(Second in a three-part series)
Dwight Evans’ unexpected but warmly received memoir, “Dewey … Behind the Gold Glove”, is a searingly honest lifetime reflection by the former Red Sox star, coming mere months before the long-time Lynnfield resident and Salem Country Club member turns 73.
Following the example set by his dear friend and fellow North Shore neighbor, Carl Yastrzemski, Evans’ low-key retirement following the 1990 season and his desire for privacy had given Red Sox fans the impression no such book was in the works. But in large part due to the persistence of highly respected baseball historian Erik Sherman, as well as the tragic, premature deaths of sons Timothy and Justin — plus wife Susan’s recent near-death experience with a rare form of cancer — Evans made a realization.
“If I didn’t do this project now, I would never do it,” Evans, whom many baseball experts believe should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame, told The Salem News. “The memoir was three years in the making. To open myself up like this was intimidating, but worthwhile.”
Evans admitted he was “guarded” when dealing with the media while in uniform. “I didn’t want to talk to writers,” he said. But as he grew into a prominent member of the Red Sox star-studded rosters of the 1970s and 1980s, he became more open with them.
Former Salem News colleague Mike Grenier, who was on the Red Sox beat for most of Evans’ career, will never forget the stand-up manner in which Evans conducted himself after the gut-wrenching Game 6 defeat to the New York Mets at Shea Stadium in the 1986 World Series.
“Players made every effort to avoid the media after that game,” Grenier remembered. “But Dwight was ready for us and answered every question, including several from me after everyone else had walked away. Dwight didn’t have to do that but he did, the class act he was.”
Starting with his 13th season with the Red Sox and ending with his 18th season, Evans averaged 102 runs batted in per season. Among Red Sox players, he ranks fourth in career hits, extra base hits and doubles, fifth in home runs and runs batted in.
Evans wore No. 24 in honor of his favorite player growing up, Willie Mays, who also wore No. 24.
In 2025 Evans will celebrate his 44th year connected to the Red Sox, 19 as a player and 25 as a spring training instructor.
Evans gained the nicknamed Dewey from minor league manager Don Lock, who also had players on the team he already had nicknamed Huey and Louie. The nickname stuck.
Sons Justin and Timothy both were stricken, when toddlers, with neurofibromatosis, a rare genetic disorder that typically causes tumors of the nerves and growths in other parts of the body, including the skin. During their lifetimes they each endured more than 40 surgeries before Justin died in 2019 at age 42; Timothy died less than a year later at 47.
After making promises to Timothy after his son had just undergone a 12-hour eye operation, Evans delivered with two home runs the same game that very night.
Dwight listed Yastrzemski, who remains a summer North Shore resident; former Turner Hill member, Ipswich resident and Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley; Bill Buckner and Marty Barrett his closest buddies in his playing days. He called Don Baylor “one of my greatest teammates and friends.”
Without the extraordinary sacrifices wife Susan made in caring for their children (as well as daughter Kirstin) during his playing days, especially during those long road trips, Evans confessed his career would have been cut considerably shorter than the two decades he was an active player.