A heavyset sinkerballer, Stanley led the ML in relief innings each year from 1981
to 1983, setting
an AL record with 168.1 relief innings in 1982. He is the Red Sox'
single-season (33 in 1983) and career (128 through 1988) saves leader. In the infamous
tenth inning of Game Six of the 1986 WS, Stanley's two-out wild pitch to Mookie Wilson
allowed the Mets to tie the score. In 1987, working primarily as a starter for the
first time since 1979, he was 4-15 with a 5.01 ERA.
(SCL)
FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
»August 28, 1978: The Mariners and Red Sox combine for 16 extra base hits in the Red Sox, 10-9 victory. The Sox, down 9–7 in the 9th, start a rally when Fred Lynn lines his 5th hit of the game. Lynn scores on an error and Butch Hobson drives home the winner with a 2-run double. Jim Rice hits his 34th homer, Jack Brohamer adds four hits, and Bob Stanley wins his 12th against one loss. The Sox lose Dwight Evans in the 7th when he is beaned by a Mike Parrott pitch, but X-Rays show no fracture however.
»September 29, 1978: Bob Stanley makes just his 3rd start of the year, shutting out the Blue Jays at Fenway, 11–0. Stanley has a one-hitter but Dick Drago takes over in the 7th as the two hurlers allow just three hits. Jim Rice's first inning double and 2nd inning single gives him 400 total bases for the year. He is the first player to reach that mark in the American League since Joe DiMaggio in 1937: Aaron had 400 in 1959. Lynn and Hobson both collect three hits.
»October 25, 1986: Trailing 5–3 with two out and no one on base in the bottom of the 10th inning, New York rallies to win game six of the World Series 6–5 and force a deciding 7th game. After Gary Carter, Kevin Mitchell, and Ray Knight single, Bob Stanley uncorks a wild pitch that permits the tying run to score, and a hobbled Bill Buckner lets Mookie Wilson's slow bouncer skip through his legs, allowing Knight to score the winning run. Reliever Calvin Schiraldi absorbs the loss.
»September 25, 1989:
The Red Sox say that they will not exercise their option on Jim Rice's contract next season, while Bob Stanley, the team's all-time save leader with 132, announces his retirement.