Johnny Pesky

Lore & Background

Pesky was born February 27, 1919, in Portland, Oregon, the son of Croat immigrants Jakov and Marija (Bajama) Paveskovich. (Major League Baseball has his date of birth as September 27, 1919, an adjustment made by Pesky in 1939 to meet baseball minimum scouting age for tryouts.) His name was shortened to "Pesky" early in his playing career. According to one story, Portland sportswriters would abbreviate his name to "Pesky" because it fit better in a box score. Another version has it that an Oregonian sports editor asked about a certain pesky hitter he'd watched play, seemingly unaware of the similarity to the player's actual surname. Whatever the case, the young ballplayer changed his name legally from Paveskovich to Pesky in 1947.

Reader's Guide

Pesky played for Lincoln High School, and attended a baseball school run by former major league pitcher Carl Mays. He spent several years playing for local amateur teams, such as the Portland Babes, Bend Elks and Silverton Red Sox. The third of these teams was associated with the Silver Falls Timber Company, which was owned by Tom Yawkey, who also owned the major league Red Sox. A skilled ice hockey player, he once worked out with the Boston Bruins.

Pesky was signed as an amateur free agent by the Red Sox before the 1940 season and spent the next two seasons in the minor leagues. In 1940, he played for the Rocky Mount Red Sox of the Piedmont League, where he was a teammate of future Hall of Famer Heinie Manush, who was the team's player-manager. After hitting .325 with Rocky Mount, he moved up to the double-A Louisville Colonels, where he also batted .325. The next year, he was in the major leagues.

Did You Know?

• Pesky was the first American League player to score 6 runs in a 9 inning game.
• He led the AL in base hits three times—his first three seasons in the majors, collecting over 200 hits each year.
• Pesky was a teammate and close friend of Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr and Dom DiMaggio; the four were later honored with The Teammates statue outside Fenway Park.
• The right field foul pole at Fenway Park is known as Pesky's Pole, named after him by former teammate and broadcaster Mel Parnell.