Petrocelli reflects on career, '75 World Series in sitdown

BOSTON -- Fifty years ago, Rico Petrocelli had just finished playing in one of the best World Series of all-time in 1975. Carl Yastrzemski and Petrocelli are the only Red Sox players who represented the beloved ‘75 squad in the Fall Classic, and also the Impossible Dream Team in ‘67.

It was Petrocelli who put out his glove and caught that final out in Game No. 162 of the ‘67 season, which, as late, great broadcaster Ned Martin famously said, set off “pandemonium on the field.”

In 1969, Petrocelli became the first American League shortstop to hit 40 homers in a season.

A Brooklyn native who grew up in a houseful of Yankees fans became a Boston institution, playing his entire 12-year-career in Boston before retiring in 1976. In fact, he’s stayed in New England in his near half century of retirement. Petrocelli was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1997.

In a recent conversation with Petrocelli, I had a chance to ask him about many of the things that made his career so unique. Here are some highlights.

MLB.com: Since the World Series is starting this weekend, first give me your recollections of ‘67. You had to beat the Twins in the final two games of the regular season and have the Tigers lose Game 2 of a doubleheader on that final Sunday to the Angels just to get to the World Series. How crazy was that?

Petrocelli: It was my third full year and we were a young team. We were excited to come to the ballpark every day. And even up to the last day of the season, we were loose. We weren’t expected to win, but you don't think of that. Playing the big games, there's some pressure on you, but I always thought it was more on Minnesota. But it was so much fun to play that year. So was playing in the World Series, except for facing Bob Gibson. That wasn't fun at all.

MLB.com: It has been 58 years, but the image of you catching that final popup to clinch at least a tie of the AL pennant is still played on every historical Red Sox montage. What was that moment like in real time?

Petrocelli: Yeah, it wasn't a real high popup. Jim Lonborg threw the pitch and Rich Rollins got jammed off the hands, so it wasn’t that high. I said, ‘I gotta squeeze this thing.’ And when I went with my glove, I just squeezed the heck out of it. And then it's like, ‘Oh, we won!' That was chaos on the field.

MLB.com: Eight years later, you finally get back to the World Series with almost an entirely different team. How was that different?

Petrocelli: We were a more veteran team, with the exception of Jim Rice and Fred Lynn, which were great additions. Without them, no way we would have won. We had a real good pitching staff and [Carlton] Fisk catching and a pretty good hitting team too. We had a pretty good lead early in the year, and then eventually, at the end, you know, Baltimore was creeping up, But we beat them, and we won it by about four and a half games. But that World Series was fabulous.

MLB.com: Even today, some call it the best World Series of all time. What do you remember most?

Petrocelli: What a series. In Game 6, the Fisk home run, but the Bernie Carbo home run, I still get the chills. I was on first base and seeing that ball go out, wow. And then winning it, we thought, yeah, there's no way we could lose Game 7. And then we went out ahead 3-0 in Game 7, but every game was exciting. And the fans loved it. It was terrific. I was glad to be a part of it.

• 50 years ago, Carlton Fisk (and a rat) changed how we watch baseball on TV

MLB.com: In between ‘67 and ‘75 came ‘69, when you belted 40 homers, an AL record at the time. What happened to you that year?

Petrocelli: That year, right from the start of Spring Training, I felt great, I had gained almost 20 pounds and I was strong and I just relaxed, and said whatever happens, that's me. The ball just looked like a grapefruit coming in that whole year.

MLB.com: What was it like for a kid from Brooklyn to sign with the Red Sox?

Petrocelli: We heard from the Yankees and the Mets were just starting out. The Yankees said that they signed a quota of college kids and a couple of high school kids. And it was really the best thing, because the old Yankee Stadium, I would have had like two home runs my whole career. The big problem [was that] my four brothers and two sisters were all Yankee fans, and they thought I was going to go with the Yankees.

MLB.com: But it obviously worked out for your family, as you’ve remained a New Englander all these years later, right?

Petrocelli: I met my wife [Elsie] in Seattle when the Sox had the Triple-A team there. It was tough, we had taken her away from her family, but she adjusted. We had four sons here that were born in Massachusetts, and it made sense to stay here. I played for the Red Sox, and was able to do some things in the offseason. I had a baseball school and did a lot of speaking and things like that.