FORT MYERS, Fla. – Chad Epperson is entering his 25th year as coach, teacher, mentor and manager. All with the Boston Red Sox.
And this April will be Year 5 as manager of the Red Sox Double-A team, the Portland Sea Dogs, which is three years longer than the norm.
“These have been the best years of my life,” said Epperson, who has resided in Andover and Derry, N.H. for nearly two decades. “This organization has done so much for me and my family. I’ve loved every day, really, every day.”
Epperson said he owes this rare experience, including more joy than he could ever imagine, the quarter-century Red Sox experience, to one man – Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski.
And that story began in spring of 1997, soon after he signed as a free agent catcher.
“I had realized that this was it for me,” recalled Epperson. “I had just done the Indy ball thing. I had just gotten married.”
As spring training was nearing the final stretch, about 10 days remaining, Epperson met with the minor league coordinator looking for answers.
“I wanted to know what my chances were with sticking with the organization,” recalled Epperson. “I could see the writing on the wall. I was told, ‘Honestly, five guys will have to get hurt.’ I appreciated the truth.”
Epperson realized the chances that would happen were slim and none. So, he decided, those final 10 days or so were going to be most fun days of his career.
It was one of those final, nondescript spring training days, Epperson saw a few guys taking some extra batting practice. And he was asked if he wanted in.
“Like I said, I was going to have fun, enjoy every minute, and I jumped in for swings,” recalled Epperson. “All of sudden, a golf cart pulls up and there’s a guy in a nice suit and another in full uniform, watching.”
The guy in uniform was Yastrzemski.
“He apparently liked what he saw. He made some comments about it,” recalled Epperson. “Yaz asked me how I did the year before (with Lafayette in 1996). I told him I hit .336. After we were done he said was going to talk to few people in the organization.”
A day later, Epperson was told by the farm director to “Forget everything I told you … You’re starting today.”
Epperson was floored.
He ended up playing three more seasons – 133 games in High-A Sarasota and 167 games in Double-A Trenton – before becoming a free agent after the 1990 season.
Epperson did return to Indy ball, playing for the nearby Nashua Pride in 2000 before getting another 10 games with the Orioles Double-A team in Bowie, Md.
The baseball “lifer” got his coaching start for Cook County of the independent Frontier League in 2001.
A year later, because of his three years with the Red Sox and his connection with baseball people – basically, everybody loves “Eppy” – he was offered a job as hitting coach in 2002 with the Red Sox Florida Coast League team.
“It’s crazy how life is,” said Epperson. “If I don’t take extra batting practice and Yaz doesn’t show up to watch, I’m not here right now.”
Funny, when Epperson returned to the Red Sox he ran into Yaz during a spring training workout.
“Yaz told me he was surprised I didn’t make it to the Big Leagues,” said Epperson. “That meant a lot, but honestly, I told him I was happy to be where I was, coaching and teaching, with this organization. It was what I was meant to do and this is where I was meant to be. And I can thank Yaz for it.”
You can email Bill Burt at bburt@eagletribune.com. You can follow him on “X” at @burttalkssports.