Expert: Geoff - 8/27/2007

Question
Hey, my family and I have been LONG time Sox fans. And we were wondering about something that we hope you can help us with...who was the very first Sox pitcher to have a shut out game or a perfect game??? Also in your opinion who was/is the greatest Sox player of all time?

Answer
Hi Jeanine,

Thanks for writing.

The Red Sox weren't actually called the Red Sox until 1907.  They had a variety of nicknames before that.  But the first shut out for the Boston American League team was on May 25, 1901.  Boston beat Cleveland that day 5-0.  Records for back then aren't as good as they are now so I was unable to determine who the pitcher was.  Looking at the 1901 team stats though, I see that Cy Young pitched 5 of the 7 shutouts the staff had that season so chances are the answer to "first shut-out" is Cy Young.

Here's a link to Boston's 1901 day-by-day results:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BOS/1901_sched.shtml

The first perfect game in Boston American League history was most definitely thrown by Cy Young.  On May 5, 1904 Young pitched a perfect game (the first by any American League pitcher) against the Philadelphia Athletics winning the game 3-0.

Here's a link to the box score for that game:

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/boxscore/05051904.shtml

As far as the Boston Red Sox are concerned, the one player most responsible for the incredible popularity of the team is Carl Yastrzemski.  The Boston team won World Series thanks to guys like Cy Young and Babe Ruth, and Ted Williams holds lots of team records but it was Yaz who changed everything in 1967.  He led the Impossible Dream team which transformed an unpopular, generally lousy team with poor attendance into the almost always in contention for the play-offs powerhouse that we've all enjoyed for the past 40 years.

I consider that the greatest, most long-lasting impact to the team making Yaz the greatest player in Red Sox history.

Best Wishes,

Geoff