Former Red Sox CEO Lucchino dies at age 78
Larry Lucchino, the force behind baseball’s retro ballpark revolution and the transformation of the Boston Red Sox from cursed losers to World Series champions, has died. He was 78.
Lucchino, who was a three-time cancer survivor, died early Tuesday morning of congenital heart failure. His death was confirmed by his family and the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox, where he had most recently been the primary owner and chairman — the last project in a career that was also linked to three major league baseball franchises and one in the NFL.
A Pittsburgh native who played on the 1965 NCAA Final Four Princeton basketball team captained by future U.S. senator and basketball Hall of Famer Bill Bradley, Lucchino went on to Yale Law School and worked on the House Judiciary Committee investigating the Watergate scandal. He landed a job with Washington lawyer Edward Bennett Williams and soon found himself working on Williams’ sports teams, the
Lucchino
Baltimore Orioles and the Washington NFL franchise now known as the Commanders.
Lucchino rose to president of the Orioles, and it was in his tenure that the team replaced Memorial Stadium with a downtown, old-style ballpark that ended the move toward cavernous, cookie-cutter stadiums surrounded by parking lots. Camden Yards became a trend-setter, and Lucchino himself would follow up with a new ballpark for the San Diego Padres, whom he served as president and CEO.
Lucchino’s next stop was in Boston, joining with new owners John Henry and Tom Werner in 2002. Their decision to update Fenway Park rather than replace it — bucking another trend — preserved one of baseball’s jewels, which will open its 113th season on April 9.
But an even bigger overhaul was taking place in the Red Sox front office, and on the field. With 28-yearold Theo Epstein — who started with the Orioles as an intern and followed Lucchino to the Padres — as general manager, the Red ended an 86-year championship drought, and then won another World Series three seasons later.