CheeringMetFan
My Daughter is a Yankee Fan!
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Posts: 543
(12/4/03 8:26 pm)
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Bosox grab Francona
Thursday, December 4, 2003
FROM NEWS SERVICE REPORTS
BOSTON - Terry Francona reportedly will be hired as Boston's new manager, reuniting pitcher Curt Schilling with his former boss in a push to bring the Red Sox their first World Series title since 1918.
The Red Sox scheduled a news conference for today at which they will announce Francona's hiring, a baseball source told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
Francona, 44, managed Philadelphia through four losing seasons from 1997-2000 when the Phillies were a young team trying to rebuild.
Francona will be under pressure to win immediately in Boston, where Grady Little averaged 94 wins over two seasons but was let go after the team collapsed against the Yankees in the seventh game of the American League Championship Series.
The Red Sox also interviewed Los Angeles third base coach Glenn Hoffman, Anaheim bench coach Joe Maddon, and Texas first-base coach DeMarlo Hale. But Francona was established as an early front-runner, and his hiring was delayed only by the team's pursuit of Schilling, acquired last week in a trade with Arizona.
Schilling said one incentive for him to sign in Boston was word that Francona was "a slam dunk" to be the new manager. Even so, he made it clear that he did not make Francona's hiring a condition of the deal, nor did the Red Sox promise it.
Francona managed Philadelphia to a 285-363 record over four years, never winning more than 77 games. That was a young team that considered improvement a success.
"The one thing you just die for is a chance to win," Francona said after his interview. "To have a chance to win and to be expected to win is what you play for, what you coach for."
Francona spent the 2001 season as special assistant to baseball operations for the Cleveland Indians and was bench coach for the Texas Rangers in 2002. He was a bench coach for Oakland this year.
"I had a great view" of the Boston team, Francona said last month. "They seemed to really care for each other on the field. They give you no let-up in the lineup."
Francona was an outfielder and first baseman in the majors for 10 seasons. He hit .274 with 16 homers in 708 games.
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