Projo Sox Blog

By STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- Former Red Sox manager Dick Williams, who recently was inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame, will be honored at Fenway Park Sunday afternoon.

The crusty skipper of the Sox' magical Impossible Dream team of 1967 will be throwing out the first pitch and it will be caught by current Boston manager Terry Francona, who played for Williams as a rookie in Montreal in 1981.

"I told him I'd gladly do that," said Francona this morning.

Francona reminisced about the old-school Williams and his my-way-or-the-highway, relatively tyrannical rule as a manager.

"Dick talks to me now more than he did when I was a player," said Francona. "He was intimidating for young players. He had his way of managing. You couldn't do it that way now. It wouldn't work. You wouldn't win. What are you going to do, suspend 25 guys? When you have guys making $140 million, you've got to keep them on the field. It's just different. Life is different. Dick freely admits he couldn't do it now and wouldn't want to."

Francona chuckled at the memory of a 1981 at-bat he had for the Expos.

"It was one of my first at-bats in the major leagues and I didn't get a bunt down. He got on me so bad it got to the point where I teared up," said Francona.

Yet Francona said he and other young players had respect for their tough manager.

"We all knew he was ahead of the game. He'd tell you who was going to be pinch hitting in two innings and why," said Francona.

Francona hardly projects the same type of demeanor as a manager, but he said he was told by Pawtucket manager Ron Johnson that there have been some things he has said or done that have intimidated youngsters sent up from Pawtucket to Boston. That surprised him, he said, because that was not his intention.

"That made me think about things I've said or presumed," said Francona. "We don't want to do that here. I don't want them coming here with fear. I don't think that helps."

The appearance of Williams couldn't help but rekindle memories of that special 1967 season, a magical season Francona has come to appreciate.

"I understand now how the 1967 season seemed to transform the franchise for the fans," he said. "It's easy to look at the last four or five years and you see all the excitement (but that excitement goes back to) what happened 40 years ago," said Francona.

 Tags  dick williams red sox terry francona

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