Red Sox legend Pesky dies at 92

Baseball: Johnny Pesky, who spent most of his 60-plus years in pro baseball with the Boston Red Sox and was beloved by the team’s fans, has died. He was 92.

Pesky died Monday at the Kaplan Family Hospice House in Danvers, Mass., according to Solimine, Landergan and Richardson funeral home in Lynn. The funeral home did not have a cause of death.

Pesky appeared at Fenway Park on April 20 when the Red Sox celebrated the 100th anniversary of the ballpark. Pesky was moved to tears at the pregame ceremony.

“I’ve had a good life with the ballclub,” Pesky told the Associated Press in 2004. “I understand the game, I’ve been around the ballpark my whole life.”

Pesky, a lifetime .307 hitter who debuted in 1942, was a player, manager, broadcaster, and most recently a special instructor for Boston. Unofficially, he was the club’s goodwill ambassador.

His legacy is a permanent part of Fenway with the Pesky Pole – the right-field foul pole.

Associated Press

Cards’ Fitzgerald receives award

Football: Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald is the recipient of the Arthur K. Arkush Humanitarian Award.

The award, presented by Pro Football Weekly and named for its founder, goes to the NFL player who demonstrates outstanding contributions to the community and to charitable organizations.

Fitzgerald works with the Carol Fitzgerald Memorial Fund, established in honor of his mother, who died of breast cancer. He also has traveled the world distributing hearing aids to the poor through the Starkey Hearing Foundation.

Associated Press