Jerry Remy, another Boston Red Sox player who became a favorite of Red Sox Nation fans as a team broadcast analyst in the last 34 years, died on Saturday. He was 68 years old.
The cause was cancer, the Red Sox said. They did not say where he died.
Remy has been on leave since early August with the publication of color comments at NESN, the New England Sports Network, when he completed his seventh in a series of lung cancer treatments, first diagnosed in 2008.
He spoke out against smoking.
“I started smoking when I was 16,” Remy said in a 2019 interview in the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. “My saying is, ‘Don’t pick up the first one because the last one is really hard to put down.'”
Remy’s last appearance at Fenway Park was on Oct. 5, when he was wheeled to the home plate before the American League playoff game with a wild card against the Yankees and threw the first ball.
Gerald Peter Remy was born on November 8, 1952 in Fall River, Mass., And grew up in nearby Somerset. He attended Roger Williams College (now Roger Williams University) in Bristol, RI
Remy was selected by the California Angels in 1971, joined their lower league system, played for the Angels from 1975 to 1977, then was replaced by the Red Sox and spent seven seasons with them.
In 1978, he was selected for the AL All-Star team and finished the season with an average of 0.278 hits and 30 stolen bases. In September 1981, he had six goals in a 20-inning game against the Seattle Mariners. He was also an outstanding defensive player.
Remy retired from baseball after missing the 1985 season due to a knee injury. The left-hander, with a light frame at 5 feet 9 inches and 165 pounds, had a career average of 0.275 strokes with seven home runs and 208 stolen bases. But his teams never reached the off-season.
Remy’s family life was marked by tragedy. In August 2013, his son Jared was arrested to death by stabbing his girlfriend Jennifer Martel. They had a daughter, Arianna Remy, who was 4 years old at the time. Jerry Remy said he felt “disgust and regret,” the rest of the season he sat down, and then returned to the show booth in 2014.
Jared Remy pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Jerry Remy was survived by his wife Phoebe; their children, Jenna, Jordan and Jared; and two grandchildren.
Remy was hired by NESN to air Red Sox games in 1988. Known for his humorous personality, he was nicknamed RemDawg and was elected by online fans as the first president of the Red Sox Nation fan club at the end of the 2007 season.
“When you listened to him, it was like drinking beer with your best friend, and his insight, humor and charm lifted your spirits,” said Tom Werner, president of the Red Sox.
In the second tribute, David Ortiz, a retired Red Sox mass actor, thanked Remy for giving him the nickname Big Papi.
Remy hoped that after retiring as a player he would become a coach or occupy some other position in organized baseball.
“To end up in this career was never a formula,” Remy said in 2017 when he was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame. “Then I got the job. I was scared to death. I had no idea what I was doing. And for the first two years, I prayed for rain because I hated myself. I mean, I couldn’t stand in the air. It was awful.
“But thank God I stayed with it because it was one of the best things I’ve ever done.”