HEADING FOR HOME
When the Red Sox broke camp to head north for their season
opener on April 8 at Fenway Park against the Brewers, many of
the questions at the start of spring training had been answered.
The starting pitching had come together beginning with Rick Wise,
who looked every bit the dependable starter the Red Sox had
traded for in 1974.
The bullpen had settled down with Dick Drago as the closer,
Diego Segui as the setup-man, and lefty Rogelio Moret alternating
between a spot starter and a consistent long man. Right-hander
Reggie Cleveland could also start from time-to-time and work out
of the bullpen.
Rice and Lynn showed every sign of becoming game-changing
rookies but now they would be facing front-line pitchers every
day. Speaking about the offense, Red Sox General Manager Dick
O’Connell said, “We led the AL in runs and the division in batting
average last season, and I think we will improve this season. We
can’t be too badly off.”
The feel-good story of spring training in 1975 was the comebacking
Conigliaro. Tony had made the team and he would be the
designated hitter on Opening Day at Fenway Park. “I’m really
happy,’’ he said, “but I was sure I could do it.”
But a number of question marks still lingered. Could Montgomery
perform at a high level as the everyday catcher while the team
waited for Fisk to return? Would the bullpen hold up or run out of
gas in September like the previous season?
Before spring training opened the estimable Peter Gammons of
the Boston Globe wrote, “This team could be a pennant winner, a
fifth-place finisher, or most anything in between. Spring training
will give us the first answers of what kind of team this will be.”
At the end of spring training Gammons wrote, “They have pennant
potential but they still have too many question marks to pick them
on paper in April.”
In The Sporting News the Red Sox were a consensus pick to finish
third behind the Orioles and the Yankees.
One thing is certain: Coming out of spring training, no one picked
this team to be one of the most exciting teams in Red Sox history.
And no one expected them to be playing in one of the greatest
World Series of all time n
Watch for the April edition of RED SOX MAGAZINE for REMEMBERING
THE 1975 BOSTON RED SOX featuring former Red Sox All-Star infielder
Rico Petrocelli.
Herb Crehan is in his 25th season as a Contributing Writer and he has written well over 100 feature articles for RED SOX MAGAZINE. He is a
long-time member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and he has written three books on Boston Red Sox history. He is also the
publisher of a website dedicated to the preservation of Boston baseball history. Comments and suggestions for future articles may be submitted to
his website www.bostonbaseballhistory.com
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/www.bostonbaseballhistory.com
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