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Billy Herman Hired as Red Sox Manager

Oct. 2, 1964 - Billy Herman (pictured in 1931), who has waited 17 years for a second chance as a major league manager, was given a two-year contract today to improve the sagging fortunes of the Boston Red Sox.

Mike Higgins, the vice president and general manager, announced at a news conference that Johnny Pesky had been dismissed and Herman would replace him. It has been baseball’s poorest kept secret for several weeks.

Herman’s salary, not disclosed, is estimated at $25,000 a year.

Herman played second base in the National League from 1931 to 1946. His job now is to improve an eighth-place club that has finished in the second division for six straight seasons.

He took charge immediately.

“I’ve always wanted another opportunity to manage,” Herman said. “The first time at Pittsburgh in 1947, I was in my thirties, I was inexperienced, and I made plenty of mistakes. Now, I’m older and feel I’ve learned a lot. All managers have their good and bad points. I feel I’ve picked up the good ones.”

Herman, 55 years old, fingered pitching as the club’s biggest problem, looking ahead to 1965.

“The hardest part of the job,” he said today, “is to gain the respect of the players and get 100% out of them.”

Herman said he had been told the job was his Tuesday. Higgins was said to have had breakfast with Pesky earlier in the morning to tell him of the decision. Pesky was not at today’s conference.

Higgins said there was no opening at the present time in the Red Sox organization for Pesky. Pesky was not available for comment.



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