The Boston Pink Sox mourn the lack of Pink Sox Corridor of Famer and former crew president/CEO Larry Lucchino, who handed away early Tuesday morning on the age of 78. A visionary chief and baseball government, Lucchino presided over the membership throughout an historic 14-year interval (2002-2015) wherein the crew gained three World Collection, saved and enhanced Fenway Park, established a Main League Baseball document for consecutive sellouts, and created improvements in fan companies and hospitality. The Pittsburgh native additionally helped set up the Pink Sox Basis and additional elevated the membership’s dedication to The Jimmy Fund and myriad New England philanthropies.
“Larry Lucchino was one of the completed executives that our trade has ever had,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred mentioned of Lucchino, who served within the entrance workplace of the Orioles, Padres and Worcester Pink Sox along with the Boston Pink Sox. “He was deeply pushed, he understood baseball’s place in our communities, and he had a eager eye for government expertise. Larry’s imaginative and prescient for Camden Yards performed a significant function in advancing fan-friendly ballparks throughout the sport. He adopted up by overseeing the development of Petco Park, which stays a jewel of the San Diego neighborhood. Then Larry teamed with John Henry and Tom Werner to supply essentially the most profitable period in Pink Sox historical past, which included historic World Collection Championships on the sector and a renewed dedication to Fenway Park. On behalf of Main League Baseball, I ship my condolences to Larry’s household, his Pink Sox colleagues and his many buddies all through our Nationwide Pastime.”
“Larry’s profession unfolded like a playbook of triumphs, marked by transformative moments that reshaped ballpark design, enhanced the fan expertise, and engineered the perfect circumstances for championships wherever his path led him, and particularly in Boston,” mentioned Pink Sox Principal Proprietor John Henry. “But, maybe his most enduring legacy lies within the exceptional folks he helped assemble on the Pink Sox, all of whom are a testomony to his coaching, knowledge, and mentorship. A lot of them proceed to form the group at present, carrying ahead the identical vigor, vitality, and cherished sayings that had been hallmarks of Larry’s persona. Larry was a formidable opponent in any enviornment, and whereas he battled arduous, he at all times maintained the utmost respect for a worthy adversary and located real pleasure in sparring with folks. I used to be fortunate sufficient to have had him in my nook for 14 years and to have known as him a detailed buddy for even longer. He was actually irreplaceable and can be missed by all of us on the Pink Sox.”
“When John and I joined forces with Larry in 2001, we dreamed not solely of breaking an 86-year curse and successful a number of Championships, but additionally about how a baseball crew may remodel and uplift a area,” mentioned Pink Sox Chairman Tom Werner. “Larry was extra adorned in sports activities than any of us, coming to the group with a Tremendous Bowl ring, a World Collection ring, and even a Remaining 4 watch from his days taking part in basketball at Princeton. He added to that spectacular assortment with us in Boston as a result of he was the type of man who would discover a path to achievement regardless of the obstacles. He was daring and had the audacity to dare, problem, and even taunt our rivals in ways in which made the sport of baseball higher. In a sport outlined by statistics and standings, he was completed in each method, and whereas his profession is a masterclass in management and innovation, he can be equally remembered for his unwavering dedication to neighborhood engagement and his hands-on function with the Pink Sox Basis and The Jimmy Fund. We’re devasted by the lack of an incredible man, an incredible chief, and an incredible buddy.”
“There are such a lot of of us who got our begin in baseball by Larry,” mentioned Pink Sox President & CEO Sam Kennedy. “He liked a great slogan and his marketing campaign to ‘free the Brookline two’ liberated Theo and I from the San Diego Padres, permitting us to work for our hometown crew and altering the trajectory of our lives endlessly. He instilled in us, and so many others, a piece ethic, ardour, aggressive hearth that we’ll carry endlessly. His legacy is one that every one of us who had been taught by him really feel a deep accountability to uphold. When these he mentored moved on from the Pink Sox, he would at all times say ‘we’ll depart a lightweight on for you.’ The lights will at all times be on for you at Fenway Park, Larry. Might you relaxation in peace.”
Lucchino was instrumental in bringing collectively Principal Proprietor John Henry, Chairman Tom Werner, and their companions, who bought the Pink Sox, Fenway Park, and 80 % of NESN in December 2001. Throughout his tenure the Pink Sox reached the Postseason seven instances in 14 years and gained three World Collection Championships (2004, 2007, 2013), the primary of which broke an 86-year drought. Below his management, the membership set franchise attendance data in eight of Lucchino’s 14 seasons and set Main League Baseball’s attendance document by promoting out each sport (820 straight) from Might 15, 2003, by means of April 8, 2013. He was instrumental in conceiving and executing 10 years of main enhancements to Fenway Park that preserved, protected, and enhanced “America’s Most Beloved Ballpark.” Lucchino additionally oversaw the development of JetBlue Park, which replicated Fenway Park’s dimensions on the membership’s Spring Coaching dwelling in Lee County, Florida.
The Lucchino household issued the next assertion:
“We’re heartbroken to share that our beloved brother and uncle, Lawrence Lucchino, handed away on April 2 surrounded by his household The Lucchino household needs to thank his buddies and caregivers who, over the previous few months, have surrounded him with love, laughter, and blissful recollections.
“To us, Larry was an distinctive one that mixed a Corridor of Fame life as a Main League Baseball government together with his ardour for serving to these folks most in want. Taking cost of constructing Baltimore’s Orioles Park at Camden Yards, San Diego’s Petco Park, and Polar Park for the Worcester Pink Sox, in addition to his function within the Boston Pink Sox’s “reversing the curse” by successful the 2004 World Collection, had been exemplary accomplishments. Equally necessary to Larry was the institution of a first-of-its-kind in skilled sports activities “San Diego Padres Students” school scholarship program, co-founding the Boston Pink Sox Basis, and being Chairman of the Jimmy Fund, Dana-Farber Most cancers Institute’s grassroots effort to assist save lives and provides hope to most cancers sufferers in all places. He introduced the identical ardour, tenacity, and probing intelligence to all his endeavors, and his achievements converse for themselves.”
Previous to the Pink Sox, Lucchino served as president of the Baltimore Orioles (1988-93) and president and CEO of the San Diego Padres (1995-2001). In each cities, he earned a legacy for creating ballparks which have remodeled the fan expertise, enhanced franchise values, and positively impacted the higher civic neighborhood. His unique imaginative and prescient for the design of Oriole Park at Camden Yards – a standard, old style, asymmetrical, intimate downtown ballpark with trendy facilities – ushered in an period of revolutionary ballpark structure and ambiance accountable partly for the sport’s resurgence since 1992.
He additionally had the imaginative and prescient for the ballpark that saved baseball in San Diego. Petco Park was permitted in a 1998 landslide vote on Proposition C, a marketing campaign that Lucchino spearheaded. As a lot because the Padres wanted a ballpark, the town wanted a catalyst to redevelop an under-utilized 26-block space within the metropolis’s downtown. As promised, a ballpark revitalized a key neighborhood, because it had completed in Baltimore and, subsequently, in Boston and Worcester. The design of the park was accomplished in August 2001, and building was properly underway when Lucchino left the Padres for the Pink Sox after the 2001 season.
Lucchino’s ardour for ballparks was rivaled by his drive for baseball’s internationalization. In 1997, he pioneered a ground-breaking relationship in Japan with the Chiba Lotte Marines and helped manage the Pink Sox’ first journey to Japan in March 2008 once they opened the MLB common season with two video games on the Tokyo Dome. As well as, he beforehand organized the efforts to play Main League Baseball’s first common season video games in Mexico (1996) and Hawaii (1997) and established baseball’s first Worldwide Opening Day in Monterrey, Mexico in 1999. Lucchino was additionally an early and lively supporter of the World Baseball Basic.
Lucchino served on a number of MLB committees, together with the Commissioner’s historic Blue Ribbon Job Pressure on Baseball Economics, which efficiently re-engineered the game’s financial construction, and the Worldwide Committee, of which he was its chairman. He was additionally a member of MLB’s Restructuring Committee, the Realignment Committee, and the American League’s Cable Tv Committee, and served as Chairman of the Participant Growth Contract Negotiations Committee.
In recognition for “lengthy and meritorious service to baseball” over three a long time within the sport, Lucchino was awarded the Decide Emil Fuchs Award by the Boston Baseball Writers’ Affiliation of America at their 72nd annual BBWAA dinner in January 2011. He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports activities Corridor of Fame in Might 2012, the Nationwide Italian-American Sports activities Corridor of Fame and the Taylor Allderdice Excessive Faculty Corridor of Fame in November 2013, the Boston Pink Sox Corridor of Fame in Might 2016, and the San Diego Padres Corridor of Fame in July 2022.
Lucchino established main charitable foundations with three MLB franchises (The Orioles Basis, The Padres Basis, and The Pink Sox Basis), expanded the depth and attain of the PawSox Basis, and in January 2020, he established the WooSox Basis in Worcester. He has been lively in quite a few civic and charitable efforts, significantly within the analysis and remedy of most cancers. Throughout his time as President/CEO of the Pink Sox, he helped strengthen the membership’s longstanding partnership with Dana-Farber and The Jimmy Fund, serving as Chairman of the Jimmy Fund and establishing the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon and journeys to Spring Coaching for Jimmy Fund Clinic sufferers and caregivers. As an Institute Trustee starting in 2003, Lucchino was deeply concerned in Dana-Farber’s fundraising efforts. He served as co-chair of the Institute’s bold $1 billion “Mission Potential” marketing campaign from 2004-2011 and chair of the Trustee Philanthropy Committee from 2014-2020. He walked within the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Stroll and served as a member of the Dana-Farber Society, a particular household of forward-thinking supporters who’ve invested within the Institute’s future by means of deliberate giving.
Lucchino’s connection to Dana-Farber went past formal partnerships and fundraising efforts. The world-renowned most cancers institute helped save his life 3 times: first from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1985, second from prostate most cancers in 2000, and third from most cancers within the kidney space beginning in 2019.
In 2015, Lucchino and the late Jim Skeffington assembled a bunch that bought the Pawtucket Pink Sox, Boston’s longtime Triple-A affiliate. In August 2018, an settlement was reached with the Metropolis of Worcester and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to maneuver the crew which led to Luchino main the creation of an revolutionary downtown ballpark within the metropolis’s resurgent Canal District. He served because the WooSox Chairman & Principal Proprietor from the membership’s inception in 2021 by means of 2023 after serving in that very same function for the Pawtucket Pink Sox from 2016-2020. He remained because the WooSox Chairman following the sale of the crew to Diamond Baseball Holdings in December of 2023. He was chosen to the inaugural WooSox Corridor of Fame class in 2024.
Born in Pittsburgh, Lucchino was an All-Metropolis League basketball participant and second baseman on the Pittsburgh metropolis championship baseball crew at Taylor Allderdice Excessive Faculty. He graduated with honors from Princeton College and obtained his legislation diploma from Yale Legislation Faculty. At Princeton, he was a member of two Ivy League championship basketball groups. Lucchino held honorary levels from Suffolk College, Boston College, Bryant College, New England Faculty of Legislation, Anna Maria School, Palomar School, the College of Massachusetts (Boston), Bentley College, and Assumption College.
Early in his authorized profession, Lucchino labored on the Home Judiciary Committee, aiding its investigation into the Watergate scandal. Following Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974, Lucchino joined Williams and Connolly, the legislation agency based by his mentor, buddy, and trial lawyer Edward Bennett Williams. He turned a accomplice on the agency in 1978 and specialised in sports activities legislation and litigation. He was common counsel to the Washington Redskins, of which Williams was president and half proprietor, and was a member of their Board of Administrators from 1979-1985. When Williams purchased the Orioles in August 1979, Lucchino entered baseball and have become the membership’s Vice President/Normal Counsel. Williams later named him President of the Orioles the place he served in that function and as co-owner from 1989 till the membership was bought on the finish of the 1993 season. In December 1994, he partnered with John Moores to buy the San Diego Padres, for whom he served as President and CEO by means of 2001.
An avid sportsman, Lucchino has the distinctive distinction of incomes 5 World Collection rings (Orioles, ’83; Pink Sox, ’04, ’07, ’13, ’18), a Tremendous Bowl ring (Redskins, ’83), and a Remaining 4 watch (Princeton, ’65).
Lucchino is survived by his brother the Honorable Frank J. Lucchino (Bobbie), a nephew F.J. Lucchino (Jane) and a niece Jennifer Lucchino (Freddie Croce), of Pittsburgh, PA, in addition to a youthful nephew David L. Lucchino (Carrie Beth), who lives in Boston, MA. He is also survived by seven grand-nieces and grand-nephews.