Pesky: 'This is very flattering to me'

The Red Sox announced before Tuesday night's game against the Indians that they planned to retire the No. 6 worn by Johnny Pesky and immortalize it by placing it in the right-field facade, where it will join those of Hall of Fame teammates Ted Williams (No. 9) and Bobby Doerr (No. 1).

"It's something that John [Henry], Tom [Werner], and I and many people in and out of the organization have given plenty of thought to over the years,'' said Sox president Larry Lucchino. ``Make no mistake, we don't enter into these kinds of decisions lightly, but it's one for which we feel an an enormous sense of appropriateness, fitness, and rightness. Johnny's been with this franchise for nearly six decades and he's a very special ambassador and a very special person in this organization and has been for many, many years.

``So, as I said, it's with great pride we announce our intention to retire Johnny Pesky's No. 6 this weekend.''

Lucchino acknowledged the retirement of Pesky's number was an exception to the longstanding criteria for such an honor, which in the past has been bestowed upon players who had played at least 10 years with the Red Sox, finished their careers here, and were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Unlike Williams, Doerr, Carl Yastrzemski (No. 8), and Carlton Fisk (No. 27), Pesky is not in the Hall of Fame.

`` We inherited a set a rules that applied to this question of retiring numbers and we have looked at that and considered that to be useful but as guidelines rather than firm rules,'' said Lucchino, who indicated the retirement will take place before Friday night's game against the Yankees, which come on the eve of Pesky's 89th birthday. ``I think that Johnny Pesky's career cries out as exceptional and its length of term and the versatility of his contributions -- on the field, off the field, in the dugout, etc. -- are such that we considered Johnny a worthy exception to the rules that were set down before.''

Said Pesky: ``This is very flattering to me, because I wish I could've been a better player.
I'm very grateful to Mr. Henry and this group here, Larry and Mr. Werner, I'm very proud and very proud to have been a Red Sox all these years. When I heard about it last night, I was told that the bosses wanted to see me and I thought I'd done something [wrong]. When I went to see what they wanted and they told me, of course I was flabbergasted.

``I'm very flattered about the whole thing, because I didn't think I was in the Ted Williams or Bobby Doerr class. I played with some good guys and I'm quite flattered by this announcement and I'm really going to enjoy it. I hope I live long enough to really enjoy it.''