Some breaking news here: the Boston Herald is reporting that the Red Sox will retire Johnny Pesky’s #6 this weekend, most likely on his 89th birthday this Saturday.  Johnny will join an elite and exclusive group of 5 Hall of Fame players on the facade in upper right field:

#1: The best second baseman in Red Sox history.
#4: One of the best player-managers in baseball history.
#8: One of the most durable sluggers in the game’s history.
#9: The best hitter of all time.
#27: One of the best catchers in baseball history.

Johnny Pesky is seemingly a great guy, a war hero, a lifetime Red Sox devotee, and a pretty good MLB player.  That being said, does the whole package translate to a wall-worthy resume?

The entire process will never be perfectly objective.  Johnny Pesky almost certainly deserves a spot over Joe Cronin, but the Cronin mistake should not be used as a benchmark for the wall (just as Tony Perez’s Hall of Fame induction should not be used as a case for Jim Rice). If you were to poll fans today on the possibility of Roger Clemens having his number retired, 90% would be against it, even though he so obviously deserves to be there.  Wade Boggs? Jim Rice?  Dwight Evans?  Fred Lynn? Luis Tiant?  Dom DiMaggio? Mel Parnell?  Dennis Eckersley? Frank Malzone?  All of these gentlemen now have a legitimate argument for having their number retired.

In the end, we just need to accept that emotion is a perfectly acceptable decision factor here.  The right field wall is not the Hall of Fame, and should not be subject to the tight unwritten standard present in Cooperstown.  Johnny Pesky is an 89-year-old man who personifies the long-suffering die hard Red Sox fan.  He’s a soldier, and like all soldiers, he’s made sacrifices and hasn’t really received his fair shake.  This ceremony will immortalize him, and on a very simple level, it will make him happy.

I’m fine with that.

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