Hats Off To Larry
Yeah, yeah, even though I’m a New York Yankees fan, I always liked the former Boston Red Sox president Larry Lucchino, who died the other day at 78. Larry was a baseball mastermind. None better. He was a builder of ballparks and World Series winning teams. Larry was from Pittsburgh, where they make ‘em smart and tough. He went to Princeton and Yale Law School. His old man owned a neighborhood bar. He played college basketball for the Princeton Tigers. The 1964-65 team went to the NCAA Final Four. That ain’t easy for an Ivy League team. His teammate was all American and former Senator Bill Bradley.
Larry had great style and taste and smarts. He was the guy behind the Baltimore Orioles’ Camden Yards. He was a fan of retro contemporary ballparks. He built a number of major league ballparks and he kicked off a stadium-building trend that changed the sports landscape. After John Henry hired Larry Lucchino, Sox fans thought for sure that he’d tear down Fenway and build a new ballpark. I think that’s what John Henry wanted to do, but Lucchino surprised everybody when he said, “You don’t destroy the Mona Lisa, you preserve the Mona Lisa.” He then directed a $250 million renovation to major league baseball’s oldest park. A lot of people call it the cathedral of baseball and they’re right about that.
Larry brought Theo Epstein, who had been with him at the Baltimore Orioles and the San Diego Padres, to the Red Sox. At 28, Epstein became the youngest general manager in major league history. That duo broke an 86-year drought and won the World Series—and under Lucchino they won two more. In recent years, Lucchino was the principal owner and builder of Worcester’s Polar Park, home of the Woo Sox. In the first year they led the league in ticket sales. Hey, whatever Larry Lucchino did or wherever he went, he was a winner. By the way, Larry was the guy who dubbed the Yankees the “Evil Empire.” I’ll forgive him for that. Larry Lucchino was the only person to have a Super Bowl ring, a World Series ring, and a Final Four watch. So as a New York Yankees fan I tip my hat to Larry Lucchino. As they say in Holyoke, “You did good.”
Keep your dukes up.
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