July 14, 2026
It’s time for the Major League Baseball All-Star break, so I thought I would mark the occasion by sharing a song I wrote several years back called “Diamond In The Rough” to honor the memory of Dave “Boo” Ferriss, long-time legendary baseball coach for Delta State University and two-time All-Star for the Boston Red Sox, where he was Rookie of the Year in 1945. During that historic 1945 rookie campaign, the right-handed pitcher from Shaw, Mississippi, posted a 21-10 record, threw five shutouts, and led the American League with 26 complete games.
Boo led the American League with a 25-6 record (.806 winning percentage) in 1946, and was the winning pitcher in the fourth game shutout of the 1946 World Series (4-0) vs the St. Louis Cardinals. His career win-loss percentage was .684, and he held the AL record for most consecutive scoreless innings to start a career (22 1/3), a record that stood for 63 years. He was indeed a gentleman and a ‘diamond in the rough.’
