New Red Sox boss has old-time savvy

Tuesday, July 29, 2003

COLUMN: Steve Solloway

'Do I need a tie?"

Larry Lucchino talks and acts casually, but he was about to make a first impression with hundreds of Red Sox fans in downtown Portland.

He can't throw a slider for a strike and he can't hit for power, although at age 57 he knows how to use it. He is President and CEO of the baseball team that has more neurotic followers than any other and he was concerned about his appearance.

He had the blue blazer, he had the white shirt, unbuttoned at the neck. If there's anything Red Sox fans in Maine can't tolerate, it's stuffed shirts running their baseball team.

Lucchino ditched the tie idea.

"Everything about the Red Sox is felt much deeper," said Lucchino. "It's people waiting in line at 4 in the morning to buy tickets, it's the greater press coverage. It's the extreme behavior of the fans when we lose.

"It's so visceral. You see little girls 8 or 9 years old keeping score and crying when the team loses. It's seeing a 108-year-old woman coming to Fenway for the first time.

"I knew about it from afar and now that I've seen it, I tell people, it's something in the DNA up here."

Lucchino grew up in Pittsburgh, where passions for the Steelers and Pirates run hot, or used to. He graduated from Princeton and got his law degree at Yale. He's an intelligent man who understands one of the greatest love-hate relationships in sports.

He's also a lucky man. That the Red Sox had just taken 2 of 3 from the hated Yankees made Lucchino a very popular man of the hour, despite the fact he wasn't Nomar Garciaparra, Kevin Millar or Manny Ramirez.

"We've come to Maine to say thank you," said Lucchino, speaking for a small entourage that included former manager Joe Morgan.

Thank you? After breaking hearts every summer and raising ticket prices the following season? What a novel gesture.

Come to Maine, mix with as many Red Sox fans as possible to say thank you? Without body armor? How noble.

Sure it's good business. It's also being smart. Maybe the visit is another clue that this organization does know what it's doing. From top to bottom.

Lucchino took some hits when he hired young Theo Epstein to be his general manager. Yet Lucchino could come to Portland on Monday and ask you. Do you like this team? Do you like its chances?

Kevin Millar was leaving the Florida Marlins and heading to Japan. Signed, sealed and nearly delivered. Then the Red Sox beckoned.

Were they smart enough to know they were bringing something other than a good bat to their clubhouse? Did they know what Portland Sea Dogs fans knew, that Millar was a quality guy?

"He's a terrific person and we do pay attention to that," said Lucchino, who once argued that biology wins games. Bigger, faster, stronger teams win. Bobby Beatherd, his friend from their days together with Washington's NFL team, argued that chemistry won games.

At some point, Lucchino came over to Beatherd's side. Maybe it was after they got their Super Bowl rings in 1983.

"We knew that Bill Mueller was an old-fashioned baseball player and we got him," said Lucchino, returning to the present. "We knew that David Ortiz was a popular player with his teammates and we got him."

And he understood that Mainers would warm to him quicker if he didn't knot that silk tie around his neck.

It's a good time to be Red Sox president, particularly one who doesn't mind baiting Georgie Steinbrenner and his Evil Empire. It's a better time to be a Sox fan, although the true believers are preparing for the pain.

Just in case.

Staff Writer Steve Solloway can be contacted at 791-6412 or at: ssolloway@pressherald.com

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