From Jadwin to Fenway bluegrass

He steps out of his office and takes a right. As he strolls down the hall he greets everyone he passes before opening a door on the left. He steps through it and into a brutally cold afternoon in Boston. He gazes out at the oldest and grandest ballpark in Major League Baseball. He takes a deep breath, taking in the view around him, and acts like he owns the place. Well, actually, he does.

Such is the life of president, CEO and minority owner of the Boston Red Sox, Larry Lucchino '67.

Lucchino, a Pittsburgh, Pa., native, enrolled at Princeton for what I consider to be all the right reasons.

"The Princeton alums in Pittsburgh were quite active in encouraging me, and basketball had quite a lot to do with it — the charm and appeal of Butch van Breda Kolff and the basketball program," Lucchino said.

At Princeton, Lucchino played basketball for four years, playing alongside Director of Athletics Gary Walters '67 for four years and Bill Bradley '65 for two.

In addition to basketball, Lucchino was highly involved with Cottage Club where he was a member for two years, but he wasn't always happy with the Street.

"It was a different time, when the club system was more dominant than, mercifully, it is now," Lucchino said. "I think that the University should not be as limited and restricted and rigid as the club system was. I think greater diversity and greater freedom of choice is good thing for a university anywhere."

Life at Princeton was not always picturesque for Lucchino, who says that his first few months at campus were the most difficult of his four years.

"I thought the place was full of egocentric, driven personalities like me, and I wondered where the diversity was," Lucchino said as he joked that he thought about transferring to Harvard because of it.

In his senior year at Princeton, Lucchino was accepted to Yale Law School but decided to defer admission for a year. During that time, the Steel City native had a teaching fellowship in Lebanon, Beirut.

Immediately after receiving his law degree, Lucchino joined a law firm that was working on the impeachment case of President Nixon. He spent much of his time listening to and transcribing White House tapes. Unfortunately for Lucchino, President Nixon resigned before the trial materialized.

"The night of his resignation, a few of us went up to a bar on Capitol Hill and drank beer and listened to music because the trial we had been preparing for had been taken away."

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In his office at Fenway Park, Lucchino has three prominent photographs, one on each wall (the fourth is a window). One is of President Kennedy standing on the steps of the home dugout at Fenway. The second is a shot of Ted Williams swinging a bat. The third is a portrait of Edward Bennett Williams.

Williams (Edward that is, not Ted) was an attorney at the law firm Lucchino joined immediately following Nixon's resignation.

"[My involvement in sports] is directly attributable to the faith [Williams] had in me and the opportunities he gave me," Lucchino said. "It had as much to do with roulette as with any rational plan."

When Lucchino joined the firm, Williams was president and part owner of the Washington Redskins. He took Lucchino under his wing and very quickly had his protégé doing operational work for the team.

In 1979, Williams purchased the Baltimore Orioles, and Lucchino quickly became involved in the team.

"I became the vice president and general counsel, and I started doing more operational baseball negotiation types of things and less and less legal things as time went on," he said.

Three months before Williams passed away in August 1988, he made Lucchino team president. After Williams' death, Lucchino, Sargent Shriver and a New York financier purchased the team from Williams' estate, and Lucchino stayed on as president and became CEO.

During his tenure in Baltimore, Lucchino was directly involved with the planning and construction of Camden Yards, the Orioles' stadium since 1992. The park has been credited with revitalizing downtown.

"Any project like that has a thousand fathers, but I certainly was one of them, with the simple idea that we should build a traditional, old-fashioned ballpark with modern amenities. That was a thought of mine that came out of my childhood in Pittsburgh. I saw a charming ballpark in Forbes Field replaced by Three Rivers Stadium. Much of the charm of baseball was lost by virtue of the utterly charmless stadium that was Three Rivers."

After the 1993 season, Lucchino and his partners sold the team to current Orioles owner Peter Angelos.

During that offseason, Lucchino attempted to purchase his hometown Pirates. At the same time, he was advising a group trying to purchase the San Diego Padres. The partnership in San Diego asked Lucchino to join their group and become part owner, CEO and president of the Padres. While he turned them down at first, "[they] made me the proverbial offer I couldn't refuse to go to San Diego and become president and CEO of the Padres rather than wait to see if we won the contest that was developing in Pittsburgh."

It was in San Diego that Lucchino became partners with Tom Werner, a Harvard grad who convinced Lucchino to enter the bidding for the Boston Red Sox when the team went up for sale after the 2001 season.

"I heard [Edward Williams] say over and over, 'Larry, you don't get it, I'd trade the Redskins and the Orioles for the Red Sox,' " Lucchino said.

Lucchino brought in the third member of the ownership trio, John Henry, who became majority owner of the team. For the bargain price of $700 million, Lucchino, Werner and Henry now owned the Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park and an 80 percent share of New England Sports Network (NESN).

Since taking over the Red Sox, the partnership has been busy renovating the oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball. This has included widening the concourses, improving player facilities and adding more seats, such as those atop the Green Monster in left field. Oh, they've also been busy putting together a World Championship caliber team.

Business vs. pleasure

Growing up in Pittsburgh, sports were a big part of Lucchino's childhood and adolescence. "You cannot be from Pittsburgh and be a semi-normal human being and not be a Pirates and Steelers fan," Lucchino said.

His allegiances to the Pirates, however, dwindled rather rapidly.

"In 1979 when I got into baseball, Edward Williams acquired [the Orioles] in August, and in October of 1979 the Orioles were playing the Pirates in the World Series.

"My family was astounded at how quickly my allegiance changed. Thirty-plus years as a Pirate fan, and I became an Orioles fan overnight," Lucchino said.

Over the course of 25 years in baseball, Lucchino has removed himself from the role of fan. The game is now a profession, not a passion.

"I'm still passionate about winning and losing. Make no mistake about it — I'm passionate about Boston and the Red Sox. But I recognize that it's a job as well, and oftentimes the demands of the job can impinge upon the sensibilities of a fan."

The organization's moves this winter have mirrored Lucchino's philosophy. The team did not re-sign 40 percent of the rotation from last year and also traded ALCS Game Four hero Dave Roberts.

The most shocking move was the failure to resign ace Pedro Martinez. "I thought there was a good chance that we would bring Pedro back, and I still think this is the right place for him," Lucchino said.

While the media has been quick to point out this and other "failures," Lucchino measures success differently.

"We have a rule that if the media likes it, we're probably doing something wrong. If the media doesn't like it, we've done something right."

Members of the media often fail to understand the intricacies of the winter signing season. "This time of year you're playing three-dimensional chess. You're going after some guys and you can only follow up with other guys if the first guys come through or don't come through."

In addition to putting together a roster, Lucchino and his staff are working to put together a budget for the upcoming season. This means planning everything from ticket and concession prices to the massive renovations being done to Fenway.

Lucchino has come a long way from his days at Princeton. He has become a powerful baseball executive; he has dined at the White House with President Bush; and he has helped to end Boston's 86-year curse. He has, however, remained true to his roots. He gives back to the University that got him started and honors the man who introduced him to the game of baseball with a portrait on his wall.