Torey Lovullo certainly left his mark on the Red Sox during his time in the organization.
After managing a good chunk of what would turn into the team's foundation while guiding Triple-A Pawtucket, he went on to serve as John Farrell's bench coach for the World Series-winning 2013 club and eventually got a shot at managing his own club when the Diamondbacks hired him heading into the 2017 season. He would win the National League Manager of the Year in that first campaign.
Appearing on the Bradfo Sho podcast, Lovullo explained that it was all a path that started thanks to one misstep at the legendary night club Studio 54.
After being taken by the Tigers in the fifth-round of the 1987 Draft, Lovullo made his big-league debut on September 10 the following year for a Detroit team that was thick in the middle of the American League East pennant race.
At the time, he wasn't asking questions, keeping to himself while going on to hit .381 in his 12 appearances for a Tigers club that finished one game behind the Red Sox. But ultimately he found out the reason for the unexpected introduction to the big leagues.
Star second baseman Lou Whitaker had hurt his knee dancing at Studio 54.
"It was September baseball," Lovullo recalled on the podcast. "I was in my first full season in the minor leagues. I had just been drafted the year prior and I migrated all the way to Triple-A. I was just a consistent baseball player. I didn't do anything great but I put the bat on the ball. I went home for the offseason as a non-roster player and about three days, four days after my journey across country I get a phone call saying that they need me in New York because the Tigers are in a pennant race and they lost their second base. I didn't hear why.
"Remember, at that time AP and UPI, that's the only way -- and the daily newspaper - of getting your information. There's no computer or cell phones where you could pick it up and find out what's going on. I get on a plane the next day. I head to New York. I get welcomed by Spark (Anderson) and he pulled me into the old office in Yankee Stadium and said, 'You can call yourself a big-leaguer. You're going to have your own baseball card. Your life and this world is totally different as you know it. But here are my simple demands and if you do this we won't have a problem.' End of story. That was it.
"Then I'm trying to figure out who is who. I've been watching these guys on TV forever. That's Alan Trammel. That's Jack Morris. And I don't see Lou Whitaker. Look, I didn't a word for the entire month I was there. I didn't even talk. I started to hear that Lou Whitaker was placed on the disabled list with a bruised knee. I found out about two weeks later after I started to hit the ball and people started to talk to me, they told me Lou was out at Studio 54 dancing and made some sort of a dance move and banged up his knee and that was the reason for the need for a second baseman. I have a lot of thanks to give to Lou Whitaker. It turned out as good as it possibly could have and is something we can laugh about now, but at the time it was very serious because we were in a pennant race."
On the podcast, Lovullo also discusses how managing in the major leagues has evolved, passing along some of the challenges Alex Cora might face going from his second to third year as the Red Sox' skipper.