Nick Punto spent less than a season with the Red Sox, but his five months in Boston left him with memories for a lifetime.
The infielder spoke highly of the Red Sox organization and shared a few hilarious anecdotes about Dustin Pedroia from his time in Boston as a guest on Audacy’s The Bradfo Sho podcast.
“I was only there for one year – and that wasn’t even a whole year, that was five months – and that organization is just the cream of the crop,” Punto said of the Red Sox. “I come into town, let a few people know I’m in town, they take care of me like I was one of their players for 10 years. It truly amazed me. Me and my wife were just elated that they treated us like that. It’s just a special organization. Tip of the hat to John Henry and all the people in that front office. It truly is special.”
One of the most special parts of being in Boston for Punto was playing with Dustin Pedroia.
“I got to play with Dustin Pedroia, like that changed my life forever. I have more Dustin Pedroia stories to this day than any other player I’ve ever played with,” he said. Mind you, Punto played with guys like Jim Thome, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Albert Pujols, and Yadier Molina.
“I played with some unbelievable baseball players but I talk about Pedroia more than I talk about anybody,” Punto said.
After a particularly strong “Pedroia day” where he was “just doing Pedroia stuff,” the second baseman was already a bit fired up in the clubhouse and a wink from Punto gave him an extra boost.
“Ownership starts coming through the clubhouse, you know showing off, probably brought a couple friends in just to see the boys,” Punto said. “Pedroia starts screaming ‘Now’s your chance! Now’s your chance! If you want me it’s gonna cost you 100! If you want me it’s gonna be 100! But it’s not gonna last long!’ and I swear to you he signed within a week.”
Of course, Pedroia would go on to sign an eight-year, $110 million contract extension with the Red Sox.
“That guy is by far the funniest and most intense teammate I ever had,” Punto continued.
But that wasn’t all. Punto explained that Pedroia was the “number one” teammate most scared of flying throughout his career. And the Red Sox legend thought it was all coming to an end one night while flying west.
“One night, I think we’re going over the Rockies … it’s gnarly. We’re doing a knuckleball. The wings are going both ways. It’s scary for everybody. Well, Pedroia knows it’s over. In his mind he goes ‘this is it, we’re done.’
"He screams out ‘It doesn’t matter! I’m a career .300 hitter and the best second baseman in the league! Take it down!’” Punto relayed. “I lost it… He was trying not to be scared, so he just got loud. It was so good.”
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