Carlton fisk biography book
Pudge: The Biography of Carlton Fisk
May 12, 2020
As life with no live baseball games moves into its second month, I have been grateful for the chats in the baseball book club here on goodreads. I am admittedly one of the younger members of the group so I get to learn a wealth of baseball history on a daily basis. With almost nothing still open, most of us have nothing but time to spend sharing our baseball experiences. One of our members is a baseball biographer, and when I knew that my library would be closed for the foreseeable future, I politely asked him if he had any extra copies of his books to share with me. Having already read his biographies on Ernie Banks and Brooks Robinson, I was excited when Doug Wilson sent me a copy of his biography of Carlton Fisk. I know that Wilson does a thorough job
in detailing the life of baseball hall of famers, so I knew that I would be in for a treat reading his book on Pudge, hall of fame catcher.
Carlton Fisk was born on December 26, 1947, the second son of Cecil and Leona Fisk of Charlestown, New Hampshire. The Fisks are descended from generations of New England denizens, most of which stayed in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In Charlestown, the Fisk house was the center of small town life. Even though Carlton was a large, gangly kid, as an infant, he gained the nickname Pudge, and the moniker has remained with him for life. Carlton and his older brother Calvin were both gifted athletes in basketball and baseball, and there was always a game going somewhere on their property. Their mother Leona always had a snack waiting for the kids after school, so the Fisk home was a preferred destination, even though Cecil ruled the home life with an iron fist. In doing so, he raised his six children in the New England Puritan tradition, with giving one’s all in athletics being an offshoot of his value system. Yet, having a short season to train for outdoor sports, put Fisk at a disadvantage to southerners who rarely dealt with rain or snow. To make it to the major leagues, Fisk would face long odds, yet he was one of the best athletes to come out of New Hampshire, and, just as Boston teams represent all of New England, so did Fisk.
With a Puritan, religious upbringing, there is no dirt to dig up on Carlton Fisk. He was an upstanding citizen who beat the odds and joined the Boston Red Sox at a time when the team had a quality nucleus of young stars including Fred Lynn and Jim Rice plus senior statesman Carl Yastrzemski. At the same time, the rival New York Yankees were finding their mojo after an irrelevant decade out of the spotlight, leading to the late 1970s being an era when their rivalry was rekindled. Fisk being the captain and catcher of the Red Sox and Thurman Munson as captain and catcher of the Yankees enjoyed a personal rivalry that epitomized how their teams played. Being born too late to enjoy these head to head matchups, Wilson brought the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry to life. All the plays at the plate, fights, and 1978 Bucky Dent game are all described on these pages, and, depending if one favors Fisk or Munson more, both players had their merits and faults when it came to leading their teams. Sadly, when Munson died in a plane crash, the Red Sox were beginning to decline as a team, putting the heated rivalry on hiatus for another quarter century.
Through it all, Fisk embodied Red Sox as a New Englander; if he made it to the big leagues, so could other New England boys. The book begins and ends with Fisk’s classic home run in game six of the 1975 World Series with him willing the ball fair. The camera operator chose to focus on Fisk rather than the ball in flight, changing the way how magical sports moments on television were filmed. Even though the Red Sox lost to the Reds in 1975, due to Fisk’s home run, New Englanders will say that the Red Sox won the World Series three games to four. Unfortunately, Fisk was under appreciated as a durable catcher by Red Sox management. The team only believed in one year contracts, and Fisk along with teammate Lynn became symbols for players unappreciative of escalating player salaries. With the abolishment of the reserve clause in 1976, Fisk became a free agent following the 1979, which lead the native New Englander to sign with the Chicago White Sox and lead that team for the duration of his career. It is this Fisk that I remember growing up in Chicagoland.
Although I am a Cubs fan through and through, I remember Fisk standing out on the White Sox as their top player and team leader through the 1980s. Both the Cubs and White Sox managed to win a few division titles during the decade but for the most part fielded teams that finished well out of the lead, so top players and personalities stood out. By the time Fisk joined the White Sox, he had been in the major leagues for over ten years and was well established as the top catcher in the American League, rivaling only Johnny Bench as top catcher in baseball during the 1970s. Fisk quickly gained a reputation as a catcher who adroitly managed a pitching staff and remained a top catcher into his late thirties, at an age when most catchers are each retiring or becoming a designated hitter or first baseman. Yet, Pudge Fisk kept hitting home runs, and, the White Sox tried for years to replace him but to no avail. By the time Fisk left the game in 1993, he had caught the most games in major league history with statistics to back up his place as one of baseball’s elder statesman.
Today Fisk and his wife Linda enjoy a retired life in Florida. He is a member of baseball’s hall of fame, having been elected in 2000. After dividing his career between the Red Sox and White Sox almost equally, it is almost as though Fisk enjoyed two separate careers. His iconic home run in 1975 as well as leading the White Sox to the playoffs in 1983 stand out as highlights of a long, illustrious career. It is the Puritan work ethic instilled by his parents at a young age that allowed Fisk to play for as long as he did. As always, Doug Wilson has written a thorough account of a deserving, hall of fame player. I look forward to what books he has in store for his readers next.
4 stars
in detailing the life of baseball hall of famers, so I knew that I would be in for a treat reading his book on Pudge, hall of fame catcher.
Carlton Fisk was born on December 26, 1947, the second son of Cecil and Leona Fisk of Charlestown, New Hampshire. The Fisks are descended from generations of New England denizens, most of which stayed in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In Charlestown, the Fisk house was the center of small town life. Even though Carlton was a large, gangly kid, as an infant, he gained the nickname Pudge, and the moniker has remained with him for life. Carlton and his older brother Calvin were both gifted athletes in basketball and baseball, and there was always a game going somewhere on their property. Their mother Leona always had a snack waiting for the kids after school, so the Fisk home was a preferred destination, even though Cecil ruled the home life with an iron fist. In doing so, he raised his six children in the New England Puritan tradition, with giving one’s all in athletics being an offshoot of his value system. Yet, having a short season to train for outdoor sports, put Fisk at a disadvantage to southerners who rarely dealt with rain or snow. To make it to the major leagues, Fisk would face long odds, yet he was one of the best athletes to come out of New Hampshire, and, just as Boston teams represent all of New England, so did Fisk.
With a Puritan, religious upbringing, there is no dirt to dig up on Carlton Fisk. He was an upstanding citizen who beat the odds and joined the Boston Red Sox at a time when the team had a quality nucleus of young stars including Fred Lynn and Jim Rice plus senior statesman Carl Yastrzemski. At the same time, the rival New York Yankees were finding their mojo after an irrelevant decade out of the spotlight, leading to the late 1970s being an era when their rivalry was rekindled. Fisk being the captain and catcher of the Red Sox and Thurman Munson as captain and catcher of the Yankees enjoyed a personal rivalry that epitomized how their teams played. Being born too late to enjoy these head to head matchups, Wilson brought the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry to life. All the plays at the plate, fights, and 1978 Bucky Dent game are all described on these pages, and, depending if one favors Fisk or Munson more, both players had their merits and faults when it came to leading their teams. Sadly, when Munson died in a plane crash, the Red Sox were beginning to decline as a team, putting the heated rivalry on hiatus for another quarter century.
Through it all, Fisk embodied Red Sox as a New Englander; if he made it to the big leagues, so could other New England boys. The book begins and ends with Fisk’s classic home run in game six of the 1975 World Series with him willing the ball fair. The camera operator chose to focus on Fisk rather than the ball in flight, changing the way how magical sports moments on television were filmed. Even though the Red Sox lost to the Reds in 1975, due to Fisk’s home run, New Englanders will say that the Red Sox won the World Series three games to four. Unfortunately, Fisk was under appreciated as a durable catcher by Red Sox management. The team only believed in one year contracts, and Fisk along with teammate Lynn became symbols for players unappreciative of escalating player salaries. With the abolishment of the reserve clause in 1976, Fisk became a free agent following the 1979, which lead the native New Englander to sign with the Chicago White Sox and lead that team for the duration of his career. It is this Fisk that I remember growing up in Chicagoland.
Although I am a Cubs fan through and through, I remember Fisk standing out on the White Sox as their top player and team leader through the 1980s. Both the Cubs and White Sox managed to win a few division titles during the decade but for the most part fielded teams that finished well out of the lead, so top players and personalities stood out. By the time Fisk joined the White Sox, he had been in the major leagues for over ten years and was well established as the top catcher in the American League, rivaling only Johnny Bench as top catcher in baseball during the 1970s. Fisk quickly gained a reputation as a catcher who adroitly managed a pitching staff and remained a top catcher into his late thirties, at an age when most catchers are each retiring or becoming a designated hitter or first baseman. Yet, Pudge Fisk kept hitting home runs, and, the White Sox tried for years to replace him but to no avail. By the time Fisk left the game in 1993, he had caught the most games in major league history with statistics to back up his place as one of baseball’s elder statesman.
Today Fisk and his wife Linda enjoy a retired life in Florida. He is a member of baseball’s hall of fame, having been elected in 2000. After dividing his career between the Red Sox and White Sox almost equally, it is almost as though Fisk enjoyed two separate careers. His iconic home run in 1975 as well as leading the White Sox to the playoffs in 1983 stand out as highlights of a long, illustrious career. It is the Puritan work ethic instilled by his parents at a young age that allowed Fisk to play for as long as he did. As always, Doug Wilson has written a thorough account of a deserving, hall of fame player. I look forward to what books he has in store for his readers next.
4 stars