Lester

BOSTON — Jon Lester didn’t hide the fact that he doesn’t know much about Tony Conigliaro.

Even though the Red Sox pitcher had to do his homework, Lester quickly realized he and the former Red Sox outfielder have something in common. Both faced adversity during their respective careers and because of Lester’s successful battle against cancer prior to the 2007 season, the 23-year-old left-hander has been named the recipient of the 18th Annual Tony Conigliaro Award.

The award is given to a major-league player who has overcome adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination and courage. Lester becomes the second Red Sox player to receive this honor since its creation in 1990, the year of Conigliaro’s death.

Lester received 51 points in the voting by the Baseball Writer’s Association of America followed by San Diego’s Doug Brocail with 24 points.

“It’s a great honor,” said Lester, who was at Fenway Park yesterday as part of the club’s off-season pitchers’ program. “I didn’t realize the names that were on there until the other day when John Blake [Red Sox vice president of media relations] sent me an e-mail telling me I received the award. To bring the award back to Boston is just another good thing about it.”

The plaque hangs in the hallway on the press level at Fenway Park and some of the names of past winners include: Jim Abbott (1992), Bo Jackson (1993) and Mike Lowell (1999).

Conigliaro’s promising career was cut short when he was hit in the face by a pitched ball on Aug. 18, 1967, at Fenway Park. The Massachusetts native missed the remainder of that season and was never the same after and retired in 1975.

Lester was diagnosed with a treatable form of anaplastic large-cell lymphoma in August 2006 and immediately began treatment. He returned to the Red Sox in time for spring training last winter and after rehabbing with the PawSox, he made his return to the majors on July 23 with a victory against the Indians at Cleveland.

He completed his storybook comeback with a victory in Game Four to help Boston win its second World Series title in four seasons.

Lester has tried — and succeeded — at putting his battle with cancer to rest. During the club’s recent World Series victory over the Rockies in a four-game sweep, the left-hander started and won the clinching game but not before reliving his health experience on an international stage.

He said prior to his start that he wanted to be known as Jon Lester the pitcher and not Jon Lester the cancer survivor. He hopes that this latest award will write the final chapter of his battle with cancer in order for everyone, including himself, to look ahead.

“I’m always going to have that title behind my name,” he said. “And, it’s going to be a question that always comes up, regardless. Hopefully now I can just go back to being me, being a normal pitcher and get questions about my pitching ability rather than what happened last off-season.”

With 2006 and 2007 in the rearview mirror, Lester is now hearing his name in public forum again. Only this time it involves trade rumors.

The Red Sox are seeking to obtain the services of Johan Santana, the two-time Cy Young Award winner for the Minnesota Twins and Lester’s name has surfaced as being part of a potential deal. It doesn’t faze him.

He said until general manager Theo Epstein calls to inform him that he’s no longer a Red Sox pitcher, Lester will just go about his normal routine and not worry about the business side of the sport.

“If it happens then it’s something you have to deal with at that point,” Lester said. “Most of the time it’s just speculation and hearsay your name is involved. . . I want to be a part of this organization as long as I can and hopefully I will be.”

Still, Lester said he considers it an honor to have his name mentioned in the same breath as Santana, but the Red Sox lefty wants to stay in Boston.

It’s been just over a month since the Red Sox won the World Series and Lester’s life is starting to calm done. He bought and moved into a new house in Atlanta, so that has taken up most of his free time. He said he really hasn’t had time to think about what his team accomplished last season.

“I’ve just been worried about what piece of furniture I’m buying next,” he said. “I’m trying to get that housed filled up, but hopefully in the next couple of weeks I’ll have time to sit down, reflect on it and it will sink in.”

Until pitchers and catchers report to spring training in Fort Myers in February, Lester just has one other thing he needs to do other than his normal workout.

“Eat a lot,” he said. “My main objective is to put on some weight.”

Maybe he’ll do a little reading on Tony C., too.

jmcdonal@projo.com