February 13, 2004 – Born in Brooklyn on June 27, 1943, Americo Peter Petrocelli was the youngest of seven children of Italian immigrants. Signed out of high school in 1961 by the Boston Red Sox, by 1965 he was their starting shortstop at age 21. Unlike the typical slick-fielding, light-hitting shortstops of the era, Petrocelli was a power hitter, twice finishing in the top five in home runs in the American League. In 1969 he set an AL record for shortstops by hitting 40 home runs, a record that stood until 1998 and remains the single-season record for Red Sox shortstops. That same season he tied the record, since broken, for the fewest errors by a shortstop and finished seventh in the MVP vote. Then, when he moved to third base in 1971 following the arrival of future Hall of Fame shortstop Luis Aparicio, he set a then-major-league record for third basemen with 77 straight games without an error.

In 1967, beginning with a three-run homer on opening day, he played a key role in the “Impossible Dream” season of 1967, when the Red Sox won the pennant after finishing in ninth place the previous year, an event that is credited with launching a new era of success and popularity for the struggling franchise. In his 13 years with Boston, the two-time All-Star hit 210 home runs with 773 RBIs. After his playing career ended in 1976 he became a Red Sox broadcaster, then managed in the minor leagues for four years between 1986 and 1992. Petrocelli was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1997. Since 2013 he has been the co-host, along with Ed Randall, of Sirius XM Radio’s “Remember When” broadcast.