BOSTON — The cool new nickname that’s been attached to the 2026 Boston Red Sox is “The Tracy Turnaround,” this as a nod to interim manager Chad Tracy. And what a turnaround it’s been, with the Sox climbing back into postseason contention by going 21-4 in July and winning a franchise-record-tying 15 straight games.
Naturally, what these Red Sox are doing — including a nine-game winning streak in August — has invited favorable comparisons with the 1988 Red Sox. Those Red Sox are remembered for their “Morgan Magic” and how longtime organization man Joe Morgan replaced salty John McNamara as manager at the All-Star break and guided the reinvigorated Sox to 12 straight victories and 19 out of 20.
Yes, the 1988 Red Sox went only as far as the first round of the playoffs, which in those days was the ALCS. They were wiped out in four straight by the Oakland Athletics, whose own championship dreams would pretty much be dashed the moment the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Kirk Gibson limped to the plate and socked a pinch-hit, two-run, walk-off home run off Dennis Eckersley in Game 1 of the World Series.
Joe Morgan took over as manager at the 1988 All-Star break and guided the reinvigorated Red Sox to 12 consecutive victories and 19 out of 20. (Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
As for these 2026 Red Sox, their story is yet to be written. But however their season ends, whenever it ends, wherever it ends, Morgan has some advice for Chad Tracy: Go home and build an addition to your house.
“That’s what we did,” Morgan, 95, told me during a telephone conversation. “Added a room right off the front door. We called it the ‘Morgan Magic Room.’”
You have to understand Morgan’s background to truly understand why that room was, and remains, so important. Born and raised in Walpole, Mass., about 20 miles south of Fenway Park, Morgan was a blue-collar kid with a thick Boston accent who was good enough in hockey and baseball to play both sports at Boston College. His baseball skills got him a tryout with the Boston Braves, whose manager, Charlie “Jolly Cholly” Grimm, grabbed a fungo bat on a hot summer afternoon in 1952 and slapped grounder after grounder at the 21-year-old infielder. Grimm was told the kid could hit; he wanted to see if he could play the field. Morgan was pretty good, actually. The Braves signed him on the spot, lest the Red Sox step in with a better offer.
And then Morgan spent the next three decades beating the bushes. He did make it to the big leagues with the Braves, but that was in 1959 and the club was based in Milwaukee by then. He also got some time with the Kansas City Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Indians and St. Louis Cardinals. It all added up to just 88 games in the bigs. Morgan played 13 seasons in the minors, and then spent another 16 seasons riding buses as a manager, including nine seasons running Boston’s Triple-A Pawtucket club.
Money was tight, but by 1959 he and his wife, Dottie, had saved enough money to buy a house in Walpole. “Got it for $16,200,” Morgan told me. And yet according to Bill Ballou, the retired longtime baseball writer for the Worcester Telegram and one of Morgan’s closest friends, Joe didn’t know he was a homeowner until the season ended. “He was coming home after the season ended and Dottie told him, ‘Oh by the way, we bought a house,’” Ballou said.
With a family to raise, and with minor-league paychecks going only so far, Morgan spent many offseasons driving a snowplow on the Massachusetts Turnpike.
The Red Sox added him to the big-league coaching staff in 1985. Three years later, after McNamara was fired, Morgan was more or less asked to mind the shop for a few days as interim manager until a new skipper could be hired. But then the Red Sox won a few games. And then a few more after that. When it got to seven in a row, the Red Sox decided they had their manager. The word “interim” was scrubbed.
According to one media report, Morgan’s new deal for 1988 was “an estimated $60,000-$75,000 on top of his $40,000-$45,000 coach’s pay.” That may not sound like big money by today’s standards, but it was big, big money for Joe and Dottie Morgan. In their eyes, they had hit the jackpot after years of pinching pennies.
So they splurged. They added a room to the house. The “Morgan Magic Room.”
“That’s where he watches the Red Sox every night,” Ballou said. “He has a very comfortable chair to sit in while watching the games, and he follows the team very closely. He remains very, very alert to what’s going on.”
Dottie died in 2016. The man known as “Walpole Joe” soldiers on, still living in the same house Dottie closed on in 1959, still watching Red Sox games in the “Morgan Magic Room.”
“The memorabilia he has in that room is endless,” Ballou said. “My favorite piece is a photograph of him and Muhammad Ali.”
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Asked to assess the 2026 Red Sox, Morgan said he’s “impressed.” As for Boston’s interim manager, Morgan said, “I have not had the pleasure to meet the man, but he knows what he’s doing, that’s for sure. They’re playing for him.”
Tracy and his wife, Emily, have a home in Fairfield, Ohio, where they’re raising their two kids. Does Morgan think there’s a “Tracy Turnaround Room” in Chad and Emily’s future?
“I hope so,” Morgan said. “And now’s the time to do it.”
