Jack Sanford: Wellesley’s World Series star
If you just can’t get psyched about this year’s World Series because of the lack of Red Sox, the rain or whatever, here’s a World Series-related story that Wellesleyites should be able to embrace: A new tribute site to the late John “Jack” Sanford, a Wellesley-born pitcher who helped lead the San Francisco Giants to the classic 1962 World Series.
We’ve created (with many thanks to Lisa M of Tech Tamer and the Sanford family) a webpage devoted to Sanford and we have some other things in the works to be mentioned later. We’ve written about Sanford on the site before, but in recent months we decided to make a more concerted effort to keep alive the memory of perhaps Wellesley’s most successful pro athlete.
Sanford pitched for Wellesley High in the 1940s, won Rookie of the Year honors for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1957 and then pitched three games for the Giants in what turned out to be an eventual loss to the Yankees in a 7-game World Series in 1962. While Sanford wasn’t quite a Hall of Famer, he played with Willie Mays and others who did make the Hall, and put together a solid career, finished with a lifetime record of 137-101.
Wellesley did honor Sanford back in 1963 with a special “night” and the Wellesley High baseball team used to recognize its top pitcher with the Sanford Award. We hope you enjoy this new tribute and encourage anyone with additional information to send it our way at theswellesleyreport@gmail.com, as we plan to update the site over time. We had limited access to photos, videos, etc. that can be republished on the page, so welcome access to additional resources and content.
