Kenney had eye for talent
It was the summer of 1990 and the Red Sox' brass were discussing a deal Lou Gorman was about to make -- Larry Andersen for Jeff Bagwell.
Former CEO John Harrington remembers the confab well.
"Two people spoke very passionately that we not give up Bagwell," Harrington recalled. "Joe Morgan and Eddie Kenney. Eddie really thought Bagwell was a very good young hitter, and he made his case in his usually quiet way. When Eddie spoke we all listened because Eddie loved his players. The time and effort he put into each one of them was amazing. So dedicated, so consistent in the way he approached things.
"But the consensus of the rest of our people was that we should make the deal because we needed a closer to get us into the postseason. After we made it, Eddie just had a smile on his face and he took it just like he'd always taken it. He never got angry. He just seemed to know that Bagwell was going to be a very good player, and he was right."
Kenney, who died Wednesday at his Braintree home at age 85 (Obituary, E8), was right about a lot of things in more than 30 years in the Sox farm system and the 60-plus years he was involved with Red Sox baseball.
Kenney's father worked on Tom Yawkey's grounds crew in the 1930s and '40s. His son was a pitcher in the Red Sox' farm system, but hurt his arm. Yawkey hired Kenney and allowed him to learn the business from the ground up, where he met his wife, Anna, who worked in the front office.
Kenney was a champion for his players and his farm system. In the 1970s and '80s, Kenney and scouting director and former manager Eddie Kasko were producing players at a level with the best organizations in the game.
His memory should not be forgotten and his place in Red Sox history should not be diminished. He allowed his minor league managers and coaches to do their jobs and he stuck with players, sometimes too long. But if he hadn't done that with Wade Boggs, the Hall of Fame third baseman would have played for another major league team. Kenney kept after his coaches to make Boggs a decent third baseman; Kenney knew he could hit.
"The things I'll remember most about my dad was how patient he was and how he never wanted to accept credit for anything," his son, Ed Kenney Jr., said yesterday.
"When you look at the players that came through the farm system, I think it speaks for itself," said Kenney Jr., the Orioles' assistant general manager and former Red Sox farm director. "That's the one thing I learned from him -- give credit to others. Build people up. Make them feel like they're important. I always knew what he had done and he knew what he had done. He was just never the type of person who wanted to bring attention to himself."
From his home in Richmond, Kasko said, "Eddie was a good baseball man. We worked so well together. He always made me laugh. I remember we'd be in a meeting and one of the young ones in the organization would suggest something or say, 'We might want to do it this way' and Eddie would pipe up, 'We tried that in 1968.' "
Dick Berardino, who managed many years in the Sox system, remembered Kenney Sr. with fondness.
"When he'd come to watch one of our games, you never felt that he was looking over my shoulder," Berardino said. "He gave us his trust. You develop players. That was the most important thing to him. Not the record or anything else. He just cared the player was groomed to be a major leaguer and that he acted in a way that would represent the Boston Red Sox organization. I don't think I ever heard him raise his voice. If he had something to say, if something wasn't getting done, or if he wanted a certain player to play, he'd say it once and he didn't have to say it again. He was a wonderful man to work for."
Kenney Sr. cared about his affiliates. He'd go from place to place -- whether it was Pawtucket or Double A New Britain or Bristol -- and he'd make those teams feel appreciated. He developed strong bonds with Pawtucket owner Ben Mondor and PawSox officials Mike Tamburro and Lou Schwechheimer. He made them feel they were vital to the organization.
Kenney believed in his people, their evaluations of players, and their methods of coaching. He never rushed a player; if anything, he was overly cautious about when they should go to the big league club.
One of the great joys in Kenney's life was being able to work with his son, who learned many of his dad's traits.
"Eddie loved his son very much," Kasko said.
And Ed Kenney Sr. was a father figure to many.
He nurtured Bruce Hurst's homesickness -- the lefthander was from St. George, Utah -- and talked him out of quitting baseball. He took a liking to Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd, who said of Kenney, "He was like my daddy. Definitely a father figure to me. I'm so saddened about this. To tell you how much he meant to me, I was up at Fenway yesterday and I brought Ed Kenney's name up -- with no knowledge he had passed -- to some people up there.
"When I was a young player, he told me that I was going to the big leagues. That's how much faith he had in me. When I had signed and after my first year I had no money, but he made sure he took care of me. Sent me a little something to keep me going. I'll never forget him. I know that he helped get me to the big leagues. I know how many other players he helped in the era I played in. He told all the pitching coaches and managers for them to keep their eye on me because I was special. The Boston Red Sox have lost one great man right there."
Kenney helped develop Brady Anderson, Curt Schilling, Fred Lynn, Jim Rice, Ellis Burks, Rick Burleson, Carlton Fisk, Mike Greenwell, Roger Clemens, Boggs, and many others.
And to a young reporter back in the early '80s who knew nothing at the time, he did what he did with his players -- he showed great patience in teaching me things about player development.
"Everybody loved Eddie," said Harrington, who appointed Kenney on the Yawkey Foundation board after he retired in 1991. "He was so well respected in the game. He was unflappable. So dedicated. So loyal."
That was Ed Kenney.
Godspeed, Eddie. Godspeed.
Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com 
