FENWAY PHENOM! Crafty Lefty Mel Parnell Remembers His Stellar Career With The Boston Red Sox by Todd Newville

Mel Parnell was a very rare commodity for the Boston Red Sox. He was a quality left-handed pitcher who was successful in Fenway Park during the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Parnell, who spent his entire 10 years with the Red Sox, ended up with a 70-30 lifetime record inside the fabled confines of Fenway. Overall, the 6-foot, 180-pound Parnell was 123-75 with a 3.50 ERA. His career win total ranks second in team history, behind only Cy Young and Roger Clemens who each have 192 victories.

Many Bosox lefties through the years have wilted on the mound as the infamous Green Monster in left field loomed over their shoulder.

Mel Parnell (shown on his 1955 Topps baseball card)

Somehow, Parnell managed to blossom. His feats while toeing the rubber in Fenway gave Boston fans reason to smile every time his turn came around in the starting rotation. It was his contributions which helped lead the Red Sox into pennant contention in 1949. While the season certainly didn't end the way he and his teammates would have liked, Parnell still can remember the excitement of that special campaign. "It sure would be nice to have a pennant race every year like we did in 1949," said Parnell, a native of New Orleans. "That was a golden era for the game. That's what baseball was all about."

In 1949, Parnell's Red Sox battled down to the wire for the American League championship. Their nemesis was the hated New York Yankees.

On the next-to-last weekend of the season, Boston swept a three-game series from the Bronx Bombers at Fenway, and the Red Sox were one game ahead of the Yanks going into the final two games of the year at Yankee Stadium. "It was a very competitive two games," Parnell said. "It was a fierce rivalry with the Yankees. We just couldn't pass them." New York won both games, 5-4 and 5-3. They would go on to beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series. The Red Sox and Yankees both had a pair of outstanding pitchers. Boston, of course, had Parnell, who went 25-7 with four shutouts and a 2.77 ERA. He pitched 27 complete games and led the Junior Circuit in wins, ERA and innings pitched (295.1).

Boston also had Ellis Kinder, a right-hander who went 23-6 with a 3.36 ERA and 19 complete games. He led the AL with six shutouts. The Yanks boasted Allie Reynolds and Vic Raschi. Reynolds went 17-6 for New York while Raschi was 21-10 with a 3.34 ERA and 21 complete games. "They had Reynolds and Raschi and we had Kinder and myself," Parnell said. "It was a great battle down to the finish. Both teams had a good 1-2 punch." The Yankees had something Boston didn't - a strong relief pitcher in Joe Page. In 60 appearances, Page recorded 27 saves, a 2.59 ERA and a 13-8 record. Page finished third that year in the MVP balloting, while Parnell was fourth. "We didn't have a guy like Page in our bullpen," Parnell said. "He could have made a difference on our team. It was a different game back then.

Baseball Magazine January 1950 (From Left) Mel Parnell, Mickey McDermott, Ellis Kinder

"During that era, baseball was strong. The players coming back from the service made a lot of difference. With all the farm clubs out there, it just made it a lot more competitive. I don't think it's as competitive anymore these days." Parnell rubbed elbows with some great Red Sox teammates. He played with the likes of Ted Williams, Vern Stephens, Dom DiMaggio, Bobby Doerr and Johnny Pesky during his career, so it's easy to understand why he feels baseball was better during his career. "Could anyone hit better?" Parnell asked rhetorically about Williams, who won two Triple Crowns, two MVP awards, and hit .344 with 521 home runs in his career.

Mel Parnell with the Bosox in '52.

One of Williams' MVP trophies came during the '49 campaign. He hit .343 and led the league in homers (43) and RBI (159).

Mel Parnell was the winningest lefty in Boston Red Sox history. Only Cy Young and Roger Clemens have more wins in a Red Sox uniform than Parnell through the 2002 season.

"He made a study of hitting and he perfected it," Parnell said. "Babe Ruth may have been more powerful, but Ted was the most consistent and disciplined hitter I ever saw." Stephens, a career .286 hitter at shortstop, hit 39 homers and tied Williams for the league lead with 159 ribbies in 1949. "He was a good infielder and a steady hitter," Parnell said. "He had a strange stance but he was very strong and overcame it." On DiMaggio, Parnell said, "I think he was the best fielding center fielder of all time. He lived in the shadows of his brother Joe but he was the best leadoff hitter I ever saw." Dom DiMaggio hit .298 and scored 1,046 runs in 11 years with Boston. "He should be in the Hall of Fame," Parnell stated. Parnell also had high praise for Doerr, Boston's second baseman for 14 years, and Pesky, a third baseman in 1949. Doerr hit .288 and knocked in 100 or more runs six times for the Bosox. Pesky hit .307 in his 10-year career and led the AL three times in hits. "I think Bobby Doerr could turn the double play better than anyone alive," Parnell said. "Johnny Pesky had tremendous bat control and he could push the ball to either side of the infield. Both of those guys were great teammates."

Parnell, who had two 20-win seasons, recorded a 21-8 record to go along with a 3.06 ERA in 1953. Soon after, Parnell suffered an injury which eventually curtailed his career.

One day in 1954 against the Washington Senators, Parnell was hitting against former Boston teammate Mickey McDermott. McDermott was traded to Washington for Jackie Jensen in December of 1953.

McDermott hit Parnell with a pitch. The ball broke the ulna bone in Parnell's left arm, and he would suffer from elbow problems the final three years of his career.

"We (Parnell and McDermott) were going to go to dinner after the game," Parnell said. "We were good friends. He wasn't trying to hurt me. The ball just sailed in on me and broke my arm."

Parnell had one final shining moment, though. In 1956 - his final season - Parnell no-hit the Chicago White Sox, winning 4-0 on July 14. "That was definitely my most memorable moment," said the 74-year-old Parnell. "Pitchers always dream of it but rarely experience the thrill of a no-hitter. I was on cloud nine." Such exploits live in the hearts of Red Sox fans. Terry Cashman wrote a song in the early 1980s titled "Talking Baseball." In it, he affectionately mentions Parnell. "I heard that song the other morning on the radio," said Parnell, who loves to golf and carries a respectable 15 handicap. "I was getting ready to go to the golf course when I heard it. It makes me feel real good to hear it. It's nice to be remembered and to know that people don't forget you."

Mel Parnell (left) opposed Bob Porterfield of the Washington Senators as the Opening Day starter in 1952.

He has nothing to worry about there, because it would be hard for any Red Sox fan to forget Parnell.

(Reprinted in its entirety from the March 1997 issue of Baseball Digest.)

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