Erik Hanson didn't play baseball as a high school freshman or sophomore and considered himself more of a third baseman than a pitcher as a junior. But a weird thing happened on his first day of practice as a senior. The ball started jumping out of his hand as never before, and he led his school to a 1983 state championship.

At Wake Forest, Hanson was a preseason All-American, and the Seattle Mariners made him their second-round pick,m handing him a signing bonus worth $110,000 in 1986.

Within two seasons, Hanson was in the big leagues, later hailed as one of the "Young Guns," in a group of pitchers that included Randy Johnson.

After being traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 1993, he signed with the Red Sox as a free agent in 1995 and proceeded to have an All-Star-caliber year.

On April 29th he shut out the White Sox 4 to 0. He pitched another strong game in his next start beating the Orioles. He became the first Red Sox pitcher to throw a complete game against the Brewers and was overpowering, shutting them out 5-0 on May 16th. He struck out 10, scattered four hits, and retired 20 of the last 21 batters, lowering his ERA to 0.71

The best nights at Fenway Park are still the ones when the Red Sox grind their way to victory. On June 5th, the Angels took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. It was quiet until the fourth inning when Mo Vaughn homered into the Sox bullpen to get the lead. After that, it was the still-hard-to-believe pitching of Hanson, who was now 6-0, winning by a 3-2 score.

He then went out on June 21st against the Cleveland Indians and threw a four-hitter that produced a 3-1 win.

On August 19th, Hanson held the Mariners to three hits over 7 1/3 innings as the Sox beat them, 4-3 for his 12th win in his 22nd start. In Oakland, he improved to 13-4, getting a wealth of support in a 13-6 decking of the A's and winning the "Pitcher of the Month" honors, with a 5-0 record for the month.

The Sox downed the Cleveland Indians, 6-3, on September 15th at Jacobs Field, and Hanson allowed five hits and one run in eight innings.

It was an All-Star season for Erik Hanson in which he posted a 15-5 record with the Red Sox. Again a free agent, he signed with the Blue Jays in 1996 but retired after three injury-filled years in Toronto. He left without looking back because it was time after 11 big league seasons.