The Red Sox family lost one of its most cherished and loved members on Monday.
Johnny Pesky, who has been one of the faces of the franchise since the 1940s, passed away on Monday, according to multiple reports. He was 92 years old.
The news was first reported by the Boston Herald and has been confirmed by the Associated Press.
Pesky made his major league debut with the Red Sox in 1942, and he spent the majority of his playing career in Boston. He also spent three years as the manager in Boston, and he has long been a member of the organization following his playing days and time as manager.
Pesky, a lifetime .307 hitter, missed three seasons of his playing career in the 1940s while serving in World War II.
He was able to enjoy a fairly successful playing career, finishing third in MVP voting in his rookie season and being named to the American League All-Star team in 1946. He helped the Red Sox to the World Series that season as well, where the club fell to the St. Louis Cardinals.
However, Pesky will most likely be remembered for what he did after his playing and managerial days. He was a staple at Red Sox spring training, where he would work in an instructor's role. He was also a fixture in the Red Sox dugout for years, until MLB started enforcing the rule about who was allowed to be there during games.
"Thank God for baseball," Pesky's son, David Pesky, told The Boston Globe at the time back in 2007. "That's what keeps him going."
Pesky left his mark on the franchise in his seven decades in baseball. His No. 6 is retired at Fenway Park, and the right field foul pole is affectionately known as Pesky's Pole. And when the Red Sox finally won the World Series in 2004, perhaps no one was as excited as Pesky.
"When that last out was made, if I was 50 years younger, I would have been jumping up and down like a crazy man," Pesky said in 2004. "That was probably one of the best feelings as a Red Sox person that I have ever had."
The Red Sox legend continued to make appearances at Fenway Park into the 2012 season where he attended the park's 100th anniversary celebration.
"I've had a good life with the ballclub," Pesky told The Associated Press in 2004. "I just try to help out. I understand the game, I've been around the ballpark my whole life."
With the right field pole still standing, his legacy at Fenway is sure to live on.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
