Red Sox mourn the passing of local All-Star Bill Monbouquette

BOSTON, MA-Bill Monbouquette, a Red Sox 20-game winner, author of a no-hitter, and four-time All-Star who spent more than 50 years in professional baseball, passed away on Sunday at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston due to complications from leukemia. The Red Sox Hall of Famer, inducted in 2000, was 78.

Monbouquette spent the first eight seasons of his 11-year major league career with Boston from 1958-65. His 96 wins with the Red Sox are surpassed by only 11 other players in club history. Affectionately known as "Monbo," he was a frequent visitor to Fenway Park in his later years.

Signed by Boston after graduating from Medford High School in 1955, the right-hander debuted for his hometown Red Sox as a 21-year-old just three years later in 1958. He was selected to start for the American League All-Stars in 1960.

As a member of the Red Sox, he led the team in victories three times (1960, 1962, 1963). He did not miss a start in six consecutive seasons from 1960-65, starting at least 30 games each year. In that time, Monbouquette was one of the most effective pitchers in the American League, ranking second in starts (203), complete games (65), and innings pitched (1,416.0), and third in wins (86) and strikeouts (852). 

In a 2-1 win on May 12, 1961, Monbouquette struck out 17 Washington Senators, a then-club record that has since been reached by only Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez. On August 1, 1962, he pitched a 1-0 no-hitter in Chicago against the White Sox. In 1963, he won a career-best 20 games and struck out 174 batters while walking only 42.

As a Red Sox player, he was a regular supporter of the Jimmy Fund and frequently visited young children receiving cancer treatment, originally at the urging of teammate Ted Williams. When his battle with leukemia began in 2007, Monbouquette was treated at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which saved his life with a stem cell transplant in 2008.

Monbouquette closed out his playing career with stints for the Detroit Tigers (1966-67), New York Yankees (1967-68), and San Francisco Giants (1968), and he finished with a lifetime 114-112 record and a 3.68 ERA. 

He spent the next 38 years as a scout and coach with the Yankees, New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays, and Tigers, including a major league position as the Mets' pitching coach in 1982 and 1983. He retired from baseball after serving as pitching coach for a sixth straight season in the Tigers system in 2005.

Born and raised in Medford, MA, he lived there until moving to Gloucester, MA in recent years. 

Monbouquette is survived by his wife, Josephine, as well as three children, Marc, Michel, and Merric, and three grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending.