 ERA. At Fenway Park – a notorious graveyard for lefties – Bearden was 2-1 with a 2.77 ERA for three starts. But the Red Sox went into full surprise mode as manager Joe McCarthy choose right-hander Denny Galehouse (8-8, 4.01). Mel Parnell (15-9, 3.14) and Ellis Kinder (10-7, 3.74) were both well-rested. Jack Kramer (18-5, 4.35) and Joe Dobson (16-10, 3.56) could be called upon in a one and done game. And the Red Sox were done at 8-3 with a loss going to Galehouse.
I have seen the excuses but they don’t hold water. Galehouse had been crushed by the Indians at Fenway Park on August 25. Parnell – a lefty – was 8-3 with a 2.21 ERA at Fenway Park, and had allowed the Indians just five earned runs in 26 innings pitched against them at Fenway.
In 1949, Galehouse pitched two innings for the Red Sox and was gone never to be in an MLB game again. Parnell went forward and was 25-7 the next season and finished his Red Sox career 123-75. And the Indians polished off the Braves in six games.
Bill Buckner’s error may not have cost the game but it did cost the momentum. The Red Sox had a slim 3-2 lead when manager John McNamara pulled Roger Clemens from the game. Clemens was a workhorse during the season (24-4, 2.48) and did not seem to be tiring. I found the move strange since it was the opposite of the justification for leaving Buckner in the game. A game in which the Mets quickly flashed congratulations to the Red Sox for winning the 1986 World Series.
More from Red Sox History
- Two notable Red Sox anniversaries highlight current organizational failures
- Contemporary Era Committee doesn’t elect any former Red Sox to Hall of Fame
- Johnny Damon calls Red Sox out, reveals hilarious way he skirted Yankees’ grooming policy
- Remembering the best Red Sox Thanksgiving ever
- Red Sox World Series legends headline 2023 Hall of Fame ballot
During the season the Red Sox would often use Dave Stapleton as a defensive crutch for the less than mobile Buckner. Buckner had hit .267 but produced 102 RBI. Calvin Schiraldi came in to pitch for Boston and in the eighth gave up a sacrifice fly that tied the game. Bonehead move number two for Johnny Mac. McNamara claimed that Clemens “begged” out of the game but that has been disputed. But with the “Texas con man” one never knows.
The Red Sox put two over in the tenth to take what appeared to be a commanding lead. Buckner remained in the game (bonehead move number three) and then it started. Three straight hits off Schiraldi and Bob Stanley entered to stop the bleeding. Stanley tossed a wild pitch and the Mets were now down a run. Then the speedy Mookie Wilson found the weak link – Buckner – with a soft ground ball. Error and game over. The Mets took it 6-5 and won the series the next day.
McNamara wanted to leave Buckner in to experience a World Series celebration. That was the justification for this everyone knew what should have been done move. Same with Clemens. You ride that pony until he has nothing left. Buckner took the fall for a managerial screw-up of epic proportions.
Imagine having a baseball game named after you? That honor goes to former Red Sox manager who had the “Grady Little Game” forever associated with his sparkling managerial maneuvers in Game Seven of the 2003 ALCS. Removing a pitcher from a game is an excruciatingly difficult one to make when the pitcher is Pedro Martinez and the opponent is the New York Yankees. Pitchers can often state their case, but the final decision is the managers and Little made the wrong one.
Martinez had thought his evening was done after seven innings and a 4-2 Red Sox lead. The curse was about to be vanquished or was it? After David Ortiz hit one out, Little asked Pedro to start the eighth. Then it started to crash.
After the Yankees nudged across a run to make it 5-3, Little asked Pedro if he had enough left to face Hideki Matsui and Martinez was willing to give it a go – the competitive thing, but Martinez was gassed. They needed a fresh arm and the results were catastrophic. I will ease the pain of that wretched night and simply say into extra innings knotted at 5-5.
Eventually, Tim Wakefield tossed a knuckleball that didn’t knuckle and Aaron Boone put the game away in the eleventh with a 6-5 walk-off victory. The penalty was clear as Little was fired and Terry Francona took over the duties.
Top five most underrated Red Sox players. dark. Next
Martinez, to his credit, never blamed Little for the pitching decision faux pas. The reality is Martinez’s pitch count was up and the Yankees had a few solid hits and a few not so solid. The positive outcome was the humiliation of the Yankees in 2004 with the Red Sox coming back from a 3-0 deficit.