Red Sox All-Star pitcher Bill Monbouquette dies at 78

BOSTON - Bill Monbouquette, an All-Star pitcher who threw a no-hitter and had a 20-win season for his hometown Boston Red Sox, has died. He was 78.

Monbouquette died Sunday at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston due to complications from leukemia, the Red Sox announced Monday.

Monbouquette spent more than 50 years in professional baseball as a player, coach and scout. He was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2000.

Born and raised in nearby Medford, the right-hander was signed by Boston in 1955 and made his Red Sox debut three years later at age 21. He was selected to four All-Star teams, starting for the American League in 1960, and pitched a no-hitter in Chicago for a 1-0 win against the White Sox on Aug. 1, 1962.

Monbouquette spent the first eight of his 11 major league seasons with the Red Sox. He went 20-10 with a 3.81 ERA for Boston in 1963 and also pitched for the Detroit Tigers (1966-67), New York Yankees (1967-68) and San Francisco Giants (1968). He finished with a 114-112 record and a 3.68 ERA.

Affectionately nicknamed ''Monbo,'' he set a Red Sox record by striking out 17 batters in a 2-1 victory over the Washington Senators on May 12, 1961. The mark stood until Roger Clemens established a major league record with 20 strikeouts in a 1986 game against Seattle.

Monbouquette ranks seventh on the Red Sox career list with 96 wins and often visited Fenway Park in recent years, the team said.

After his playing career ended, he spent 38 years as a coach and scout with the Yankees, New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays, and Tigers. He was the Mets' pitching coach from 1982-83, and retired from baseball in 2005 following six consecutive seasons as a pitching coach in the Tigers' system.

Monbouquette lived in Medford until moving to Gloucester in recent years. He is survived by his wife, Josephine, and three children, Marc, Michel, and Merric, as well as three grandchildren, the Red Sox said.

Funeral arrangements were pending.