WOODBURY, CT — With the Boston Red Sox currently nine games out of first place in the American League East and 4 1/2 games behind in the chase for the final wild card berth, it appears their season will end on Sept. 29. To lighten the disappointment of Bosox fans across New England, here is a bit of trivia that even the most diehard supporters likely did not know.
Aside from being former Major League Baseball All-Star players with the Red Sox, what common thread do Mookie Betts, Dustin Pedroia, Dwight Evans, Manny Ramirez and Jim Rice have, particularly in relation to the state of Connecticut?
The answer: Joe Lahoud, a Danbury native and current resident of Woodbury, once wore uniform numbers with the Red Sox which were later made famous by those previously-mentioned stars.
Find out what's happening in Woodbury-Middleburywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
A graduate of Henry Abbott Technical High School in Danbury, Lahoud played three sports for the Wolverines, with a preference for basketball and soccer over baseball.
“Abbott Tech really didn’t have much of a baseball team,” he told author Bill Nowlin in a 2018 interview for the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). “The kids were smoking in the outfield – that kind of crap. So I really concentrated more on my basketball and my soccer, which I enjoyed very, very much. I did play baseball my senior year and I loved the game, but I had multiple scholarships in basketball.”
Find out what's happening in Woodbury-Middleburywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Lahoud went on to New Haven College (now the University of New Haven), until signing with the Red Sox organization in 1965. One year at spring training in Winter Haven, Fla., Lahoud was given uniform No. 50. At the time, numbers in the 50s and higher were uncommon, mostly assigned to young players with little to no chance of making the big league team. Still a teenager, Lahoud was no exception, spending the 1966 and 1967 seasons at Winston-Salem in the Class-A Carolina League.
Click Here: north queensland cowboys shirt
More than five decades after Lahoud donned the 50 jersey, Betts won the American League Most Valuable Player award in 2018.
In 1968, with the parent club missing slugging outfielder Tony Conigliaro for the year due to an eye injury sustained in an August 1967 beaning, Lahoud made the Red Sox roster to begin the season, wearing No. 15. Pedroia later proudly wore that number from 2007 to 2019, capturing American League MVP honors in 2008.
Lahoud struggled at baseball’s highest level, batting .192 in 29 games before being sent down to Louisville of the Triple-A International League. He was recalled later in that season and given No. 24, later worn for 18 seasons by Evans, an 8-time Gold Glove-winning right fielder. From 2001 to 2008, No. 24 was donned by Ramirez, a 12-time All-Star and member of the 500 home run club.
In 1969, Lahoud remained with the big league club for the entire season, wearing No. 14. Five years later, that numeral was assumed by Rice, who won the 1978 American League MVP award and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009. That same summer, No. 14 was retired by the franchise.
Ironically, prior to Lahoud, the number 14 had been worn in 1964 by another Connecticut resident, left-handed pitcher Bill Spanswick of Enfield. As part of the 100th anniversary celebration of Fenway Park in 2012, Spanswick and Lahoud were among 212 former players and coaches who took part in an emotional ceremony.
As he walked onto the outfield grass at the centennial gathering, Spanswick glanced at the right field roof and saw his old uniform number among the collection of nine numbers permanently retired by the team. Remembering that moment in a 2018 interview with Patch, he quipped, “I wish it was up there for me. Oh well!”
Lahoud belted nine home runs in 101 games in 1969, including three in one road game on June 11 against the Minnesota Twins. To this day, he remains one of just two Red Sox left-handed hitters to club three round-trippers in a single game; the other was some kid named Ted Williams.
His .188 batting average, however, resulted in him winding up back in Louisville for the 1970 campaign.
He was recalled to Boston near the end of that year, then saw action in 107 games as a part-timer in 1971. Following that season, he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in a huge 10-player deal.
After two seasons in Milwaukee, Lahoud played two and a half years with the California Angels before being traded to the Texas Rangers in mid-1976. He joined the Kansas City Royals in 1977, playing parts of two seasons before his final game on May 24, 1978.
Even with the four clubs for whom he played after Boston, he wore jersey numbers later made famous by others. After leaving Milwaukee, his No. 3 was taken over by outfielder Gorman Thomas, who became an All-Star and A.L. home run champion. In Anaheim, he donned No. 4, which was next worn by 6-time All-Star infielder Bobby Grich.
Lahoud was No. 3 during his brief stint in Texas, later assigned to future Hall of Famer Harold Baines, and from 2001 to 2003 to 3-time A.L. MVP Alex Rodriguez. In Kansas City, he was given No. 10, which was later worn by manager Dick Howser, who guided the franchise to its first World Series championship in 1985. Howser died in 1987, and the jersey number was retired by the club.
Late in his career, Lahoud uttered the famous quip, “It’s easy to stay in the majors for seven and a half years when you hit .300, but when you hit .216, like me, it’s really an accomplishment.”
In all or parts of 11 big league seasons, he batted .223 in 791 games, with 65 home runs and 218 runs batted in. Following his playing days, he worked in the financial, real estate and legal support industries, and was active in the Major League Baseball Alumni Association, playing in charity games and benefit golf tournaments and participating in autograph sessions.
He has been married to his wife Patricia for 46 years.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.