Interview with Boston Red Sox President Larry Lucchino
KING: Most weeks, we plan our journeys outside the Beltway. Sometimes breaking news dictates them. This week was a bittersweet trip back home to Boston to cover the death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. To know him was to see his passion for politics and for policy but also for competition and sports. He kept close track of the Celtics and the Bruins and the Patriots. But when he knew he was in a race with cancer he might prolong but would ultimately lose, he wanted to walk one last time in the shadow of the Green Monster. We stretch out here into the city of Boston, and right here you see, along the Massachusetts Turnpike, this is Fenway Park. And when Senator Kennedy knew he was ill, he wanted to come here to do this. You see his infectious smile. He's throwing out the first pitch. This is opening day in Fenway Park, April 7th -- the manager of the Red Sox, Terry Francona, Hall of Famer Jim Rice, the smile of Senator Kennedy, despite his illness, in a place he loved so much. He wanted to be there in Fenway Park in the shadow of the Green Monster. And so, in this week's "American Dispatch," we decided to go there, too, to trace the history of two storied brands, the Red Sox and the Kennedys.</s>KING: You worked in Washington as a younger man, involved in politics, in the big debates of our time. When you were there, did you run into Senator Kennedy or you certainly knew of him?</s>LARRY LUCCHINO, PRES. & CEO, BOSTON RED SOX: I certainly knew of him, and I did get to know him, as I got to know the Shriver family quite well there in my time there. And I got to see him in a personal context. I got to see him as the -- certainly one of the centers, if not the center of the Kennedy-Shriver extended family. And I saw how close he was to so many of his nieces and nephews, and was always impressed by the priority that he assigned to that.</s>KING: And so now you're here. And you're the president of this storied franchise. And as you know, some politicians -- all politicians say they're fans. All politicians say, you know, I'm a fan, but then you start asking them, and you realize, two, three questions in, they're not really fans; they just have to be fans. Was Teddy Kennedy a fan?</s>LUCCHINO: Teddy Kennedy was a fan. Teddy Kennedy's entire family were fans. The -- again, the sons and daughters, the nieces and nephews -- there was an intensity about their connection to Boston and New England, no matter where they lived. And the Red Sox were a reflection of that -- the connection. And yet Ted was a fan. They are, as you well know, intensely competitive people, and the Red Sox were an outlet for that competition as well as a tangible connection to Boston and to New England.</s>KING: And go back in time to when this place was built and the family lineage goes all the way back.</s>LUCCHINO: Well, that's true. The -- Fenway Park is the oldest and smallest ballpark in all of baseball. And it was built in 1912. And the first pitch at the very first game at Fenway Park was thrown out by Honey Fitz, the mayor, and of course, Teddy's grandfather. So his connection goes back that far. This is a -- a picture of Teddy and Bobby and the patriarch Joe at a baseball game, sitting in the stands, way back when. We're probably talking about the mid '60s here. And it just reinforces the notion that the Kennedy family and the Red Sox and Massachusetts, they all go together. Ted Kennedy went to baseball games here at Fenway Park for parts of eight decades. Born in 1932. Parts of eight decades. He knew the players. He knew the ballpark. He had a special relationship with the Red Sox and we're very, very proud of that. Indeed, when we -- on opening day this year, we had Senator Kennedy here throwing out the first pitch and it was on the 97th anniversary. And we had an invitation out to him that we would like him to throw out the -- would have liked for him to throw out the first pitch on -- in April of 2012. And he joked that he has already had it on his calendar and he was saving that date. So I'm certainly glad that we got him here on opening day this year, because he was in fine spirits. He was very happy. He enjoyed himself immensely. And it was just great to see him here in that setting.</s>KING: And even when he knew of his sickness, he sent you a note saying he would try to be here?</s>LUCCHINO: Yes, that's exactly right. We had formally invited him a couple of years ago to join in the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park in 2012. This is in about 2007 or 2008 that we wrote to him. And then after he was diagnosed, he sent a letter back saying, I told you I would be there in 2012, and I will be there in 2012. So his spirit remained strong to the very end and inspirational.</s>KING: You mentioned the competitiveness. This is great city, and a place that is defined by its brands. The Boston Red Sox are one of the brands of Boston and Massachusetts. The Kennedy name has been a brand for some time, for more than a half century there was a Senator Kennedy from Massachusetts. Now that there isn't what does that mean?</s>LUCCHINO: Well, it certainly means as, I think, lots of people have noted, that an era has ended. Many of us came into political awareness with the Kennedy family, and their ascendancy. So it means the end of a political era. It means the end of a social or generational thing. On a more immediate level, with respect to the Red Sox, it means the loss of a great fan and a great supporter. He was an American icon to be sure. But he was always a Boston and a Massachusetts guy. And constituent services were always very important to him. If we had an issue, our players had a problem, if there were charitable things that we needed from the senator or from the government, he was a go-to guy for us. And we were very fortunate to have his -- have the kind of passion and loyalty that he showed to every constituent given to the Red Sox as well. And we will miss him. We'll miss his -- the joy he brings. You know, when he walked into a room, he was just larger than life, with a big laugh, and a big smile, and a lot of joking, and a lot of teasing. And it's just that that whole Kennedy mystique was real. And you saw it when you saw him.</s>KING: We'll be here again next Sunday and every Sunday at 9 a.m. Eastern for the first and last word in Sunday talk. Until then, I'm John King in Washington. Take care.