1,895 MLB GAMES AND COUNTLESS MEMORIES
Scoggins retires after memorable run as official scorer
He’s lucky the Red Sox never charged him rent at Fenway Park.
He was there enough.
From 1973-2012, Chaz Scoggins covered the Red Sox for The Sun. From April of 1979 until Wednesday, Oct. 5, Scoggins was one of the official scorers of Red Sox games, covering 1,895 games, including 54 playoff games, 15 World Series games, three All-star games and countless others he’ll never forget.
Nine years after putting his pens, notebooks and tape recorders away as a sports writer, the Lowell resident has put away his scorecards and rule books after retiring from that gig. He no longer will have to fight with himself — and others — to determine if a batter deserved a hit, or a defensive player deserved an error. And while those controversial times would often become a thorn in his side, he cherished every game, every season.
Scoggins started at The Sun during his senior year in college, but had aspirations of becoming a teacher. He worked nights at The Sun as a part-timer, writing obituaries and covering high school football games as part of his duties. In 1970, his number was called in the draft, the U.S. Army one, not the Major League Baseball expansion draft.
When he got out two years later, he knew a teaching job was not in the cards.
“When I got out of the Army it was October of 1972, it was too late to get a teaching job, so I figured I would go back to The Sun and under the law they had to give me my old job back in sports,” he said. “That winter, the guy who had been covering the Red Sox died and they gave it to me and I just fell in love with it. If it hadn’t been for the Army, I would have been a teacher instead of a sportswriter. I fell in love with (covering the Red Sox) and did it every week. I couldn’t imagine myself being 50 years old and still covering sports. Age 50 came and went and I was still doing it (and loving it).”
In his sixth year of covering the Sox, he was chosen by the
Baseball Writers Association of America to become an official scorer, a trade he said he first learned while in college.
“(At Chelmsford High School) I ran track and played football, but mostly sat on the bench. I went to Lowell State and played one year of baseball there but again sat on the bench,” he recalled. “That’s where I learned how to score.”
He saw some of the best Red Sox players to ever put on a uniform. In his opinion, Fred Lynn and Mookie Betts were the two best all-around players, Luis Tiant, Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens the three best pitchers.
Scoggins was the scorer when
makes it easy, he’s a good communicator. He’s easy to play with,” said Frederic.
He’s got much more limited experience with Greer, but they did play together in the preseason.
“I had fun,” said Frederic. “He’s fast and he slashes across nice. He’s a left winger, so I know he’s coming across, which makes it easier. He’s a good guy. He’s talking a lot too, so it makes it easy.”…
Jack Studnicka is still waiting for his opportunity, but it may not be for much longer. Montgomery couldn’t say when he’d be going in, but he thinks he’ll see some action in the next week or so.
“There is a plan,” said Montgomery. “It’s all going to be dependent on how the guys in the lineup are playing. If guys are playing well, it’s hard to make changes. But we do have three in four nights coming up, so I expect him to get in a game.”
Studnicka had a good training camp right up until the final preseason game when he absorbed a minus-4 in the 5-3 loss against the Devils. Because
he required waivers to be sent down, and his cheap contract ($762,000 for the next two years) making him a good candidate to be scooped up, the B’s did not try to sneak him through like they did with their higher-priced veterans Nick Foligno and Mike Reilly. But with Studnicka still just 23, the B’s would not want him to languish in the press box for too long…
Montgomery revealed that he’s been showing a certain clip of Brad Marchand battling Sidney Crosby in an offseason workout to show young players how to protect the puck. The practice goes back to when he was coaching at the University of Denver.
“That’s how you protect pucks. This is how you compete,” said Montgomery of his message to young players. “If you have the luxury of having someone like 63, he’s great at protecting pucks, and gets inside position on people. There’s an art to it and there’s a level of compete to it. And once you learn how to do it, I think people get better and better. Charlie Coyle’s really good at it, so we have really good examples on our team.”…
Montgomery reflected again on getting the game puck from the season opener in Washington, which was presented to him by captain Patrice Bergeron. There were plenty of good candidates to receive it.
“(Jakub) Zboril was coming back from reconstructive knee surgery, we had (Jakub) Lauko playing his first game, Linus (Ullmark) was great in net,” said Montgomery. “There were a lot of guys who could have gotten it and the fact that they made me feel a part of it right away, because they knew it was my first win leading the Bruins, it meant a lot to me. It makes you feel good.”