Terry Francona Retires With Fond Memories Of Time With Red Sox

Terry Francona’s outstanding career will come to an end at the conclusion of the 2023 Major League Baseball season.

The Guardians manager will hang up his team-issued jacket (he never did like wearing the uniform) for the final time Sunday, with many remembering him for his time in Cleveland. In Boston, however, he will always be known as the man who led the 2004 Red Sox to a World Series championship — ultimately winning two in his eight seasons with the club.

Things didn’t end on a great note in Boston, however. Francona was canned following a 7-20 finish in 2011 that produced one of the worst collapses in franchise history. “Tito” doesn’t care to focus on the end of his stint with the Red Sox, though, instead remembering the years of success.

“When you get away from something for a while, it’s a lot easier to remember the good and not fixate on the not-so-good,” Francona told Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe. “That year, when I left, it was still pretty raw. It’s hard. You have emotions and you feel them. But then I came to Cleveland and I was so content and happy, it made it way easier to think about the good in Boston. I spend zero time thinking about the not-so-good.”

Francona understood the pressure that (still) comes with managing a team in Boston. He believes that’s why the job is better suited for a younger manager, which is what the Red Sox have and hopes to keep around for the foreseeable future.

“It’s busy and there’s usually a fire to put out every day, and if there isn’t, someone’s making one up,” Francona told Shaughnessy. “You’ve got to be younger and have the energy to do it — like Alex (Cora). I think Alex has been awesome. Even now, when I’d go up there for a four-game series as a visiting manager, I’d be worn out when it was over.

“You have to be better when you manage in Boston. Every game I managed was a sellout, and there wasn’t one day that I walked down that tunnel not thinking, ‘This is (expletive) awesome.’ I loved that.”

That’s not to say Francona was some slouch with the Guardians.

It hasn’t all been great, but the 64-year-old won three American League Manager of the Year awards and led Cleveland to the 2016 AL Pennant. He’s perhaps going to go into the National Baseball Hall of Fame with a Guardians logo on his hat, but he’ll always have fond memories of his time with the Red Sox.