Sox have had their dominators, but it has been a lonely job

By Larry Whiteside, Globe Staff, 03/31/00

Why haven't the Red Sox won a World Series since 1918? The answer must be pitching, right? Diehard fans might say so, but such a simple explanation ignores the fact that Boston has been home to some of the greatest pitchers of the 20th century, from the old master himself, Cy Young, to the Pied Piper of the Dominican Republic, Pedro Martinez.

Young, who hurled for Boston from 1901-08, was so great that the award for the league's top pitcher is named after him. Three men have won that award while pitching for the Red Sox - Jim Lonborg (1967), Roger Clemens (three times), and Martinez (last year) - and others who wore a Boston uniform won the Cy Young Award for other teams (e.g. Bret Saberhagen, Frank Viola, Dennis Eckersley, Tom Seaver, Ferguson Jenkins).

Seaver and Jenkins are Hall of Famers, Eckersley may be headed there, and other Cooperstown inductees who pitched for Boston along the way include Red Ruffing (237 games for Boston), Lefty Grove (214), Herb Pennock (201), Waite Hoyt (35), Juan Marichal (11), and Jack Chesbro (1).

And, of course, Babe Ruth began his career as a pitcher for the Red Sox.

The bottom line is that Fenway Park, despite the fabled Green Monster that has humbled many a hurler, has seen its share of great hometown pitching. The trouble is, the Sox never seem to have enough of it at one time.

In the early 1900s, Young and Smoky Joe Wood dominated the American League, but their Boston careers barely overlapped. Young's last year here was 1908, a season in which the 18-year-old Wood appeared in only six games. Young led the AL in victories each year from 1901-03 and wound up setting a club record of 192 wins that Clemens would equal almost 90 years later. Young had six 20-win seasons here, including two in which he won more than 30. He also pitched two no-hitters, one of which was a perfect game.

After Young left, Wood was just as dominating. He went a remarkable 117-56 from 1908-15. In 1912, he was 34-5 with a 1.91 ERA to lead the Sox to the AL pennant. He won three more times in the World Series, including the decisive Game 8 in relief. Even in 1915, after a thumb injury had made him less effective, Wood went 15-5 with a 1.49 ERA.

Ruth was the next link in the chain of fine Boston pitchers. He won 18 in 1915, 23 in 1916, and 24 in 1917. Though Ruth showed no signs of faltering as a pitcher, by 1918 the Sox were using him more for his bat. And by 1920, he was a Yankee.

Though Ruth had gone 89-46 as a pitcher and was a burgeoning offensive force, the Sox sold him to New York in the infamous deal that suspicious minds think spawned the Curse of the Bambino. At the time, the Sox had another talented pitcher, Pennock, who was in the early stages of a Hall of Fame career. Pennock won 16 games in 1919 and 1920, but he was no Ruth. He was traded two seasons later and found greater glory with, naturally, the Yankees.

The '20s were not a prosperous time for the Sox or their pitchers. The team had a losing record every year of the decade - through 1933, in fact. Five times from 1925 to 1932, they lost more than a hundred games.

But things improved once Tom Yawkey bought the team in 1933 and started spending some money on it. Wes Ferrell was acquired the next year, and he overcame a sore arm to go 25-14 in 1935 and 20-15 in 1936, his last full season in Boston.

Another significant acquisition in 1934 was Grove, whom Yawkey bought from Philadelphia for $125,000. The Hall of Fame lefthander won 20 in 1935, 17 in '36, and 17 again in '37 when the Sox reached the 80-victory mark for the first time since 1917. Grove had a 15-4 season in 1939, when the Sox finished second to the Yankees, but he was 39 years old by then and approaching the end of the line. He retired in 1941, having gone 105-62 for Boston.

In the war years, good pitching was at a premium, but righthanders Tex Hughson and Dave Ferriss were attracting attention in Boston, and the Sox were challenging the Yankees for American League supremacy.

Hughson won 22 games in 1942 and 18 in 1944 before his career was interrupted (and probably shortened) by the war. He returned in 1946 and won 20 games as the Sox finally got over the hump and won the AL pennant. Hughson had been an All-Star three times and figured to be a staple in the rotation for years, but he dropped off to 12-11 in 1947 and was gone after 1949.

Ferriss arrived in 1945 and was a 20-game winner his first two seasons (21-10, 25-6). He won Game 3 of the 1946 World Series against the Cardinals. But after going 65-30 for Boston, he was forced to retire in 1950 because of asthma and arm trouble.

The timing was terrible for the Sox, because they had a lefthanded ace who was just coming into his own. Mel Parnell pitched in Boston for 10 years (1947-56) and posted a 123-75 record. In 1949, he went 25-7 and started the All-Star Game for the American League. Parnell won 18 games in each of the next two seasons, and 21 in 1953. But the team was not contending, and by the late '50s it was in decline again.

Bill Monbouquette was a good pitcher who had the misfortune to be playing for Boston around this time. Even as the Sox were sinking in the standings, Monbo won 14 in 1960, 14 in 1961, 15 in 1962, and 20 in 1963. But none of those teams finished higher than sixth.

Things didn't change until 1967, when Lonborg won the Cy Young Award with a 22-9 record. He won twice more in the World Series, but the offseason skiing accident is what many remember most about Lonborg, who was never the same pitcher. He won only 27 games in the next four years for Boston before finishing his Philadelphia.

Good but not great pitchers succeeded Lonborg in Boston - guys like Ray Culp, Sonny Siebert, and Jose Santiago - but the staff's next true ace was the unforgettable Luis Tiant, a three-time 20-game winner. Rick Wise was actually the biggest winner on the 1975 AL champions (19 victories), and lefthanders Bill Lee and Roger Moret had some excellent seasons in the '70s, but it was Tiant who made the greatest impression on Sox fans of this era.

Eckersley was acquired from Cleveland in 1978, and even though he won 20 for Boston that year, his greatest fame lay ahead with Oakland, when he would become the game's dominant closer.

Clemens carried the torch from the '80s into the '90s, earning his three Cy Young Awards (1986, '87, '91 - he would add two more in Toronto) and setting the major league strikeout record with 20 in a game in 1986, a feat he duplicated 10 years later for the Sox.

After Clemens left town an angry warrior, sick of general manager Dan Duquette, the void was quickly filled by Martinez. Last year's Cy Young Award made Martinez one of three men (with Gaylord Perry and Randy Johnson) to win it in both leagues.