#97

Dave "Boo" Ferriss, P

Imagine if a pitcher burst onto the scene in this era with records of 21-10 & 25-6 his first two seasons. Such a young man would be anointed as the second coming, but would anyone know he was the second coming of Boo Ferriss?

Ferriss did just that for the Red Sox in 1945 & 1946. He won 13 consecutive home games and notched a win in the 1946 World Series against the Cardinals. He was on top of the world. The Red Sox, in 1946, looked like a team that might win three or four championships. Unfortunately, their only World Series in that generation was in '46. Much of the failures to replicate the 1946 success were due to injuries to their young pitchers. Ferriss, Tex Hughson, and others suffered through injuries that were treated in medieval ways and managers who thought the best way to treat a serious arm injury was to rub some dirt on it.

Ferriss received the first full baseball scholarship to Mississippi State. Born in the Delta, he was given the nickname "Boo" because he could not pronounce "brother" as a child.

Then it happened. According to the Mississippi History Now website...

"Then on a chilly, damp night in Cleveland, Ohio – July 14, 1947 – the world changed for Ferriss. Boston and Cleveland were scoreless with the hometown Indians batting in the bottom of the seventh inning. The bases were loaded with two outs. Ferriss was on the pitcher’s mound. He was that rare pitcher with such command of all his pitches, he would throw any pitch at any time and throw it for a strike. George Metkovich, Cleveland’s lead-off hitter, was at the plate and the count was full at three balls and two strikes. Metkovich was probably looking for Ferriss to throw a fast ball. Ferriss figured Metkovich was thinking that and threw an overhand curve. Metkovich struck out.

As he delivered the pitch, Ferriss felt something snap in his shoulder. He had no idea what had happened. He just knew that pain shot through his arm and then it went numb. His arm would never be the same. One of the most promising careers in baseball history was essentially over just as it was getting started." He finished the '47 season 12-10.

He pitched in only 31 games in 1948, going 7-3. He never won (or lost) another game. He pitched 4 games in 1949 as he fell into manager Joe McCarthy's doghouse. McCarthy was a "rub some dirt on it" manager who did not believe that a sore arm was a real injury. The Sox needed him in 1949. Just one win from Ferriss would have put them in a tie with the Yankees. Instead, 1949 was the beginning of the end for the Sox as they fell one game short of New York.

For Ferriss, it was the end. He would appear in one game in 1950, but it was of no consequence. From 1955-1959, he coached for the Sox. He returned to Mississippi after that, and he became the coach at Delta State University. Ferriss went on to win 639 games there.

He is a member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, the Mississippi State University Sports Hall of Fame, and the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. On November 14, 2002, he was inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame.

John Grisham tried out for Ferriss's Delta State team and was cut because he could not hit a curve ball.