Mel Parnell
Pitcher
Born: (1922-06-13)June 13, 1922 New Orleans, Louisiana
Died: March 20, 2012(2012-03-20) (aged 89) New Orleans, Louisiana
Batted: Left	Threw: Left
MLB debut
April 20, 1947 for the Boston Red Sox
Last MLB appearance
September 29, 1956 for the Boston Red Sox
Career statistics
Win–loss record	123–75
Earned run average	3.50
Strikeouts	732
Teams
Boston Red Sox (1947–1956)
Career highlights and awards
2× All-Star (1949, 1951)

Melvin Lloyd Parnell (June 13, 1922 – March 20, 2012) was a Major League Baseball left-handed starting pitcher.

Parnell spent his entire ten-year career with the Boston Red Sox (1947–1956), compiling a 123-75 record with 732 strikeouts, a 3.50 earned run average, 113 complete games, 20 shutouts, and 1752.2 innings pitched in 289 games (232 as a starter). He has the third-highest career winning percentage for a left-hander in Fenway Park (minimum of more than 25 decisions), at 71-30 (.703).

Parnell enjoyed his best season in 1949 when he went 25-7, leading the league in wins, ERA (2.77), complete games (27) and innings (295.1). He was the starting pitcher for the American League in that year's All-Star Game and was selected again in 1951.

After two 18-win seasons in 1950 and 1951, and a 12-12 record in 1952, Parnell went 21-8 in 1953 with a 3.06 ERA and a career-high 136 strikeouts. He pitched a no-hitter on July 14, 1956 against the Chicago White Sox at Fenway, winning 4-0. The no-hitter was the first for a Red Sox pitcher since Howard Ehmke in 1923, though this would prove the final highlight of his career, which would come to a premature end after the 1956 season, due to a torn muscle in his pitching arm. It would take 52 years until another Red Sox lefty would throw a no-hitter, a feat accomplished by Jon Lester in 2008.

Parnell still holds the club career mark for left-handed pitchers in games started, innings and victories.

After his playing career, Parnell managed the New Orleans Pelicans of the Class AA Southern Association in 1959 and a series of Red Sox farm clubs from 1961 to 1963. He was a member of Boston's radio and television announcing crew from 1965 to 1968.

Parnell was mentioned in the 1981 Terry Cashman song "Talkin' Baseball".

Parnell was selected to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1997. He thereafter resided in New Orleans, Louisiana until his death in 2012 following a long battle with cancer.^[1][2]

Quote[link]

"Little soft pop-up...Petrocelli will take it...he does! The ball game is over! The Red Sox win it! And what a mob on this field! They're coming out of the stands from all over!" - Parnell on WHDH-TV, calling the last out of the final game of the Red Sox' regular season at Fenway Park, October 1, 1967, against the Minnesota Twins. The Sox had yet to learn whether they clinched the American League pennant or would need to travel to Detroit for a one-game playoff. The Detroit Tigers lost to the California Angels, and the Red Sox went on to the 1967 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Parnell once said the southpaw's enemy at Fenway Park was the smallness of the foul territory, not the wall.^[3]

See also[link]

• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
• List of Major League Baseball wins champions
• List of Major League Baseball no-hitters

References[link]

External links[link]

• Baseball Library
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube

Jon Lester
Boston Red Sox – No. 31
Starting Pitcher
Born: (1984-01-07) January 7, 1984 (age 28) Tacoma, Washington
Bats: Left	Throws: Left
MLB debut
June 10, 2006 for the Boston Red Sox
Career statistics (through May 25, 2012)
Win-loss record	79–38
Earned run average	3.60
Strikeouts	935
Teams
Boston Red Sox (2006–present)
Career highlights and awards
2× All-Star (2010,2011) World Series Champion (2007) Pitched a no-hitter on May 19, 2008 against the Kansas City Royals. 2007 Tony Conigliaro Award 2008 Hutch Award

Jonathan Tyler Lester (born January 7, 1984, in Tacoma, Washington) is an American professional baseball pitcher with the Boston Red Sox. Lester was 7-2 with a 4.76 ERA before and after being diagnosed with lymphoma. Less than two years after being diagnosed with lymphoma, Lester started and won the final game of the 2007 World Series, and in May 2008, pitched a no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals.

Career[link]

High school[link]

Lester attended Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma, Washington, where he was a three-time MVP and three-time All-Area selection. In addition, he was named Gatorade State Player of the Year for Washington in 2000.

Professional[link]

The Red Sox drafted Lester in the second round (No. 57 overall) of the 2002 draft and gave him the highest signing bonus of any second-rounder that year, $1 million.

Lester quickly moved through the Red Sox organization, posting an 11–6 record, a league-leading 2.61 ERA and a league-best 163 strikeouts for the AA Portland Sea Dogs in 2005. He was named Eastern League Pitcher of the Year and Red Sox Minor League Pitcher of the Year and was selected as the left-handed pitcher on the Eastern League's year-end All-Star team and on the year-end Topps AA All-Star squad.

Lester was one of the Red Sox' top-rated prospects while in the minors, and other major league teams made efforts to acquire him. The Texas Rangers had demanded Lester be part of the proposed but ultimately rejected deal before the 2004 season for Alex Rodriguez.^[1] The Florida Marlins insisted he be included in the trade for Josh Beckett before the 2006 season, but again, the Sox were able to keep Lester.^[2]

2006[link]

With a rash of injuries and general ineffectiveness of several Red Sox starters, the team recalled Lester on June 10 to make his major league debut against the Texas Rangers. He put up a 4.76 ERA in 81.1 innings pitched in his rookie year. Lester was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a treatable cancer, in the middle of the season (see Battle with lymphoma for more details). He finished the season with a 7–2 record.

2007[link]

Lester before the Game 4 of the 2007 World Series.

Following the successful treatment of his lymphoma, Lester was able to return to the Red Sox midway through the season. In the 2007 World Series, Lester won the series-clinching Game Four for the Red Sox, pitching 5⅔ shutout innings, giving up three hits and three walks while collecting three strikeouts. Lester became the third pitcher in World Series history to win a series clinching game in his first post-season start.

Rumors swirled again in the 2007 offseason when the Minnesota Twins were looking to trade ace Johan Santana. The Red Sox proposed multiple offers to the Twins for Santana — including one package that would have traded Lester and other prospects — but the Twins ultimately dealt Santana to the New York Mets, keeping Lester in Boston.

2008[link]

In 2008, Lester went 16–6 with a 3.21 ERA. Along with his no-hitter, he pitched a five-hit shutout in his first start at Yankee Stadium. He was named the AL Pitcher of the Month in July and September. Lester was also a key figure in the Red Sox' victory over the Angels in the American League Divisional Series, pitching 14 innings without allowing an earned run. Lester had the second highest winning percentage of all starting pitchers over the last three years (27–8, .771), and led the Red Sox in innings pitched in 2008 with 210.3.^[3][4]

Lester's losses in Games 3 and 7 of the 2008 ALCS were the first losses he had ever had in consecutive starts.^[5]

2009[link]

On March 8, Lester agreed to a five-year, $30 million contract extension with a $14 million team option in 2014.^[6]

On June 6, Lester made his bid for a second no-hitter against the AL West-leading Texas Rangers at Fenway. He pitched 6 1/3 perfect innings, striking out 10 batters, on 61 pitches through the first six innings. Michael Young hit a one-out double to left center field in the seventh inning to break up the no-hitter, but Lester pitched a complete game, striking out a total of 11 batters, giving him 23 Ks in two starts (he had a career-best 12 Ks his previous start).

On August 14, Lester struck out ten batters for the sixth time in the 2009 season, the most times ever by a Red Sox lefty.

2010[link]

In 2010 Lester won his final start in April, then won five of the six games he started in May. Lester went 5–0 with a 1.84 ERA and 45 strikeouts and was named the American League Pitcher of the Month, winning the award for the third time.

On June 16 he got his 50th career win, against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Lester was selected to the American League All-Star team on July 1, this was his first selection. At the time of the break he was 11–3 with a 2.78 ERA and 124 strikeouts. He pitched the sixth inning for the AL allowing no baserunners.

On July 25 he took a perfect game into the sixth inning against the Seattle Mariners but lost it in that inning due to an error made by Eric Patterson. A home run by Michael Saunders broke up the no hit bid. The Red Sox eventually lost the game. The loss was the second of four losses in a row Lester took after the All-Star break; this was the first time he lost consecutive decisions in his career. He would eventually turn it around throwing 6 shutout innings against the Yankees and then 8 shutout innings, despite feeling sick, against the Rangers. Lester finished the season strong but fell just short of 20 wins.

Lester finished the season T-4th in Wins (19) and in 4th place in strikeouts (225) in the Majors (AL and NL combined) in 2010. He finished 25th in the Major Leagues with a 3.25 E.R.A. in an excellent year for pitchers.

2011[link]

In 2011, Lester was the opening day starter for the Red Sox, on the road against Texas. He had a solid season, leading Boston's rotation in wins for the second year in a row and strikeouts for the third year in a row. He was named to the American League All-Star team, replacing Felix Hernandez, but did not pitch due to injury.

Lester struggled along with the rest of the team, losing his last three decisions, including giving up eight runs in a start against the New York Yankees. He pitched the season finale against the Baltimore Orioles, pitching six innings and giving up just two runs. The bullpen was unable to hold onto the lead, and the Red Sox were eliminated.

Lester finished the season 15–9 with a 3.41 ERA. He finished in the top 20 in strikeouts (11th), wins (10th) and ERA (17th).

In the end of the 2011 season, Lester and two more starting pitchers was in a center of a controversy that told that the three (and sometimes more) drank alcohol during games. Many people hypothesized that this was part of the reason why the Red Sox went 7–20 in September and were eliminated on the last day of the season. Lester was the first to tell what really happened, and stressed that they would only drink when they weren't pitching for that day. Lester was the first of the three starting pitchers to admit to his drinking.^[7]

The line score inside Fenway Park following Jon Lester's no-hitter.

No-hitter[link]

On May 19, 2008, Lester threw his first career Major League no-hitter,^[8] and the 18th in Red Sox history, in a 7–0 win against the Kansas City Royals. Lester threw 130 pitches in the game, allowing only two walks and striking out 9 batters, although he was charged with a throwing error on a pickoff attempt in the second inning. It was the first no-hitter thrown by a Red Sox left-handed pitcher since Mel Parnell in 1956, the first in MLB since Clay Buchholz's September 2007 no-hitter, and the MLB-record fourth no-hitter caught by Jason Varitek. It was also only the second no-hitter ever pitched against the Royals; Nolan Ryan pitched the other in 1973.

After the game, Red Sox manager Terry Francona, who earlier in the day had attended his son's commencement ceremony at the University of Pennsylvania, was quoted as saying, "This probably isn't fair to say, but I feel like my son graduated and my son threw a no-hitter. It's probably selfish on my part to even say something like that. But I think it's obvious how we feel about this kid."^[9]

Just as Clay Buchholz's no-hitter was preserved by a diving play by rookie second baseman Dustin Pedroia, Lester's was preserved by a diving catch by rookie center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury to end the fourth inning.^[10]

Personal life[link]

On January 9, 2009, he married his girlfriend Farrah Stone Johnson, whom he met in 2007 while making rehab starts in single-A Greenville.^[11]

Lymphoma diagnosis and comeback[link]

On August 27, 2006, Lester was scratched from his scheduled start against the Oakland Athletics due to a sore back. The following day he was placed on the 15-day disabled list, and was sent back to Boston for testing. At the time, Lester's back problems were thought to be the result of a car crash he was involved in earlier in the month. On August 31 it was reported that Lester had been diagnosed with enlarged lymph nodes and was being tested for a variety of ailments, including forms of cancer.^[12] A few days later, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital confirmed that Lester had a treatable form of anaplastic large cell lymphoma.^[13]

Lester underwent off-season chemotherapy treatments at Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, named after the former MLB pitcher and manager whose life was cut short by cancer at age 45 in 1964. In December 2006, ESPN.com reported that Lester's latest CT Scan showed no signs of the disease, which appeared to be in remission. Lester attended spring training in 2007, and started the season for the class A Greenville Drive. Lester then started for AAA Pawtucket Red Sox in late April 2007.^[14] In June, Lester was removed from the disabled list, and sent to Pawtucket for further rehab outings.^[15] Lester made his first 2007 start for the Boston Red Sox on July 23 against the Cleveland Indians at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, pitching 6 innings, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits and struck out 6, picking up the win. Lester started and won the clinching game of the 2007 World Series, Game 4 against the Colorado Rockies.

To honor Lester's comeback from lymphoma, the Boston Baseball Writers' Association of America voted him the 2007 Tony Conigliaro Award.^[16] In an appropriate coincidence, Lester also received the 2008 Hutch Award, given to the Major League player who "best exemplifies the fighting spirit and competitive desire" of Hutchinson, after whom Lester's treatment center was named.^[17][18]

In March 2011, Jon Lester partnered with Charity Wines to release his own wine label under the Longball Cellars brand. Proceeds from sales of his CabernAce cabernet support the Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the place where Lester himself was treated, to aid the development of targeted immunotherapies. Funds raised from this initiative will help researchers maximize the body’s own ability to strike out and eliminate disease so lymphoma patients can extend their life. He is partnering with teammate Clay Buchholz who is also releasing a Charity Wine, called ChardonClay, to raise money for the Jimmy Fund.^[19]

Magazines

Lester has been on the cover of multiple magazines, including: Parade magazine, Boston magazine, and Bostonian Red Sox Preview

External links[link]

	Biography portal
	Baseball portal

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Official Site
• SoxProspects.com Bio
• Interview With Lester