One of baseball's most revered teams is the American League's Boston Red Sox, founded in 1901. Futility plagued the Sox for 86-years from 1918 until the team's World Championship in 2004.
Great players, including Babe Ruth - before the historic trade to the Yankees - Ted Williams - the last player to hit over .400 average in a single season and Carl Yastrzemski, among others, have graced the ranks of the competitive Red Sox franchise.
Japan's Daisuke Matsuzaka joined the team in 2007 for the incredible sum of 50-million dollars.
"That was the craziest thing I ever saw," Lou Lucier, 94, the oldest living Red Sox, told Boston.com. Lucier came to the team in 1943 at the bargain basement price of $750 a month. “That was pretty good money,’’ he says. “I compared that with my father working in a Blackstone Valley cotton mill. He was making $19 a week."
The Sox let Lucier throw to Ted Williams whenever he was in from military service for batting practice.
“He was a wonderful guy to me, always encouraging," Lucier told Boston.com. “It’s something I’ll never forget. He wanted me to throw him curveballs. I made sure I didn’t hit him."
Lucier's wife died seven years ago but his three children have given him five grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. He still receives about a half-dozen monthly letters asking for autographs. He is an inspiration to people living in Massachusetts Assisted Living and Continuing Care residences.