1967-1968

Russ Gibson was born on May 6, 1939 in Fall River, Mass. He grew up a Red Sox fan and at Fall River’s Durfee High School, he was a three sport all-star, as quarterback and co-captain of the football team, a starting guard for three years in basketball (winning the New England Championship as a junior), and of course, he was all-everything in baseball.

He was offered a baseball scholarship to Rollins College in Florida, and football scholarships to Boston University, Boston College, and Holy Cross as a punter, but soon after graduating from high school in June of 1957, the 18-year-old chose baseball as the most likely way to a professional career. 

His talents were brought to the attention of the Red Sox who eventually signed him to a contract. The Red Sox were not the only team interested in him, the New York Giants checked him out when he visited the Polo Grounds as a Hearst All-Star. The annual tournament for high school seniors. While he was in New York, his father summoned his son home because the Red Sox were preparing to make an offer. Due to the restrictive signing bonus rules of the times, Boston was not going to sign him to a bonus which would require them to keep him on the roster and leave him sitting on the bench far too much. 

So in his first assignment, for Corning, New York, in the NY-Penn League, he appeared in only two games before he was summoned from his rooming house and told he was being shipped to Lafayette, Indiana, of the Midwest League. The move to Lafayette allowed him to play more or less regularly and he batted a solid .312.

The next season, 1958, found he again in the Midwest League, this time for Waterloo, Iowa.  Two successful seasons in the Midwest League earned him promotion to the Class-B Carolina League, where he would spend the next three seasons.

After hitting .299 in 1960 and playing well in spring training 1961, he felt he had earned and deserved a promotion, at least to Triple A, but it was not to be. In April he was sent back to the Carolina League, assigned to the new Red Sox affiliate at Winston-Salem. Well into the season, he was just going through the motions and was batting well below .200, and by season’s end he had raised his average to a respectable .275.

In 1962, he moved to York, Pennsylvania, of the Class-A Eastern League. In 1963, after six years in professional baseball, Russ finally was promoted to Triple-A, and he remained at that level for the next four seasons. 

In 1965, the Red Sox moved their Triple-A affiliation to Toronto, and hired Dick Williams as the manager. Williams was anything but too nice a guy. Russ suffered through some injuries his first year under Williams, and he struggled, hitting only .215. However, he rebounded in 1966 to hit a healthy .292 and make a significant contribution to Toronto’s championship season. At the end of Toronto’s season, Williams asked him to join him for winter ball in Puerto Rico. As it turned out, though, Williams was unable to join him in Puerto Rico because immediately after the Red Sox season ended, the Boston front office tapped him to be the new manager.

Still sharp from winter ball, Russ had a fine 1967 spring training in Winter Haven. Competing with the two catchers who had shared backstop duties for the ’66 Red Sox, Mike Ryan and Bob Tillman, he proved himself major league worthy. As he headed for Boston, his dream had finally come true. After 10 long years in the minors, the Fall River kid was now playing for the Boston Red Sox.

His major league debut will always be remembered because it was also the debut of another rookie, lefty Billy Rohr, who came within one strike of pitching a no-hitter in his first major league game. Suffice it to say that Russ called a great game and handled both his own nervousness and that of his fellow rookie like a seasoned veteran. 

For the rest of April, Russ served as the regular catcher, significantly contributing to the team’s 8-6 record, batting .300 with eight RBIs. But with Dick Williams, it’s what have you done for me lately, and after a mini-slump (eight hitless at-bats over three games), he was replaced by Bob Tillman. Russ then developed a hand infection and unable to play, he was optioned to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, (Eastern League) in May. But he was back on the Red Sox roster with the September call-ups. By this time, veteran Elston Howard had been acquired from the Yankees and Bob Tillman had been sold to New York. 

It appeared that Russ might not be eligible for the World Series, because he had not been on the roster just before the September 1 deadline, but the Cardinals allowed the Sox to add him to replace the injured Bill Landis. 

Although 1967 will always be remembered as the high point of his Red Sox career, Russ played two more years with his hometown team. In 1968, he and Howard shared the catching duties. Mike Ryan had been dealt to the Phillies in the off-season. In 1969, Russ had his best year statistically. He lifted his batting average to .251, with three homers and 27 RBIs.

Even though he was coming off his best year in the majors and had a good spring in 1970, GM Dick O’Connell secured a place for him on the San Francisco Giants. But he saw limited duty in San Francisco, backing up Dick Dietz. In his three years with the Giants his average dipped with his playing time.

In 1972 he spent most of the year in Triple-A Phoenix and although he was offered a contract and invited to spring training by the Giants in 1973, he decided to officially retire.

Through connections made in San Francisco, Russ landed a good position with Bank of America on the West Coast which he held for almost 10 years before he returned to the Fall River area. For the next 20 years, he worked for the Massachusetts State Lottery covering the Fall River/New Bedford area.

For two years he also was head coach of a local junior college nine, Bristol Community College and spent some time as a local area scout for the Chicago White Sox.

After his scouting days, his baseball activities included his regular participation in Red Sox fantasy camps organized by his old friend Dick Radatz. Age and health concerns later limited his activity to an occasional Jimmy Fund golf tournament.

Russ Gibson died of a stroke on July 27, 2008 in Swansea, Mass. He was 69 years old.