Larry Lucchino

Lawrence Lucchino

• School Princeton University

• Born September 6, 1945 in Pittsburgh, PA USA
• Died April 2, 2024

Biographical Information

Larry Lucchino became part owner, president and CEO of the Boston Red Sox in 2002. He was part of the ownership group that includes John Henry and Tom Werner. Previously, Lucchino had served as President/CEO of the Baltimore Orioles (1988-1993) and the San Diego Padres (1995-2001) where he was instrumental in the planning and building of Oriole Park at Camden Yards and PETCO Park, respectively.

Lucchino's tenure at the helm of the Red Sox was one of the most successful periods in franchise history, as the Sox won three World Series titles, in 2004, 2007 and 2013, breaking the infamous "Curse of the Bambino" in the process. Lucchino gave a lot of leeway to his young General Managers, Theo Epstein, who had worked for him with the Padres, and Ben Cherington, while imposing a sabermetrics-based vision for the organization. Indeed, one of his first moves when he came on board was to hire Bill James, the leader in the field, as a consultant. He largely served as the public face of the team ownership, with Henry and Werner being more discreet, and was known for some colorful quotes, particularly when on separate occasions he chastized the rival New York Yankees for their "crazy expenditures" and then dubbed them the "Evil Empire". Another of his priorities was to grow the Red Sox's revenue base, something that had been neglected by the previous ownership group which was mainly focused on containing costs; for example, the number of corporate sponsorships grew form 30 to 95 during his first five years with the team. He announced in August of 2015 that he would be stepping down by the end of the year, citing his getting on in years as the reason. Sam Kennedy was to succeed him as team president. In 2016, he took over as president of the Jimmy Fund dedicated to research and care for pediatric cancer patients, the official charity of the Red Sox. He also helped set up the Boston Red Sox Foundation.

In 2015, he was part of the partnership that bought Boston's AAA affiliate, the Pawtucket Red Sox. After trying unsuccessfully for a number of years to find an alternate location for the team in Pawtucket, RI or nearby Providence, RI, due to the condition of the team's ballpark, he took the decision to move the team to Worcester, MA, where they became the Worcester Red Sox in 2021. He was still chairman of the team at the time of his death at age 78 in 2024, following its sale to a new ownership group the previous December.

At Princeton Lucchino was on the 1965 Final Four basketball team with Bill Bradley who later became an NBA star and United States Senator. He was inducted in the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2016 and the San Diego Padres Hall of Fame in 2022.

Further reading

• Maury Brown: "Red Sox leadership transition: exit Larry Lucchino, enter Sam Kennedy", The Fields of Green, August 3, 2015. [1]
• Ian Browne: "Red Sox mourn passing of former club president Lucchino", mlb.com, April 2, 2024. [2]