Former Fenway Park announcer, Sox poet laureate dies

Richard Patrick “Dick” Flavin, a Quincy native who went on to be the poet laureate of the Boston Red Sox and public address announcer at Fenway Park following a career in media as a television journalist and political commentator, died Wednesday at the age of 86, his family said.

In a statement, Flavin’s daughter, Leslie Flavin McCarthy, said he died at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth following a fall on Sunday.

“His daughter, Meredith, was holding his hand and the rest of his family were holding him in our hearts,” she said. “He was a real renaissance man — the breadth of his talents was staggering.”

Many may recall Flavin as a witty social satirist who delivered the closing segment on the 6 o’clock evening news for WBZTV for 14 years beginning in 1973. He later authored a bestselling book of poetry titled “Red Sox Rhymes: Verses and Curses,” published in 2015.

Flavin grew up in the Merrymount section of Quincy and graduated from Archbishop Williams High School in Braintree and Stonehill College in Easton. He went on to New York University where he took graduate courses in television and radio, his obituary said.

He went into politics in 1963 as the press secretary for the Massachusetts State Democratic Committee and later worked as a speechwriter for several Democratic politicians, including Ted Kennedy, according to his obituary.

Flavin pivoted to journalism in 1970 and worked as a political editor and reporter for WNACTV in Boston before joining WBZ-TV three years later, according to the obituary. He won seven New England Regional Emmy Awards on 14 nominations for his TV work and in 2011 was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Flavin’s family said his “most treasured position” was serving as the day-game announcer at Fenway Park for five seasons beginning in 2013.

At home, Flavin was a loving father, always enthusiastic, and “an absolute pleasure to spend time with,” his daughter, Flavin McCarthy, said. “He was the best.”