On a sun-soaked Saturday afternoon, Gene Lamont sat in the visitors’ dugout at Fenway Park, thinking about the first time he’d come to the Boston ballpark, over half a century ago.
He debuted here in 1970, as a 23-year-old Detroit Tigers catcher. And he homered in his first career at-bat.
The 55th anniversary of that game is Tuesday, Sept. 2.
“I wasn’t sure if it was the second or third, but somebody looked it up yesterday and said it was the second,” Lamont said with a smile.
The date may have required a Google search, but the game itself remains fresh in the now-78-year-old’s mind. He homered off Cal Koonce, down the right field line.
“It was a long time ago, but the funny part was, I was a real good, I thought, defensive catcher. I didn’t hit real well. And that game, I didn’t catch that well but hit the home run, and I also hit a single, too!” Lamont recalled. “We got beat, so it was a little bittersweet, but I was sure glad to get my debut in the big leagues and hit a home run.”
Decades before Statcast tracking, there’s no way to know how far or how fast the ball traveled. Lamont wasn’t even certain it was gone when it left his bat.
“When you hit the ball you weren’t sure it was a home run or not. It was down the right field line. I was surprised they didn’t have that seat colored (like the Ted Williams red seat),” he joked. “I remember then it seemed to me like the left-handed hitters used to really pepper that wall. Back then you didn’t think about it being such an old place. It was still pretty old, but there were a lot of old parks then.”
Lamont’s home field was Tiger Stadium, which opened the same day as Fenway, April 20, 1912. The Tigers bid farewell to their old ballpark on Sept. 27, 1999, and Fenway became sole titleholder of ‘MLB’s oldest ballpark.’
“It was a great place, too,” Lamont said. “I don’t think they could keep up with the times like they have here. They’ve really done a great job, seats up on the Green Monster, all these decks. They stayed true to what it was.”
Lamont, now a special advisor to the Pittsburgh Pirates, has, in his own words, “been back here a lot.” He coached the 2001 Red Sox, and interviewed to be their manager after the Red Sox parted ways with Terry Francona in November 2011. He’s also come back to Fenway countless times with visiting teams. He coached the Astros, Tigers, and did two stints with the Pirates. He managed the White Sox from ‘92-95 – and was named AL Manager of the Year in ‘93 – and the Pirates from ‘97-00.
Hearing Red Sox fans chant ‘Yankees suck!’ during Friday’s series opener with the Pirates took Lamont back to his coaching season in Boston.
“The fans started yelling ‘Yankees suck.’ We were playing Baltimore and they were yelling it,” he recalled with a chuckle. “It’s a hot spot. It’s a good place. People love it.”
Lamont had been out of the game for more than half a decade when the Pirates fired Derek Shelton and promoted bench coach Don Kelly in May. Lamont was Kelly’s dream addition to the staff, so he picked up the phone.
“I knew Donny wanted me to help, and I sit home watching games and kind of manage them at home, so why not,” Lamont. “I haven’t been on a field for six or seven years, and it’s nice to get back. Some things have changed, but the game’s still the same.”
So is the ballpark where Lamont’s big-league career began. (Mostly.)
“It’s always a good place to come,” he said. “I guess I’m kind of old school. I like it here. It’s a neat place, and they’ve changed it some, but they’ve really kept the way it should be.”
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