Games of Note: It's the last year of baseball during World War II, and Red Sox hurler Dave "Boo" Ferriss wins his 20th game of the season. Ferriss had spent the last two years in the military, but finally made his major-league debut in 1945 after he was discharged from the military for asthma. Ferriss became the star of the Sox' rotation, and was recognized as one of the league's better hurlers, finishing fourth in the MVP vote.
Ferriss was old-school pitch to contact, with a 1.1 K/BB and just over three strikeouts per nine innings, combined with the league-lead in hits allowed. This strategy worked for him for a few years, as he threw 757 innings with a 107 ERA+ during his first three years in Boston. Not everyone who averaged 250 innings a year for three straight seasons gets out of it in one piece, though, and Ferriss was no exception. A sore arm held him to just 115 frames in 1948, and then just 7-2/3 more for the rest of his major-league career.
Ferriss spent most of 1950 in the minors, as well as the entire 1951 and 1952 seasons, but he just wasn't the same, and called it quits following the '52 campaign at the age of 30.
Transactions: Okay, so it's not trading away nearly $300 million in contracts then getting back prospects in exchange, but this is more like your normal late-August transaction. Back in 2002, with the Red Sox seven games out from the first-place Yankees but just 3-1/2 back of the Mariners for the wild card, Boston claims Benny Agbayani on waivers, receiving him from the Colorado Rockies.
Agbayani, who wore #50 in honor of his home state of Hawaii, had shown some promise with the Mets under manager Bobby Valentine, but had hit just .205/.266/.350 in his first year with the Rockies. Agbayani had been part of a three-team deal that also sent Todd Zeile and cash to Colorado, while Lenny Harris and Glendon Rusch went out to Milwaukee. In return, the Mets received Jeromy Burnitz, Lou Collier, Jeff D'Amico, Mark Sweeney, and a different wad of cash from the Brewers, along with Ross Gload and Craig House from the Rockies. Colorado also received another Red Sox coach connected to Agbayani, Alex Ochoa.
Agbayani's time with Boston was short, and it was also his last stint in the majors. The 30-year-old would play 88 games for the Royals Triple-A club the next year, but then moved on to professional baseball in Japan, as one of the Chiba Lotte Marines. A name you might be familiar with due to a certain current Red Sox manager. Full circle!
Agbayani played there through 2009, and was finished at the age of 37. He was productive even at the end, as he posted on-base percentages of .368, .378, and .366 in his final three campaigns as a part-time player.
Birthdays: One-time Red Sox knuckler Charlie Zink turns 33 years old today. Zink pitched in just one game in the majors, giving up eight runs in 4-1/3 innings back on August 12 of 2008. His career didn't end until 2011, though, as Zink continued to toil in the minors, sticking with Boston for one more year before heading to Minnesota, then indy ball.