If you were writing the fictional story of Jon Lester’s comeback from cancer, you might ponder how you wanted it to end. Do you have him winning the last game of the World Series? Or pitching a no-hitter?
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another face at zanzibar
The beauty of the Jon Lester story is it ain’t over yet.
io saturnalia!
Ironically, I had the pleasure of speaking with Clay Buchholz on Sunday night at the party for the Mike Lowell/Rob Bradford book “Deep Drive.” We talked about the rarefied air of being one of the relatively few people in Major League history to have tossed a no-hitter and, sure enough, the next night his teammate joins that exclusive company.Lester and the rest of the Red Sox are truly class acts, both on and off the diamond.
Anonymous
The frequency of Red Sox ho-hitters is an oddity:1901-1923 (dead-ball era): 23 years, 10 no hitters, or one per every 2.3 years.1924-1955: 32 years, no no-hitters.1956-1965: Ten years, four no-hotters, or one every 2.5 years.1966-2000: 35 years, no no-hitters.2001-2008: Eight years, four no-hitters, or one every two years.I started following the Sox in 1967 at age 5, just after the second wave, and didn’t see a no-hitter until I was 39. There have been four in my ten-year-old son’s lifetime.Bob in Peabody
io saturnalia!
Also interesting — and I swear this is my last post on this — is the fact that Red Sox pitchers have thrown four of the last six no-hitters.Most interesting bummer about this: A bunch of yahoos are calling Dale and Holley arguing that Jon Lester isn’t truly “courageous.” Losers.
Anonymous
Jon Lester’s story just keeps getting better and better.I can never remember sitting on my sofa and leaping up to my feet for a regular season game in my life (and that includes last year’s no-no.)Thank you, Theo, for not pulling the trigger on the Santana trade. I like watching Jon Lester and Jacoby Ellsbury grow into something special.
mike_b1
Ever read John Tunis’s “The Kid from Tomkinsville” series?
io saturnalia!
Man, so much for my oath, but anyone who invokes the great John R. Tunis needs a response.”The Kid” was excellent, though “Highpockets” and “Young Razzle” were also great.”Keystone Kids,” the story of shortstop- and second base-playing brothers Spike and Bob Russell, respectively, is my favorite. Ruminations on (anti-Semitic) bigotry, fraternal loyalty and lots of hard-nosed baseball made the story jump off the page.You’re a good man, mike_b1, for the reminder.
mike_b1
io, my pleasure. I was thinking of “The Kid,” who went from young star to injured war hero to comeback “kid.” Echoes of Lester (without the war, of course, but certainly similar mental and physical trauma).
Anonymous
Mike b1: That volume is “The Kid Comes Back,” in which Roy Tucker comes back from WWII and is converted from center field to third base. I loved that series, and have recommended it to many parents of baseball-crazy boys. BTW, “Echoes of Lester” sounds like something Charles Mingus would have written!Bob on Peabody
io saturnalia!
In the first “Kid,” Roy Tucker flies headlong into a cement wall trying to rob a Dodgers opponent of a home run.He loses consciousness … and holds onto the ball.