[Living in New York in the summer of '78] "I hated the Yankees so much. To me, rooting for them would be like voting Republican."
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Over the winter, Leslie told Theo, "Be daring," when ownership offered his 28-year-old son the chance to be the youngest general manager in baseball history, a seat of power unparalleled in Old Towne prestige and pressure.
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"I don't like to gloat over (Brian) Cashman getting reamed by his boss, because I know he's a good guy, but if Darth Vader The Convicted Felon should be discomforted, well, it pleases me to no end. ... The fact that my son is part of doing that to him is even better."
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What's more, he had the courage to change course on his early-season mistakes in the bullpen and completely crushed the Yankees on the way to Sauerbeck and Williamson, leaving the Yankees with Jesse Orosco and Armando Benitez for those setup jobs.
Orosco? Seventeen years ago, Theo was standing on his parents' living room couch waiting for the final out on the Mets in Game 6, the final out on a Sox championship so he could leap into the air. It never happened. "They just climbed down," Leslie said.
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"This is the job he would have liked as a culmination of his career at 56 years old, but to be (hired as) GM of the Red Sox at 28?" Leslie said. "Be careful what you wish for. What if he wins the World Series this year? What does he do next? Become a Jewish pope?"
Leslie Epstein on son Theo, the General Manamger of the Boston Red Sox. Courtesy of
Adrian Wojnarowski and ESPN.com.
As Adrian points out "for now, Theo Epstein is the GM sticking and jabbing at Steinbrenner, sending Darth Vader and the Evil Empire into pure panic at the trading deadline. The Boss is right: The Sox haven't won anything yet. So far, it's just the boy wonder GM out of Brookline, off the top of his parents' couch. Theo Epstein is still waiting to leap in the air to celebrate that World Series championship. All his family and friends, all his fellow Bostonians and New Englanders, stand there with him. Just waiting. Still."
Silent bats have left weak pitching exposed, the Sox are 0-4 since their trading deadline deals. Red Sox Nation is taking the dry-spell in stride. We're just waiting. Nervous. No panic.
Yet.
