Larry Lucchino, force behind retro ballpark revolution and drought-busting Red Sox, dies at 78
Larry Lucchino has died
BOSTON (AP) — Larry Lucchino, the force behind baseball’s retro ballpark revolution and the transformation of the Boston Red Sox from cursed losers to World Series champions, has died. He was 78.
Lucchino had suffered from cancer. The Triple-A Worcester Red Sox, his last project in a career that also included three major league baseball franchises and one in the NFL, confirmed his death on Tuesday.
“To us, Larry was an exceptional person who combined a Hall of Fame life as a Major League Baseball executive with his passion for helping those people most in need,” Lucchino’s family said in a statement. “He brought the same passion, tenacity, and probing intelligence to all his endeavors, and his achievements speak for themselves.”
A Pittsburgh native who played on the Princeton basketball team — captained by future U.S. Senator and New York Knick Bill Bradley — that reached the 1965 NCAA Final Four, Lucchino went on to Yale Law School and landed a job with Washington lawyer Edward Bennett Williams. Lucchino soon found himself working on Williams’ sports teams, the Washington NFL franchise and the Baltimore Orioles.
