Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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Ben Cherington took over from Theo Epstein as general manager of the Boston Red Sox after the team's 2011 season. S uperlatives PEOPLE, CULTURE, STYLE VIEW FROM THE TOP a swing and a hit GENERAL MANAGER BEN CHERINGTON KNOWS THAT THE REBUILDING OF THE RED SOX IS LIKELY TO GO INTO EXTRA INNINGS. BY BILL LITTLEFIELD PHOTOGRAPHY BY JJ MILLER W hen I spoke with Ben Cherington in December, I had to ask. "2012 was tough," I said. "The Red Sox were awful. But was enduring the disaster made any easier by the fact that the Cubs were even worse?" Cherington laughed. Briefly, but he laughed. When Lou Gorman was the team's general manager, he used to laugh a lot. He could also make the sportswriters laugh. When Roger Clemens was holding out for more money during spring training several decades ago, Gorman was asked if he were concerned. "The sun will rise. The sun will set. And I will have lunch," he said. Cherington is no stand-up comic. He's unlikely to say anything like that. But I like to think that for a fragment of a moment, he saw the fun in the idea that he could have taken some solace from the failure of the Cubs. Last year's Red Sox were a dysfunctional collection of mismatched parts with nothing in common but their inclination to ignore Manager Bobby Valentine. But the Chicago team run by Theo Epstein, the guy who'd been Cherington's boss, lost 101 games. The Red Sox lost 93. But Cherington didn't laugh for long. "No," he said. And next he said, "We take our job seriously. We're not paying attention to other teams, continued on page 50 BOSTONCOMMON-MAGAZINE.COM 049-050_BC_SP_ViewFromTheTop_Spring13.indd 49 49 2/11/13 3:31 PM