The calendar, on your wall, is ticking the days off

Mike:
Are you ready for Clay Buchholz day!?

 

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Bill:
Hold on a sec, kid. Not to take anything away from potential phenom Buchholz, but today still belongs to Tony C.

 

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Mike:
Wow, yeah, you're right. I was too young for the Tony C. era, but I tell you what, that Sports Illustrated covah has spooked me since I first saw it.

 

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Bill:
As Bob Ryan writes, "Conigliaro was not just a good Red Sox player. He was family. He was living the ultimate dream of every baseball-loving kid in Greater Boston."

 

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Bill:
Tony C is the greatest of all "What-Ifs?" in Boston sports history.

 

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Bill:
40 years ago on Friday, August, 18th, we lost Tony C. on the midst of what was to be a phenomal baseball careah … Here's to hoping Clay Buchholz is about to step into his own golden glow.

 

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Comments

[Youk Rules]

RIP Tony C

[John]

In a sense we lost Tony C then, but he played on for several more years

[louclinton]

Tony C actually came back to play for the Red Sox in the beginning of 1975. He lasted until about June. I saw him opening day at Fenway. He got a hit and Luis Tiant pitched a complete game, against the Brewers, I think.

Time, as they say, is a bitch.

lc

[Bob]

For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: 'It might have been.'

[Kaz]

WBUR story on Tony C with interviews of Jim Lonborg and Mike Andrews

I had seen the pictures but had never really heard the full story surrounding it all. Against the Angels, no less. Eerie.

Rest well, Tony C. Let's go, Clay!

[denversoxfan]

Whoa... Tony C as the biggest "what if" in Boston sports history? Didn't the Celtics draft some superphenom kid who committed suicide right afterwards?

I'm blanking on his name...

[Kmetzie]

Len Bias died of a drug overdose I believe. But he was supposed to be the next big thing for the Celtics.

[Matt]

Imagine Len Bias being raised in Roxbury, being drafted by the Celts, and dying after two or three years with the Celtics after leading the league in scoring his 2nd year...

Tony C. hit 24 Homers in 111 games as a *19* year old. In his 1965 sophomore season, Conigliaro led the league in home runs (32). He was selected for the All-Star Game in 1967. In that season, at age 22, he became the youngest American League player to reach a career total of 100 home runs.

To what might have been... (maybe a ring in 1967?) Farewell Conig!

[h.b.]

I think Ryan's "biggest 'what if' ever" is tied to the fact that

1) Tony C wasn't a recently signed draft pick with "potential" to be a phenom, but was actually putting up great numbers in the big leagues already, e.g., "...he hit .290 with 24 homers and 52 RBIs in 111 games as a 19-year-old rookie in 1964. A year later, he became the youngest home run champ in American League history. He had already become the youngest player to reach 100 career home runs, and now, on this perfect summer evening, his 20 homers and 67 RBIs had been instrumental in making the Red Sox legitimate contenders."

2) Related to the last bit above about the Red Sox being contenders, who knows (what if?) Tony C had been playing in the '67 World Series that year? Might the Sox have ended the drought right then and there? We'll never know. That's a big "what if?".

Finally, a character like Bill who lives in a site called "The Soxaholix" is always going to treat anything that revolves around the Red Sox with greater monumentality than anything revolving around the Celtics or Patriots or Bruins, especially during baseball season.

[Matt]

Is it blasphemous to put Tony C, Reggie Lewis and Normand Leveille in the same category?

[larryhere]

hb - "greater monumentality-" That's a phrase one doesn't hear very often. I love it.

AND...

I took a lot of at bats in the backyard imagining I was Conig in '66 and '67. The "what-ifs" are one thing, but those at whiffle bat/tennis ball at bats are "what was-es" and THAT, my friends, is Tony C's real legacy.

[larryhere]

oops. Delete the word "at" between "those" and "whiffle" in the last sentence...

[ParkerStPete]

Nice first inning run support for the rookie...

[Bob]

BTW, after reading that Bob Ryan article, I feel like I'm having another Soxaholix stroke.

It's dated "August 18, 2007." Isn't today the 17th?

And he says it happened "39 years ago."

Wasn't 1967 40 years ago?

And why is my left arm numb?

[Ryan with a capital "R"]

So long, Wily Mo! Woo hoo!

[Youk Rules]

Can someone give me an update on Mirabelli? I'm at work and figure out what's going on with him.

Thanks.

[Youk Rules]

Nevermind...looks like a hammy issue.

Tek will be tired after tonight...

[yazbread]

Bob,

The article is dated August 18, 2006 - so it makes sense. Now I think you might really be having a stroke.

[Bob]

Evertyone's saying it's a hamstring. Hopefully just a tweak and not a pull or tear.

"Player to be named later" from the Gnats. Hmmm...

[Bob]

Jesus H. Christ, yazbread, my mouth is now drooping and my speech is garbled.

I blame H.B. for putting up a year-old njkewhfiweghlnkbneihgoin.

[Bob]

Okay, last try since no one has responded over the past week:

Anybody going to Saturday night's game?

(I have a terrible headache and feel dizzy now, too.)

[NolaSox]

Just got a call from my AU Tiger husband. The Sox 2nd round pick, Hunter Morris, elected to take his college scholarship instead.

[bg on the left coast...]

Fourteen that summer – growing up eight stops away on the Green Line – just the age when I could sneak off after dinner (five younger siblings distracting my parents…) hop on the trolley for a quarter and get into the bleachers for a buck. Five or six (quick) innings and home without anyone knowing you were out of the neighborhood. Of course if the game was close… it was home late to lies, dammed lies and baseball.

While we worshiped Yaz and loved Lonberg & the rest; that summer – for the kids hanging around Lansdowne Street – it was definitely ‘Tony C’ who we wanted to be. He was one of us! Just a little bit older and luckier (and more talented, richer & better looking) but still, one of us!

[illegitimate son of dwight evans]

Sox win!

"It's a beautiful day for a ballgame...let's play two"

[Bob]

Well, it might not have been a work of art, but an acceptable debut for Master Clay.

[soxdownunder]

/Anybody going to Saturday night's game?/
I sure with I was! Enjoy.

[soxdownunder]

F F F A A A R R R R C C C C C C K K K K K!!

[kjc]

what a day of ups and downs. Clay (up), Cerrano gone(Big Up), Gagme (way down), Resurgent Papi (up), Lugo's glove (down).

Thought for the day, it is an 8 game lead with Gabbard still on the roster.

[RonF]

Tony C. in 1967 and Jim Rice in 1975; the first two times I was alive to see the Red Sox in the World Series, one of their biggest hitters was sitting on the bench.

[pinstripe thunder]

It was 40 years ago today...

We always pay tribute to our fallen foes. I remember Tony C coming up as a brash and brilliant rookie, and all the girlz were in love with him. I remember talking about the Beatles once, and a girl in my class said, "F*** the Beatles. I love Tony C."

He was a true working class hero.

In memoriam, his HOF plaque (from David Cataneo's book)...

Anthony Richard Conigliaro
"Tony C"
Boston AL 1964-1985

Hit 611 lifetime homers. Batted .320 with nine homers in three World Series, including three in Game 7 win over Cincinnati in 1975. AL MVP in 1976. Youngest player (20) to win a home run title. Eight-time All Star. 1568 career RBI. One of game's great clutch hitters.

Makes us all wonder what might have been...

[lc]

great

[soxdownunder]

Good job tonight Bob!

[lc]

call me crazy.

"you are crazy"

thanks

I still like Gagne.

lc

[beth]

fantastic post. that last line gives me goose bumps.