Removal From Power
But O'Connell's tenure with the Red Sox and his baseball career were about to come to an end. Tom Yawkey, who trusted O'Connell to be his top executive, died of leukemia on July 9, 1976. His wife, Jean, was an ally of Sullivan, who was still with the Red Sox as amateur scouting director. She criticized O'Connell's player transactions, his willingness to negotiate with potential free agents Fisk, Lynn and Burleson, and his attempted big-money purchase of Rollie Fingers and Joe Rudi from the Oakland A's in June 1976 (vetoed within days by Commissioner of Baseball Bowie Kuhn). When she put the club up for sale in 1977, she chose Sullivan's ownership group, and then fired O'Connell as GM — in favor of Sullivan — after the Red Sox finished 2½ games behind the New York Yankees in the pennant race.
The firing ended O'Connell's baseball career, although almost six years later, on June 6, 1983, a bizarre postscript was added. A power struggle broke out among the Red Sox ownership group, and one of the general partners, Edward "Buddy" LeRoux, staged a coup d'état. LeRoux announced a takeover of the Red Sox, and fired Sullivan, his fellow general partner, from the GM role. Surprisingly, he unveiled O'Connell, then 68, as his choice to lead the team — the first time O'Connell set foot inside Fenway Park since his 1977 dismissal. But LeRoux' "coup" was halted by court order, and Sullivan remained in power.
Over time, however, O'Connell and the Red Sox mended fences and he was admitted to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1997. Pundits hailed him as the architect who most helped to create Red Sox Nation by bringing the team back from near-irrelevance in 1967.
By the time of his death, at age 87 on August 18, 2002, in Lexington, Massachusetts, O'Connell was recognized as one of the most important men in Red Sox annals.
Read more about this topic: Dick O'Connell
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