I'm Just Wild About Larry Lucchino

I will begin with a soda...  then move on - and if last season's $6.50/can Bud Light is now $7 or $7.50 at Fenway - we'll call it a sign of economic recovery.

Manna from heaven...

Great surprise birthday gift was pair of tickets to today's Boston Red Sox home ope-nah v NYY.  That's my invitation to tell you about meeting and working with club owner Larry Lucchino to set up a pay TV deal for his baseball team - only it was the Baltimore Orioles, and the time was 1982.

Larry was the up-and-comer in Williams & Connolly, Washington DC "power law firm" helmed by formidable litigator and then Orioles owner Edward Bennett Williams.  As Edward's young, can-do right hand guy, Larry oversaw all the business dealings - with the TV rights, the stadium, the licensing, the players' association, and the MLB.

I was the junior kid on a four person consulting project that helped structure the business partnership resulting in Home Team Sports - a collaborative venture among the Orioles, Bullets (now Wizards), Capitols, and Westinghouse's cable TV unit.

Pop-eyed! Good ol' Hazel Mae & Larry on NESN

We had Larry in our McLean, VA offices all the time, and as the short-straw newcomer I was often dispatched to tear downtown in my '74 Nova to deliver our work to the grand W&C offices astride Farragut Square on Connecticut Avenue.

The project was a fruitful one, and Larry's career even moreso, ultimately landing him in Boston with the greatest ball team of all.  When I learned my paesano Larry Lucchino had joined the Sox ownership team, I knew we were headed for good times - and the Series rings of 2004, 2007 and - shortly - 2011 all attest in part to Larry's sharp business instincts as well as to his love of the game.

According to Wikipedia, Larry has World Series rings (Orioles '83, Sox '04/'07), a Super Bowl ring ('83, as Williams owned the Redskins), and a Final Four watch ('65 - he was a teammate of Bill Bradley on the Princeton Tigers squad).  The only person in history to obtain all three.

The Boston Globe believes that the team and the ownership are all on the same page, at the moment. And as President, Larry is seeing to it that Boston does not get overbid by the Yankees:

Said Lucchino, “John, Tom, all of us. We emphasize the commitment to winning to our players. We understand that’s the central purpose of this game.’’ That commitment has come at a high price. The Sox, Lucchino revealed, paid approximately $85.5 million to Major League Baseball’s revenue-sharing fund last year and an additional $1.3 million in competitive balance tax.

Only the Yankees, Lucchino said, paid more.

“We do know that we have an intense rivalry with those guys,’’ Lucchino said. “We’ve got to be aggressive with our finances and we’re willing to do that.’’

If that's where my extra dollar for canned beer goes - to fend off the Yankees - then join me and we'll have another round!

Tony C. : paesano

Opening Day Reminiscence:
The '67 Impossible Dream season saw the Sox win the AL Championship and go to the 7-game limit with Bob Gibson and the Card's, but lose Tony Conigliaro to a terrible late season bean-ball injury.  In years following, MA public school teachers used to let us brats tune in the opening game on TV during grade school and junior high.

After missing the 1968 season, Tony C returned 42 years ago on this day, April 8, 1969 to pop a tenth inning 2-run HOMAH and beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-4.  I saw the Principal of my elementary school, Justin O'Connor, cry that day.

Home Opening Day:
I am as excited today as I was in 1969!


Post script:
Sox beat Yankees 9-6 for first win of the season - a glorious game.
YAZ threw out first pitch, PA system played Edwin Hawkins Singers' "Oh Happy Day" at flag drop, Air Force flyover before, and Navy soloist delivered BOLD 5th inning "God Bless America"

 Plastic cup: $8.50 Sam Adams Summer Ale, $8.00 Bud Light!