Historically, they've favored power over speed, usually setting the table for disappointment
For decades, the top position in the Sox lineup has been disrespected,
almost ignored. Why waste a thoroughbred racer by hitching him to the
front of a 20-mule train?
But the 2002 Red Sox are coming north with not one but two bona fide
leadoff hitters. They have young Johnny Damon, who manufactured runs at
the top of Oakland's thumping lineup last year, and they have 43-year-old
Rickey Henderson, a certain Hall of Famer and the greatest leadoff hitter
in baseball history.
Damon and Henderson: Red Sox leadoff hitters. It's like Hunter Thompson
suddenly showing up as a columnist for The New York Times or Eddie Murphy
doing standup for a Hallmark prime-time TV special.
It feels strange to have these great leadoff men in Sox home whites,
because for most of the 20th century the Sox discouraged a running game in
favor of Wall Ball. Conventional wisdom is that you don't want to make an
out attempting to steal when you have Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams, Dick
Stuart, Tony Conigliaro, Ken Harrelson, Jim Rice, Carlton Fisk, or Manny
Ramirez coming up.
Jerry Remy, a regular Sox leadoff hitter in the 1970s and '80s, and now
a Sox broadcaster, said, ''When Don Zimmer managed, I remember I got
thrown out trying to steal second at Fenway. I had Freddie Lynn hitting
behind me and when I got to the dugout, Zim said, `Do you see which way
the wind's blowing?' I said, `Yeah, it's blowing out. I'm not supposed to
run if the wind is blowing out?' That's the kind of attitude it was. With
the hitters we had, stealing bases wasn't a priority. I used to call it
`running on a yellow light - run with caution.'
''I've always disagreed with the philosophy. What they would ask you to
do - they didn't want you to run in Fenway, but when you went on the road,
they wanted you to run. You can't do that. It doesn't work that way. Your
timing's off and you always felt guilty if you got thrown out at second
base because they had all these guys behind you.''
It wasn't always that way. The Red Sox' first leadoff hitter was Tommy
Dowd of Holyoke. He stole 366 bases in his career, including 33 with the
inaugural Boston American League team in 1901. It was Dowd's last season
in the big leagues.
Hall of Famer Harry Hooper was the Sox' first great leadoff hitter. He
held the spot from 1912-1920 and the Sox won four World Series with Hooper
batting leadoff. Hooper stole 40 bases in 1910, which still ranks sixth in
team history. Tommy Harper holds the Red Sox record for steals with 54 in
1973. Otis Nixon stole 42 in 1994. The other top 10 Sox single-season base
thieves all played before 1915.
The '40s strategy
When Dom DiMaggio arrived in Boston in 1940, it was an established fact
that the Sox did not run. They had the big wall in left and Hall of Fame
sluggers named Foxx and Williams. For the majority of the decade
(excluding when they went off to war), DiMaggio hit leadoff, Johnny Pesky
batted second, and Williams hit third. Those Red Sox scored a lot of runs
without stealing bases. DiMaggio never stole more than 16 in a season.
''Dominic knew how to get on base,'' said Pesky. ''He was a good hitter
and he ran well. Anybody that runs good has got to hit in the top of your
lineup. Hitting in front of Williams, even with two outs, we never wanted
Williams to lead off. Dominic and I had a sign we used for six straight
years. I'd get in the box and when I went to my nose, he ran, and I said,
`Dom, if you miss that, I'll kill you.'
DiMaggio remembers the hit-and-runs with Pesky:
''We wanted to get on base and stay on base for Ted, so we didn't steal
much. The part that I personally enjoyed, and I know Pesky did, was the
manner in which we hit-and-ran so many times. The hit-and-run plays that
we put on were unbelievable. It seemed to me that every time I was on
first base I was ready to head for second. John's sign was rubbing his
nose and they could never catch it. At times we would change it. We did
the bunt-and-run, too. Johnny would give me the sign and he'd bunt down
the third base line and many times I'd make it from first to third on the
bunt. On occasion, Johnny'd beat it out and we'd have guys on first and
third for Ted. The Yankees stopped that once when I ran into their
catcher, Bill Dickey, at third base. He said, `Gotcha.' That kind of put
the kibosh on that.
''The only year I didn't hit leadoff was in 1946. We had Wally Moses
leading off and I batted third and that was the only year we won the
pennant. I've always thought it was kind of strange. I was leading off all
the time and we never won a pennant, then I batted third and we won a
pennant, then I never batted third again.''
A .298 career hitter, DiMaggio batted .316 in 1946, the year he was in
the third spot in the batting order, allowed to swing at 2-and-0 and
3-and-1 pitches. In 1948, DiMaggio knocked in 84 runs from the leadoff
spot, which was then a major league record.
When DiMaggio finished in 1952, the Red Sox began a half-century search
for a leadoff hitter, mostly with dismal results. Some of the miscast
leadoff men they tried: Frank Malzone, Pumpsie Green, Chuck Schilling,
Mike Andrews, Juan Beniquez.
Harper dressed up the spot from 1972-74.
''I led off the whole time here unless I was on the bench for not
hitting,'' said Harper, now the Sox' first base coach. ''Fenway wasn't
different for me. I'd been in the majors for eight or nine years. By the
time I got to the Red Sox, I knew how to lead off. The fence didn't bother
me. I didn't look at it. What we have to do as leadoff hitters doesn't
involve hitting home runs. What we have to do as leadoff hitters involves
getting on base. In late innings, you take a lot more than you swing. I'd
have to take something I could hit to run the count deeper to give the
pitcher every opportunity to walk me.
''[Then-manager] Eddie Kasko let me run on my own. Luis Aparicio hit
behind me and he was great. We had our own hit-and-run signs. Luis was
good. He'd put it on himself. Kasko let us do it ourselves. I had a sign
with him. If I thought I could steal a base, I'd give him a sign and he'd
let me have a pitch or two. If the first pitch was a ball and I didn't go,
he'd give me another. If it was a strike, then he'd be swinging after
that.''
Square pegs
When Harper left, the futility returned. Remy filled the position for a
while, but only because Rick Burleson didn't want the job. And Burleson
didn't want Remy running.
Even though he was a 6-foot-3-inch, 205-pound slugger who never stole
more than eight bases in a season, Dwight Evans spent time at the top of
the Boston lineup. Three times he was the Red Sox' Opening Day leadoff
hitter (1981, 1982, 1986). Evans made some history in '86 when he smacked
the first pitch of the season for a home run off Jack Morris in Detroit.
It was the first pitch of any major league game that year.
''I actually had a dream I was going to hit a home run,'' said Evans,
now the Sox' hitting coach. ''I came in and told Walt [Hriniak, former
batting coach] and he was like, `Yeah, yeah, I don't want you thinking
about home run.' I told a lot of guys I was going to hit a home run on the
first pitch. When I was going up there, I told Walt I was going to hit a
line-drive single to right-center. Then I told [Marty] Barrett, `I'm going
deep first pitch.' I knew with 50,000 people there, he was going to try to
throw a strike. The ball was up, it was a strike. Fastball. Chest-high.
Center field. We hit five home runs [four, actually] that day and lost.''
Evans also led off for the Red Sox in the first game of the 1975 World
Series against Don Gullett and the Cincinnati Reds. But when he talks
about his days leading off for the '86 Sox, it's impossible to ignore Wade
Boggs.
There was always a great deal of debate regarding Boggs and the leadoff
position. Boggs was good for 200 hits a year. He also led the league in
walks twice. In 1988, he cracked 214 hits and led the American League with
125 walks. He was easily the best on-base guy in baseball. But he hated to
lead off. He wouldn't take those 2-and-0, 3-and-1 pitches if he could get
easy hits off them. He was, in fact, too selfish and too slow for the
leadoff position.
''I always thought Boggs was a good leadoff hitter, but he didn't like
to do it,'' Evans said.
Remy added, ''He was a guy you wanted up there hitting first because
he'd get up five times a game, but he was a terrible base runner. He
wasn't real good at going first to third.''
Still, like it or not, Boggs was the Red Sox' Opening Day leadoff
hitter seven times.
It's easy to forget that Nomar Garciaparra was the Red Sox' leadoff
hitter throughout the 1997 season, his rookie year. He hit .306 with 30
homers and 98 RBIs from the top spot. Garciaparra's RBI total shattered
Harvey Kuenn's 40-year-old record of 85 from the leadoff spot (Anaheim's
Darin Erstad topped Garciaparra's record with 100 leadoff RBIs in 2000).
His total of 30 homers from the leadoff spot ranks fifth all-time.
''That was thrown upon me, being the leadoff hitter,'' Garciaparra
said. ''I'd done it before in college and in the minors. I had some
experience with it. It's just a different mentality. I always say, the
game dictates. In the first inning I'm a leadoff hitter, and then
afterward I might be a No. 4 hitter. I might have to do something
different and not think about drag bunting or something like that. The
game dictates what you are supposed to do.''
Added dimension
Now the Sox no longer have to use hitters out of position at the top of
the order. No more Evans, Boggs, or Garciaparra hitting first. Now they
have two of the best in Damon and the ageless Henderson.
''It's a dimension,'' said Garciaparra. ''When you have a guy who can
do both - get out there and swing the bat, get on base and run. That adds
to it. In the past, a lot of us haven't been able to run. We've got guys
hitting behind them now who can put the ball over the fence at any time.
And we've still got that. But I think this adds another dimension to put
the pressure on the other team's defense.''
Remy added, ''It's never been a priority with our teams, which I've
never agreed with. We've seen plenty of stretches at Fenway when the team
goes into a slump and you have trouble manufacturing runs.''
Now maybe they can manufacture a run when the sluggers slump. The Red
Sox, of all teams, have two of the best leadoff hitters in the game.
This story ran on page D8 of the Boston Globe on 3/29/2002.
Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.