Jerry Remy gets standing ovation for first pitch at Fenway Park (Video)

The Boston Red Sox honored former second baseman Jerry Remy, who ought to have his number retired at Fenway Park someday.

In baseball, first pitches are an honor offered to those who make a contribution to a city and inspire a fanbase.

Few are as honorable as Jerry Remy, the former Boston Red Sox second baseman and longtime color commentator for some of Fenway’s greatest games.

Remy, who is battling lung cancer, was driven out to the mound for what will be one of the more memorable first pitches in the history of Fenway Park.

Who threw out the first pitch tonight?

Former Red Sox second baseman Jerry Remy threw out the first pitch to kick off a bitter Wild Card playoff bout between the Red Sox and Yankees, which begins Tuesday night at Fenway Park.

Remy, who retired in 1984 after a ten-year MLB career, has had a place in the NESN broadcast booth since 1988. Since 2008, Remy has been announcing in the booth periodically between health-related absences, including a lengthy battle with lung cancer.

Jerry Remy cancer

Remy’s battle with cancer began in 2008, when the Red Sox icon developed a small cancerous growth on his lung due to decades of smoking cigarettes.

Afterwards, Remy struggled with pneumonia, then depression, before returning to the NESN broadcast booth in 2009. By 2013, Remy’s cancer relapsed, and it occurred again in 2017. On Aug. 4 2021, Remy announced that he would step away for the fourth time to undergo cancer treatment. His Oct. 5 pitch was thrown amid ongoing treatments.

Jerry Remy son

After the 2013 flare-up of cancer, Remy announced that he would leave the booth indefinitely for a different reason: his son had plead guilty to murder.

Remy’s son, Jared Remy, plead guilty to murdering his former girlfriend Jennifer Martel in 2014, per ESPN. Jared Remy insisted that his family thought of Martel as a fourth child, but Jared has a long history of violence and abuse toward former partners, according to a Boston Globe report. The other two Remy children, Jordan and Jenna, have each been charged with assault and battery on separate occasions.

Jerry Remy stats

Over ten years, Remy developed a stat card that once made him “the 100th greatest second baseman of all time” as of 2001, per Bill James.

Remy was a .275 career hitter, with 1,226 career hits, per baseball-reference. Remy logged seven home runs, 329 RBIs, and 208 stolen bases in his 1154 career games.

In 710 games with the Red Sox, he batted .286 with two home runs, 211 RBIs, and 98 stolen bases.