WooSox continue a worthy tradition
A major league umpire who died 21 years ago helped send two kids from Rhode Island to the World Series this season.
What?
It’s true, thanks to the Worcester
Red Sox remembering their history.
Hank Soar grew up in Pawtucket and attended Pawtucket Senior High (now known as Tolman High) and Providence College before playing for the New York Football Giants from 1937-44 and again in 1946 after a stint in the Army.
He umpired on the side and was recommended for a job in the majors by legendary manager and executive Connie Mack.
Soar was an American League umpire from 1950-72. He did five World Series, including the classic between the Mets and Orioles in 1969 as the crew chief.
Soar made it a tradition to provide tickets for two children from his hometown to attend the World Series. City officials handled the details before the Pawtucket Red Sox took charge in 1990.
The PawSox moved to Worcester in 2021 but kept up the program and this year arranged for 9-year-old Nolan Myers of East Providence and 10-year-old Nallah Gross of Pawtucket to attend Games 1 and 2 in Houston along with their chaperones.
The all-expenses-paid trip was taken care of by the WooSox Foundation in conjunction with the team. Myers and Gross were chosen during a Boys & Girls Club outing at Polar Park.
It’s admirable that the WooSox have kept up the tradition started by Soar even though they’re no longer in Rhode Island.
Extra bases
You’re going to hear a lot in the months to come about righthander Mavrick Rizy, a 6-foot-8-inch, 235-pound junior at Worcester Academy. Rizy, who is from Fiskdale, has committed to UConn but has been impressing scouts in showcase events. His fastball is 92-93 miles per hour and he’s working on a changeup. “He has all the talent in the world,” said Worcester Academy coach Mike Abraham, whose brother Brian is the Red Sox director of player development. “But for being such a talented player at such a young age, he is incredibly humble and mature. His teammates love him, and when he is on the field, he’s just another kid.” Abraham (who is not related to this scribe) compared Rizy to White Sox prospect Sean Burke, a righthander from St. John’s Shrewsbury who was a third-round pick in 2021 out of Maryland. “From a performance standpoint he is only going to keep getting better and better,” Abraham said. “It’s easy to forget how young he is because he’s so physically advanced. Elite athletes really take big strides once their mental skills catch up to their special physical talents” . . .
Mookie Betts now has six Gold Gloves in right field, winning the award in six of the last seven years . . . The White
Sox make interesting choices. They hired Hall of Famer Tony La Russa as manager before the 2021 season. He had 33 years of experience. Now their pick is Pedro Grifol, who hasn’t managed since 2012 in Single A. Grifol spent the last three seasons as Royals bench coach. Grifol will bring former Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo with him as bench coach. The White Sox also showed the gate to Joe McEwing, a coach for the previous 11 seasons . . . Phillies manager Rob Thomson on Christian Vázquez: “I’ve been a big fan of his for a long time. He can really catch and throw. His offensive game has improved over the course of the years. He was always a guy that, you go into Boston, do an advance report on them, he would be a guy that I would highlight all the time just because he can throw and he can back pick and he can do a lot of things. He was really athletic. He could block the ball” . . . You would not expect a pitcher to be in favor of rules regulating defensive shifts. But Justin Verlander understands what MLB is trying to accomplish. “I see the effort behind the banning of the shift, which I am for that effort, which is incentivizing more balls in play, getting a little more action, having guys have the ability to shorten up with two strikes and put the ball in play and be rewarded with a hit for that,” he said. “I think the game needs to move past the three true outcomes, so if that is the result of banning the shift, then I am pro. It’s to be determined whether that happens or not. We’ll see” . . . There’s a Hard Rock Casino opening in Cincinnati Jan. 1.
Pete Rose, naturally, has a promotional deal and will place the first sports bet at its book. Stunts like this are why Rose will never make the Hall of Fame. He lied for years about gambling on baseball and now happily admits it and will place bets for the cameras. Rose remains suspended by Major League Baseball and is ineligible for the Hall as a result. Unless Rob Manfred changes course, which seems unlikely, Rose will always be on the outside . . . Best to Ken Powtak of the Associated Press, who is recovering from a back injury after being hit by a car earlier this month. He’s one of the regulars at Fenway Park . . . Happy 43rd birthday to Adam LaRoche, who played six games for the Red Sox in 2009. Theo Epstein acquired LaRoche from the Pirates on July 22 then flipped him to the Braves nine days later for another first baseman, Casey Kotchman. LaRoche went on to play six more years and hit 119 home runs. Jim Gosger is 80. The outfielder was with the Red Sox from 1963-66. He went on to play for the Athletics (in Kansas City and Oakland), Expos, and Mets. In 2019, the Mets included a photo of Gosger in a video that honored members of their 1969 team who had died. Gosger was alive and still is.