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"  The two nicest men I have met in my life I met during my days as pretty much a fulltime sportswriter. One was Archie Manning, who is the kind of Southern gentleman for whom that designation was first contrived. The other was Johnny Pesky, the smiling face of the Boston Red Sox, who passed away on Monday at 92. Back in the days when I was around the team a lot, John always called me The Professor. &amp;quot;You know,&amp;quot; he would say, &amp;quot;I read your stuff and I can&amp;#039;t tell what the hell you&amp;#039;re talking about, with those words you use and everything. I figure that&amp;#039;s what keeps you safe around here.&amp;quot; He hit .307 lifetime in the majors, and that&amp;#039;s not easy to do. He was a close friend of Ted Williams, and that wasn&amp;#039;t easy to do, either. He was a Navy pilot and lost almost five of his best years to World War II, or else he might be in the Hall of Fame by now. And, since 2004, when the artificiality of Red Sox nation has become treacly enough to make Teddy Ballgame himself fwow up, as Ms. Parker would put it, John remained the single most authentic thing about going to the old ballpark. So, in his and the pole&amp;#039;s memory, for today&amp;#039;s hooley in comments: What is your favorite sporting venue? Ground rules are that you have to have been there. Nothing you saw on TV. (Lenin Stadium doesn&amp;#039;t count if you only saw it behind Jom McKay through the miracle of Telstar.) Departed venues certainly count, as you&amp;#039;ll see. As usual, my top three are here. Play nice in the comments, ya bastids, or John&amp;#039;s going to come back with his fungo bat and explain things to you. 1) Tiger Stadium (Detroit) Opened the same week as Fenway, but gone away now. I loved the livestock stalls that passed for luxury suites, the vastness of centerfield, in which I once saw Calvin Schiraldi score a one-two-three save with a trio of fly balls, none of which went less than 350 feet, and the fact that the message board there once welcomed to the ballpark The Eugene V. Debs Marching Kazoo Orchestra. Now that&amp;#039;s entertainment. 2) The old Forum (Montreal) So much pure history that it made Fenway look like a Wal Mart that opened last Thursday. The Rocket. The Pocket Rocket. The Gumper. The quote from In Flanders Fields \u2014 &amp;quot;From these failing hands, the torch, etc. \u2014 on the locker-room wall. And M. Beliveau, aussi, the man who actually is everything people said Joe DiMaggio was. 3) Keeneland Raceway (Lexington, Ky.) A perfect bell-jar of civility and grace. And first-class horse racing, twice a year. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a15335/johnny-pesky-11678172/>