R.I.P. George Digby (1917-2014)

[mabrowndog]

The legendary scout and Red Sox Hall of Famer passed away Friday at age 96.
 

 
Digby, the first scout inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2008, worked in the organization for more than 60 years, most of it as a scout. In addition to [Wade] Boggs, Digby discovered Mike Greenwell, Jody Reed, Marc Sullivan and Tom Bolton. He was East Coast Scout of the Year in 1985 and is also a member of the Florida Scouts Hall of Fame. 
 
A plaque near the press box at Tropicana Field honors Digby, stating that he signed 53 players in a career that began in 1944. 
 
Digby urged Red Sox executives to go after Boggs despite some organizational reservations of Boggs' ability to make it as a major leaguer. Boggs was signed in 1976 and in 1982 began a Hall of Fame career in the majors that would include 3,010 hits. Digby was present at Tropicana Field when Boggs became the first player to homer for his 3,000th hit on Aug. 7, 1999.

 
Digby was also the guy who urged the Red Sox to sign Willie Mays, to no avail as his advice went ignored in one of the more shameful chapters of the franchise's history, as Gordon Edes reminds us:
 

 
"I had Willie Mays bought for $4,500," Digby told me when I interviewed him in 2005. "I called up the Red Sox. I said, 'I got Willie Mays. He'll break the color line.'" 
 
Digby, who had been a high school baseball coach in New Orleans, was the team's first full-time scout in the South, and in 1949 -- two years after Jackie Robinson broke the color line in major league baseball -- recommended a 17-year-old Mays, who was playing for the Birmingham Black Barons. The Sox had a minor league team in Birmingham, the Barons, that shared the same ballpark, Rickwood Field, with the Black Barons. 
 
Digby said he didn't know Sox GM Joe Cronin well enough at the time to make the call himself. 
 
"Eddie Glennon, the GM of our club in Birmingham, called Cronin," recalled Digby. "The owner of the Black Barons had told us we could have Mays for $4,500. I said, 'I'll be back to you by tomorrow.' Glennon had asked me, 'What do you think?' I said, 'I think he's a big leaguer.' We could have had Mays in center and [Ted] Williams in left. 
 
"Cronin sent another scout down to look at him, but [owner Tom] Yawkey and Cronin already had made up their minds they weren't going to take any black players." 
 
Digby called Mays the greatest prospect he'd ever seen. Did it break his heart, to see Mays get away? 
 
"Break my heart, when you can't do anything about it?" he said. "If I could have done something about it, it would have been different." 

 
As for the "another scout" Digby was referring to, here's what Howard Bryant wrote:
 

 
Mays recalled hearing that after a few days of inclement weather in Birmingham, the scout, Larry Woodall, told fellow scouts, "I'm not going to waste my time waiting on a bunch of n-----s."

 
MLB.com columnist Tracy Ringolsby detailed Digby's pursuit of Boggs:
 

 
Digby watched Boggs play shortstop for Plant City (Fla.) High School and was enamored with the "smooth swing.'' The Major League Scouting Bureau, however, had Boggs as a non prospect and the Red Sox weren't convinced he was big league material.
 
"Haywood Sullivan was the scouting director at the time, and he said, 'George, we have to take him off our list.'" Digby told the Boston Globe at the time of Boggs' induction. "I said, 'The hell with the bureau. Leave him on.' I didn't know about him being a shortstop, but he could hit."
 
Digby didn't take no for an answer, and the Red Sox took Boggs in the seventh round of the 1976 Draft. They signed him for a $7,500 bonus plus money for college, which Boggs never used. It took six years, however, for Boggs to make it to the big leagues, including one year when the Red Sox left him off the 40-man roster and won the gamble when no other team selected him in the Rule 5 Draft.

 
Digby with Bill Lee at the 2008 induction ceremonies:
 

 
The list of Digby signees also includes Bob Montgomery, Bob Tillman, Milt Bolling, Reid Nichols, Dalton Jones, Mike Smithson, Faye Throneberry, Jerry Moses, Norm Zauchin, Al Schroll, Guido Grilli, Pete Charton, Ken Wright, Sam Bowen, Lee Graham, Haywood Sullivan,Charlie Mitchell, Mike Rochford, John Mitchell, Steve Curry, Greg Blosser, and Gar Finnvold.
 

 

[mabrowndog]

George's obituary
 

 
George J. Digby, age 96 of Gallatin, Tennessee, formerly of Nashville, passed away Friday, May 2, 2014. 
 
Mr. Digby was an American scout and consultant in Major League Baseball. A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, George started his professional career in 1944. He was coaching high school baseball in his homeland when a Boston Red Sox executive came to sign his best pitcher, Dick Callahan. Mr. Digby helped young Callahan drive a hard bargain. The Red Sox paid out and, on the way to the train, also offered George a job.
 
After that, Mr. Digby worked in the Boston organization for more than 60 years, half a century as a scout, 14 more as a consultant. Throughout the years, he has tirelessly traveled the South looking for raw talent for the Red Sox. Among his finds were Red Sox Graduates Tom Bolton, Steve Curry, Mike Greenwell, Jody Reed and Marc Sullivan. But Digby put great emphasis on signing the future Hall of Famer Wade Boggs, as he fought hard to convince the team to draft the young man with the "smooth" swing after the Red Sox had reports that questioned Boggs' ability to be a Major League player. Finally, in 1976, Digby drafted Boggs in seventh round and signed him for $7,500 and a college scholarship. In 1999, Digby saw Boggs belt a home run for this 3,000th career-hit, becoming the first player in Major League history to enter the 3000 Hit Club by hitting a home run.
 
In 2008, Digby was selected for induction into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame, becoming the first scout to gain the honors. Digby is also in the Florida Scouts Hall of Fame. He was inducted in 2000 and his plaque is near the press box at Tropicana Field. The plaque shows that he has signed 53 Major League players. 
 
Funeral service for Mr. Digby will be Sunday, May 4 at 2 p.m. from the chapel of Alexander Funeral Home with Dr. Ron Carrier officiating. Interment will follow at Crestview Memory Gardens. Visitation will be Saturday, May 3 from 2-5 p.m. and Sunday, May 4 from 1 p.m. until time of service. 
 
Mr. Digby was born August 31, 1917 in New Orleans, Louisiana to the late George P. and Edna Grethe Digby. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Helen Bruce Digby of Gallatin; his son, George J. Digby, Jr (Kathy) of Louisiana; and daughters, Dianne Clark (Barry) of Maine, Eileen Brad (Larry) of Louisiana, and Joanne Marcotte (Gus) of Louisiana. 

 

[Ramon AC]

I loved this book as a kid, I hope I still have it around somewhere. I got it free when I was about eight from a small town library that was culling its collection.

The Willie Mays story turns my stomach.

 

[runnels3]

I loved this book as a kid, I hope I still have it around somewhere. I got it free when I was about eight from a small town library that was culling its collection.

The Willie Mays story turns my stomach.

 
Mine too. Hard to get past this after all these years. The Kid, Say Hey, and later Jackie in one outfield. Oh, man!!