ESPN.com
BOSTON—The Red Sox have had Hall of Famers as coaches. Bobby Doerr. Jim Rice. Kiki Cuyler. Hugh Duffy. Earle Combs.
They’ve had batting champions (Pete Runnels) and stolen base leaders (Tommy Harper), Gold Glovers (Dwight Evans) and hitting gurus (Walt Hriniak).
They’ve had hometown guys (Johnny Pesky, Joe Morgan, Richie Hebner) and ex-Yankees (Combs, Herb Pennock, Dick Berardino, Mike Stanley).
They’ve had a Rooster (Burleson), a Goose (Gregson), a Gerbil (Zimmer), a Heinie (Wagner), a Barber ( Maglie), a Pops (Popowski) and a Stinger (Stange). They’ve even had a spy (Moe Berg).
What they’ve never had, until now, is a former general manager electing to return to the field after 17 seasons in the front office, the last seven as GM of the Philadelphia Phillies, who went to the World Series in 2009 when he was boss.