Valentine (noun)…… “a sweetheart chosen or greeted on this day.” Mr. Webster

Pinky Higgins, Rudy York, Billy Jurges, Del Baker, Pinky Higgins (again), Johnny Pesky, Billy Herman, Pete Runnels, Dick Williams, Eddie Popowski, Eddie Kasko, Eddie Popowski (again), Darrell Johnson, Don Zimmer, Johnny Pesky (again), Ralph Houk, John McNamara, Joe Morgan, Butch Hobson, Kevin Kennedy, Jimy Williams, Joe Kerrigan, Grady Little and Terry Fancona; twenty-one names, twenty-four regimes who represent the answer to a very esoteric trivia question. Which is…….Who has managed the Red Sox since 1959? (the year I made my first trip to Fenway) Oh wait and now introducing, drum roll please………

Bobby “Sweetheart Chosen Or Greeted On This Day”

Number 22 is the man chosen to pilot the Red Sox during the historic 100th birthday season of Fenway Park. In a push button poll conducted by the Boston Globe, 60% of the 8000 members of Red Sox Nation who participated, are happy with the choice of “Sweetheart Chosen Or Greeted On This Day.” Boston sports talk shows seem to concur, professing the need to get tough with those of chicken and beer fame and “Sweetheart” is just the guy to do it. Even Hall of Fame pundit Peter Gammons is on board and thinks “Sweetheart” and the Red Sox can work, “as long as it doesn’t become a media show.” Frankly this has me wondering if perhaps the cheese has not slid off of Peter’s cracker, I mean really, not become a media show? This is Boston, this is the Red Sox and this is “Sweetheart Chosen Or Greeted On This Day”, each entity a media show unto itself!

Today at 5:30, the media show will begin as Fenway Park will welcome the man who will be Chosen and Greeted On This Day. Optimism will abound as the excitement of new beginnings will be felt in the Fenway air and I will wonder if the new skipper will use this same gathered media to “call out” any boys who behave badly this season or will he treat them as men? Will the new skipper subjugate the huge letter “I” that seems to permeate his being? And as it all unfolds ponder this, if the Red Sox had won but one more game, one more game, none of this would be happening.

Twenty two men in 53 years and as number twenty two takes the helm he does so amidst the rumor that number twenty one will replace him behind the mike at ESPN. Hey, does that mean it was a trade? Hmmmm, ESPN got the better of the deal! Twenty two men in 53 years, an average of 2. 4 years each. Sorry to say, I think today another era of average leadership begins, but don’t fret for at least in this era, every day will be Valentine’s Day.

Bye, bye Tito, you’re the best I’ve seen……

And so it is, this day in Fenway Park history, December 1, 2011…..

About fenwaypark100

Hello and welcome, my name is Raymond Sinibaldi. An educator for more than two decades, a baseball fan for nearly 60 years, I have authored four books about baseball and her glorious history; with a fifth on the way in late spring of 2015; the first, The Babe in Red Stockings which was co-authored with Kerry Keene and David Hickey. It is a chronicle of Babe's days with the Red Sox. We also penned a screenplay about Babe's Red Sox days so if any of you are Hollywood inclined or would like to represent us in forwarding that effort feel free to contact me through my email. In 2012 we three amigos published Images of Fenway Park in honor of the 100th birthday of Fenway Park. That led to the creation of this blog. The following year, 2013 came my first solo venture, Spring Training in Bradenton and Sarasota. This is a pictorial history of spring training in those two Florida cities. The spring of 2014 brought forth the 1967 Red Sox, The Impossible Dream Season. The title speaks for itself and it also is a pictorial history. Many of the photos in this book were never published before. The spring of 2015 will bring 1975 Red Sox, American League Champions. Another pictorial effort, this will be about the Red Sox championship season of 1975 and the World Series that restored baseball in America. I was fortunate enough to consult with sculptor Franc Talarico on the “Jimmy Fund” statue of Ted Williams which stands outside both Fenway Park and Jet Blue Park Fenway South, in Fort Myers Florida. That story is contained in the near 300 posts which are contained herein. This blog has been dormant for awhile but 2015 will bring it back to life so jump on board, pass the word and feel free to contact me about anything you read or ideas you may have for a topic. Thanks for stopping by, poke around and enjoy. Autographed copies of all my books are available here, simply click on Raymond Sinibaldi and email me.

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1 Response to Valentine (noun)…… “a sweetheart chosen or greeted on this day.” Mr. Webster

fenwaypark100 says:

September 6, 2012 at 5:21 am

Reblogged this on fenwaypark100 and commented:

It was not quite a year ago that he was inroduced, it just seems like a hundred. Recently, Bobby V told WEEI “Big Show” host Glenn Ordway that if he were there he’d “punch you right in the mouth”, after Ordway asked him if he had “checked out”. Frankly, I love that! Anyway, here’s my take on Bobby V way back on the day he arrived! Enjoy!