I Was Visiting Israel When I Learned Joe Morgan Was Managing The Red Sox

Former Boston Red Sox manager Joe Morgan passed away yesterday at the age of 95.

Not to be confused with the Hall of Fame second baseman who himself passed away in 2020, Morgan made a name for himself when he was named interim manager for the Red Sox during the 1988 All-Star Break after John McNamara, who had taken Boston to the AL pennant two years earlier was abruptly dismissed. 

At the time, Morgan was the team's third base coach. The plan was to have Morgan manage a few games before a permanent replacement could be found. Perhaps Joe Torre. 

But then the Red Sox started winning starting with a 12-game winning streak and then 19 out of 20 games. Morgan was a familiar face to most Red Sox players like Wade Boggs, Jim Rice, Mike Greenwell, Ellis Burks, Rogers Clemens and Bruce Hurst as he had managed the Triple-AAA Pawtucket Red Sox for nine seasons. 

Needless to say, it wasn't long before Morgan was named the team's full-time manager as he would lead the Red Sox to the AL East crown before being swept in the ALCS by the Oakland A's. 

Morgan certainly paid his dues. A native of Walpole, Massachusetts, Morgan was a baseball and hockey standout at both Walpole High School and Boston College. In 1952, Morgan signed as a free agent with the Boston Braves as an infielder.

Morgan would miss two seasons due to military service. When he rejoined the Braves organization in 1955, the big-league club had moved from Boston to Milwaukee. It was not until 1959 when Morgan made his MLB debut with the Braves although he would be sold to the Kansas City A's before the end of the season.

In 1960, the A's sold Morgan back to the Braves. By mid-season, the Braves would trade Morgan once more this time to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for future MLB manager Alvin Dark. Less than two months later, the Phillies would sell Morgan to the Cleveland Indians. While with the Tribe, Morgan hit his only 2 big-league homeruns.

Early in the 1961 season, the Indians traded Morgan to the St. Louis Cardinals for veteran outfielder Bob Nieman. Morgan would play three games with the 1964 Cardinals team that would win that year's World Series. This would be his last time playing at the big-league level. In 88 games over parts of four seasons with five teams, Morgan collected 36 hits for a lifetime batting average of .193 with 2 HR and 10 RBI.

In 1966, Morgan would transition into managing while with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. He was the player-manager for the Single-A Raleigh Pirates. After this season, Morgan concentrated on managing full time. Morgan played 13 seasons of minor league baseball collecting 1353 hits in 1440 games for a lifetime batting average of .278 with 117 HR and 632 RBI.

After one more season in Raleigh, Morgan would manage the Double-AA York White Roses in 1968 and 1969. In 1970, the Pirates promoted Morgan to their Triple-AAA affiliate with the Columbus Jets. The following year the Jets moved to Charleston, West Virginia where they became known as the Charleston Charlies.

In 1972, Morgan would join the Pirates big league coaching staff under manager Bill Virdon who succeeded Danny Murtaugh who guided the team to a World Series title the previous season. The Bucs would win the NL East for a third straight season but would fall to the Cincinnati Reds in the NLCS. In 1973, the Bucs trimmed the coaching staff and sent Morgan back to manage Charleston for one more season before he joined the Red Sox organization in 1974. 

After 9 seasons as the PawSox manager, Morgan became a scout for Red Sox for two seasons before he was assigned to John McNamara's coaching staff in 1985 as the team's bullpen coach, a position he held when the Red Sox won the AL pennant in 1986.

Being a baseball lifer did not pay well. In the off-season, Morgan worked a variety of jobs up to and including plowing snow on the Massachusetts Turnpike earning him the nickname "Turnpike Joe". Morgan was also affectionately known as "Walpole Joe".

Morgan would guide the Red Sox to a second AL East pennant in 1990 but were once again swept in the ALCS by the Oakland A's. The Red Sox would contend in 1991 finishing tied for second in the AL East with the Detroit Tigers, seven games back of the Toronto Blue Jays. 

Although Morgan had a year remaining on his contract, the Red Sox cut him loose in favor of former Red Sox third baseman Butch Hobson who had been managing the PawSox. The Red Sox would finish in last place in the AL East under Hobson in 1992 and would never enjoy a winning season during his three-year tenure as manager.

As for Morgan, he would never get another chance to manage in MLB. In part of four seasons as Red Sox manager, Morgan had a record of 301-262 with two AL East pennants under his belt.

On a personal note, I will forever associate Joe Morgan with Israel. During the summer of 1988, I made my lone visit to Israel. I was there for six weeks. During the first half of the trip, we were traveling around the country in remote areas. Needless to say, this was pre-internet. Media was scarce. We were lucky if we could get Jordanian TV much less a newspaper.

During the second half of the trip in August, we were spending most of our time in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. One afternoon, someone found a copy of the Jerusalem Post. We were shocked to learn that the Red Sox had won 19 out of 20 games and were doing it with Joe Morgan as their manager. Of course, I thought of Joe Morgan of the Big Red Machine. But the paper made a point of stating, "No, not that Joe Morgan." This is how I remember Morgan Magic.

I consider this a precious memory both because of the moment and because how such a moment is unlikely to replicate itself in the current state of our connected world. R.I.P.