Full disclosure: Larry Lucchino and I have never seen eye-to-eye on very much.
Without getting into too many details, Lucchino, I'm guessing, believed me to be aligned with others in the organization with whom he sometimes feuded and our relationship, while on the surface civil, was often strained.
I wrote -- and said -- that he was too involved in some baseball matters and that his public comments were at times at odds with the truth as I knew it. Lucchino bristled at those stories and comments, as was his right.
I know of at least one instance in which he advised someone in the organization to not speak to me or cooperate with me.
The unease that exists between reporters and those whom they cover is unavoidable and not entirely uncommon. Indeed, it goes with the territory.
I'm not the only person in the media who has clashed with Lucchino and he's not the first person to object to my reporting or analysis.
That said, the news Saturday that Lucchino intends to step down from his dual titles of president and CEO of the Red Sox should be viewed for what it is: a sizable shakeup in the Red Sox ownership dynamic and the end of what has inarguably been the most successful era the franchise has known.
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Lucchino deserves plenty of credit for that, since he, as principal owner John Henry famously put it in a radio interview a few years ago, "runs the Red Sox.''
And run them he did, in his own inimitable style. Even his biggest detractors will acknowledge the huge role he played in the team's three championships, the restoration of Fenway Park and the continued building and polishing of the Red Sox brand.
Lucchino didn't make the trades or sign the free agents himself, but he had input into those decisions. And like any good executive, he made those underneath him accountable for their actions.
If a trade was being made, Lucchino wanted to know why, and he wanted to hear different voices. If you worked for Lucchino and wanted his permission to do something, you had better have done your homework. Lucchino would look at an issue from every conceivable angle and woe was the employee who didn't have all the answers to his probing questions.
Lucchino was a lawyer at heart, having trained under the late Edward Bennett Williams. Williams could be dramatic and relentless, and so, too, could Lucchino.
He could also be impossible to work for. On the morning of the 2004 World Series parade, Lucchino was overheard upbraiding Terry Francona in the manager's office after Francona told him the players were resisting ownership's request to wear commemorative jerseys for the parade.
"Can't you get these guys to do anything?'' thundered Lucchino to the man who had just directed those same players to a historic comeback against the Yankees and won the franchise its first title in 86 years.
No, Lucchino wasn't an easy person for whom to work. On his best day, he was overly demanding. But that was part of Lucchino's business style: to challenge everyone, expect excellence and settle for nothing less.
There were times, too, that Lucchino's style failed to serve the Red Sox' best interests. He alienated free agent Mark Teixeira on a visit to the the first baseman's house, essentially calling him a liar. He led the charge to lowball Jon Lester 16 months ago, paving the way for Lester's departure from Boston.
And in his most misguided move, he thought hiring Bobby Valentine -- against all evidence to the contrary -- was a good idea.
Not only was Valentine's tenure a disaster, but the move basically neutered new GM Ben Cherington, just weeks into his new position.
In recent years, Lucchino was elbowed aside in favor of Michael Gordon, who, in a stealth manner seldom associated with Lucchino, assumed a greater role in the team's business and financial matters.
Just how much Lucchino's receding influence had to with the team's downturn in performance the last two years will never be known. But the fact that, at
the very least, Lucchino's public voice has been muted may be all the evidence necessary.
Lucchino seldom kept his thoughts to himself, whether he was referring to the Yankees as the "Evil Empire'' or aiming his fire at an overzealous agent.
In the weeks and months ahead, the Red Sox will re-shuffle. They'll install the eminently capable Sam Kennedy as team president. It's possible that Tom Werner will assume the duties of CEO. And it's conceivable that the Red Sox will add a new position of president of baseball operations.
In other words, it may take three men to replace him.
That, ultimately, may be Larry Lucchino's most enduring legacy.