Krause: Today’s Sox lack Pesky’s unselfishness

There’s some odd juxtaposition between Johnny Pesky’s death and the spate of stories about spoiled, entitled and extremely unlikable modern-day Red Sox players who can’t seem to accept the slightest bit of accountability and direction.And the dichotomy is this: Johnny Pesky thanked God every day he was able to put on a Red Sox uniform. He wouldn’t have cared who the manager was. And as the years passed, he considered it a privilege to put that uniform on and represent the franchise.Pesky understood something that many of today’s athletes can’t seem to understand: The jersey means something beyond the fact that they’re wearing it. The Red Sox were not born the day Adrian Gonzalez came here; and will not cease to exist the day he leaves.The Red Sox are a continuum – at least to the generations of fans who have adopted them as a civic institution. Pesky understood this. And while we celebrate the man who wore his Red Sox uniform proudly, those wearing it today are busy disgracing it. Some tribute.Pesky was a genial man, but he understood accountability, even if he didn’t always like it. He spent a half-century taking the blame for losing the 1946 World Series because that’s what you did in those days. He never pointed out that Ted Williams hit only .200 in the Series. And he never mentioned that centerfielder Leon Culberson was out of position on Harry Walker’s double, and threw the ball weakly to Pesky, the cutoff man ? all of which allowed Enos Slaughter, running on the pitch, to be rounding third base by the time Pesky caught Culberson’s throw.It was only when others started defending him that Pesky, well into his 70s by then, opened up as well.He certainly didn’t blame manager Joe Cronin, nor did he request any audiences with owner Tom Yawkey.When you hear about today’s Soxies meeting en masse with the owners to complain about Bobby Valentine, and you spend any time at all reading about Pesky, the irony jumps out at you.There was a term back in Pesky’s day for a pitcher who had to gut it out on a day when his stuff wasn’t there ? the way Jon Lester had to do two weeks ago against Toronto. It was said to be “your turn in the barrel.” It meant that even though they were teeing off on you, there just wasn’t anyone else available to take your place ? so it was you, you and you.In Pesky’s day, pitchers accepted this. Apparently, in Lester’s day they do not. Lester apparently thinks of himself as a 20-game winner (even though he’s never done that) instead of a 6-10 pitcher. Maybe Valentine was just trying to relay that message to him as well as save his beleaguered bullpen.We all know the rest. Seventeen of the 25 players had a powwow last month with the owners to complain about Valentine. It’s the new Mutiny on the Bounty.This stuff would have horrified the part of Pesky that understood just what a privilege it was to play ball for the Red Sox. But something also tells me he would have put that aside, if he were still involved, and worked as a buffer to restore peace and tranquility in that clubhouse. That’s just how he was.Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].