Sox 67 - Tom Yawkey

A Globe article by Clif Keane in January 1967 underlines a great deal of mystery in the personality of Sox owner Tom Yawkey. The piece is entitled "Yawkey Wants Fiery Manager". If that was the case, Dick Williams certainly qualified. But that concept was something new for the Sox. Most of Tom's choices for GMs and skippers had either been easygoing men like Steve O'Neill and Billy Herman or personal buddies like Joe Cronin and Mike Higgins. Keane even writes that Lou Boudreau, a failed Sox manager in the early 50's, got the job by playing pepper with and "buttering up" the owner. Yawkey even admitted that he wanted to fire Herman much earlier, but could not bring himself to. Tom, who died 35 years ago last July, comes off in this article as a rather reserved man. According to Keane, Yawkey barely knew Dick Williams, though he had been hired the previous fall. "When anyone mentioned the name Williams to Yawkey, " Keane wrote, "the answer...