Monday, December 4, 2017

Former Red Sox 1B Dick Gernert Passes Away At Age 89

Dick Gernert (1928-2017)
One of the Red Sox players who suffered through the dismal 1950s phase of the franchise was 1B Dick Gernert. As a small kid, I vaguely remember at least having an awareness of Gernert—and, like with most of the non-Ted Williams players, that awareness was negative in nature. However, when Gernert passed away last Thursday at the age of 89, it made us look a little more carefully at his career in Carmine Hose. Gernert played eight seasons in Boston (1952-1959), before being traded away to the Cubbies. Wow, frying pan to the fire! While with the Red Sox, he batted .252 with 101 HRs in 706 games played. He never played more than 139 games in a season for Boston, but had his best season in 1956—.291, 16 HRs, 68 RBIs, .883 OPS. He was never a great player, but a heck of a lot better than many of us remembered. RIP, Dick!