George Scott, Slugger Who Boomed ‘Taters’ in Fenway, Dies at 69
Associated Press
George Scott, standing left, with, from left, Carlton Fisk, Jim Rice and Butch Hobson after a 1977 game against Baltimore.
By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN
Published: July 29, 2013
George Scott, whose slugging and sharp fielding at first base helped propel the Boston Red Sox to their 1967 “Impossible Dream” American League pennant, died on Sunday in Greenville, Miss. He was 69.
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His death was confirmed by the Washington County coroner, Methel Johnson, The Delta Democrat-Times of Greenville reported. The Boston Herald said in November that Scott had diabetes and had difficulty walking.
Playing 14 seasons in the major leagues, the right-handed-batting Scott was a three-time All-Star and hit 271 home runs, or taters, as he called them. He was credited with popularizing the term in the 1970s, though its precise origin as a baseball expression is murky.
Scott hit 19 home runs, drove in 82 runs and batted .303 for the 1967 Red Sox. His batting average was fourth best in the American League.
The Sox won the pennant — their first in 21 years — on the season’s final day after finishing in ninth place the previous year. The team’s formidable roster also included Carl Yastrzemski, Tony Conigliaro and Rico Petrocelli and the pitching ace Jim Lonborg. But the Red Sox lost the World Series in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Listed at 6 feet 2 inches and 210 pounds, Scott was evidently well over that, to the consternation of Dick Williams, the manager of the ’67 Sox. But Scott was agile at first base, winning eight Gold Glove awards. He also occasionally played third base.
Scott became known as the Boomer — a designation later bestowed on the free-spirited and outsized pitcher David Wells — for his prodigious home runs.
But a tater was a tater, no matter the length.
“Anything over 450 feet, I’d call it a long tater,” Scott told The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss., in 2007. “A short tater was one that barely got over the wall.”
George Charles Scott Jr. was born on March 23, 1944, in Greenville, the youngest of three children. His father, a laborer in cotton fields, died when he was a baby. His mother, Magnolia, worked several jobs to support the family. Scott was a baseball, basketball and football star in high school before being signed by the Red Sox in 1962.
As a rookie in 1966, he hit 27 home runs and was named an All-Star, though he led the league in strikeouts with 152.
Scott played for the Red Sox through the 1971 season and then was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers. He tied Reggie Jackson, then with the Oakland A’s, for the league lead in home runs in 1975 with 36 and was No. 1 in runs batted in that season with 109.
He returned to the Red Sox in 1977, played two full seasons in his second stint in Boston, and then split the 1979 season with the Red Sox, the Kansas City Royals and the Yankees before retiring.
He had 1,992 hits, 1,051 R.B.I. and a .268 batting average for his career.
Despite his battles with his weight, he stole 10 bases for the ’67 Red Sox and 16 for the ’72 Brewers.
A list of survivors was not immediately available.
After leaving the major leagues, Scott played and managed in the Mexican League and managed independent teams in the minors.
He was honored by the Brewers in April with a bobblehead giveaway day. One of the most popular Red Sox players of his time, he was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame in 2006 and followed the Sox closely on TV.
“I don’t watch the Brewers,” he told The Boston Herald last year. “I don’t watch the Royals. I don’t watch the Yankees. But I watch the Red Sox, every pitch.”
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George Charles Scott, Jr. (March 23, 1944 – July 28, 2013), born in Greenville, Mississippi, was a first baseman in Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox (1966–71, 1977–79), Milwaukee Brewers (1972–76), Kansas City Royals (1979) and New York Yankees (1979). He batted and threw right-handed.[1]
Early years
Scott was born March 23, 1944, in Greenville, Mississippi, as the youngest of three children. His father, a cotton farm laborer, died when George Jr. was two years old, and young George was picking cotton by age nine. "That's all we knew," he said. "The reason you did that, all of that money was turned over to your parents to make ends meet. Nothing can be worse than getting up at four in the morning waiting for a truck to pick you up to go pick and chop cotton from six or seven in the morning until five or six in the afternoon."
Scott played Little League baseball in his spare time but was temporarily ejected from the team for being "too good," having hit two or three home runs per game in one six-game stretch. At Coleman High School in Greenville he excelled in baseball, football and basketball, quarterbacking the football team and leading his football and basketball teams to state championships. He chose baseball as a career "to make my living. I got tired of watching my mom struggle [with three jobs]. I didn't have the mind that I could go to college and see my mother struggle for another four or five years."
Major league scout Ed Scott (no relation to George) of Mobile, Alabama, who had signed Hank Aaron to his first major league contract, discovered George Scott and signed him as an amateur free agent straight out of high school on May 28, 1962, for $8,000. Eventually promoted to the Boston Red Sox' new Pittsfield Red Sox farm team of the Double-A Eastern League in 1965, Scott became the Eastern League triple crown winner that year, leading the league in home runs, RBIs, and batting average. He became a Red Sox major-league rookie in 1966 as a third baseman,[2] and played all 162 games that season, the last Red Sox rookie to do so.[1]
Career
Scott was a three-time All-Star in the American League in 1966, 1975 and 1977, starting the 1966 Mid-Summer Classic and homering in 1977. Scott hit over 20 home runs six times in his career, tyingReggie Jackson for the American League lead in 1975 with a career-high 36 and pacing the league in RBI that same season with 109. Known for his glovework at first base, Scott was awarded the Gold Glove Award for fielding excellence in the American League during eight seasons (1967–68 and 1971–1976).
In a 14-season career, Scott posted a .268 batting average with 271 home runs (which he called "taters") and 1051 RBI in 2034 games.[3] His nickname was Boomer and he called his glove "Black Beauty". George was well known for having a good sense of humor. He wore a necklace which he once identified to a reporter as being composed of "the second baseman's teeth". To complement his unique attire, he also was known for wearing a batting helmet while fielding at first base due to an experience he had with a fan throwing hard objects at him once during a road game. Scott is one of several players, including Dick Allen and John Olerud, to wear his helmet when playing the field.
Scott spent nine of his 14 years with the Red Sox and is Boston’s all time leader at first base with 988 games played, including 944 starts. Scott hit 154 of his 271 career home runs with the Red Sox and is a member of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 2006.[1] Despite his successful career, Scott's 1968 season was noted by ESPN as one of the worst offensive performances ever, especially for a first baseman.[4]
Death
George Scott died July 28, 2013, in his hometown of Greenville. Although a cause of death was not announced at the time, Scott had been impaired by diabetes for several years.[1] "In losing George Scott, we have lost one of the most talented, colorful, and popular players in our history," said Red Sox vice president/emeritus and team historian Dick Bresciani. "He had great power and agility, with a large personality and a large physical stature. He could light up a clubhouse with his smile, his laugh, and his humor -- and he was the best defensive first baseman I have ever seen. We will miss him, and we send our condolences to his family."[5]
Family
George was the father of three sons, Dion, George III and Brian. His grandson, Deion Williams, is a shortstop from Redan High School in Georgia, was selected by the Washington Nationals in the 2011 draft and is currently playing for the Auburn Doubledays after being converted to a pitcher.
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