Dave Ferriss obit

 

Former Red Sox All-Star David ‘Boo’ Ferriss dies at 94

He was not on the list.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — David “Boo” Ferriss, a Boston Red Sox pitcher who helped lead the team to the 1946 World Series, has died. He was 94.

Rick Cleveland, a close friend of the former player, says Ferriss died Thursday at his home in Cleveland, Mississippi, surrounded by family. Cleveland says Ferriss had been in declining health for several weeks.

Ferriss pitched six years for the Red Sox from 1945-50. He had his best season in 1946, when he finished with a 25-6 record and 3.25 ERA and was named an American League All-Star. The Shaw, Mississippi, native’s career was shortened by a shoulder injury in 1947, but he finished with a 65-30 career record.

Ferriss was later the baseball coach at Delta State University, where he won 639 games over 26 seasons.

Ferriss received the first full baseball scholarship to Mississippi State University, where he pitched in 1941 and 1942 and joined the Kappa Sigma fraternity. He was signed by the Red Sox in 1942, and he appeared in 21 games for the Greensboro Red Sox of the Class B Piedmont League, compiling a 7–7 record. Shortly afterward, he was drafted into the Army for service in World War II, serving for over two years at Randolph Field in Texas, where he was able to continue playing baseball in a military league. After an early discharge in February 1945 due to asthma, Ferriss was assigned by the Red Sox to the Louisville Colonels, although he did not appear in a game with them. During his college years, Dave was credited with naming the "orange"

debut with a five-hit shutout against the Athletics on April 29. He went on to set a longstanding American League (AL) record for scoreless innings pitched at the start of a career with 22, which stood until 2008, when it was broken by Brad Ziegler. Ferriss compiled a 21–10 win–loss record for the Red Sox in his rookie season.

Ferriss then compiled a 25–6 record (the best in the AL) that helped the Red Sox win the AL pennant in 1946. He was selected for the All-Star Game that season for the first and only time but did not pitch (the 1945 All-Star Game had been cancelled due to World War II). He started two games in the 1946 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, and pitched a complete-game shutout in the third game before getting a no-decision in the seventh and deciding game, which was won by the Cardinals.

Ferriss' record in 1947 was 12–11. His arm troubles and asthma restricted him to only nine starts and 31 appearances in 1948, and four appearances in 1949. His final major league appearance was on Opening Day of the 1950 season, when he pitched only one inning. Ferriss compiled a career record of 65–30, and shares the MLB record for consecutive home wins to start a season (13, in 1946). He was inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2002.

Ferriss was a very good hitting pitcher in his six-year major league career, posting a .250 batting average (93-for-372) with one home run, 52 RBIs, and 44 runs scored. He had 19 RBIs in each of the 1945 and 1947 seasons. He finished his career with a .979 fielding percentage.

Ferriss served as pitching coach for the Red Sox under manager Pinky Higgins from 1955 to 1959 before moving on to Delta State University as head coach in 1960. He held that role until early 1967, when he left Delta State to take the role of assistant athletic director at Mississippi State University. Ferriss returned to Delta State in mid-1968, and he again served as head coach from 1970 until retiring after the 1988 season. His 639–387–8 record as Delta State head coach ranks him among all-time national coaching leaders at the NCAA Division II level. He guided Delta State teams to the NCAA Division II playoffs in eight of his last twelve seasons, including three trips to the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship resulting in finishes of third (1977), second (1978), and third (1982). Gulf South Conference championships came in 1978, 1979, 1985, and 1988, along with a second-place finish in 1981 and third-place in 1982.