Fred Lynn became a Red Sox icon 50 years ago this summer.

His 1975 season was so spectacular that he became Major League Baseball’s first player to share Rookie of the Year and AL MVP honors in the same season. He remains part of a Boston Baseball Holy Trinity — with Jim Rice and Dwight Evans — that formed the best Red Sox outfield since World War II.

Lynn was a 9-time All Star. But he played more games for teams not named the Red Sox — Angels, Orioles, Tigers, Padres — than he did for Boston. He was part of a multi-player trade with California after the 1980 season that brought Joe Rudi and Frank Tanana to Boston.

A youthful-looking 73, Lynn remains grateful for his days as a pro ballplayer. He still connects with fans in Anaheim, Baltimore, Detroit, and San Diego. But it was his time in Boston and with those Red Sox teams of the 1970s that defined his career.

Lynn now lives with his wife Natalie in Carlsbad, California, in the hills nestled between Los Angeles and San Diego. His days are filled with long walks, rounds of golf, and keeping tabs on the Red Sox. On Opening Day this year, he reunited with his former teammates.

Never did three 70-something outfielders look so ready to play.

“Well, Dwight, Rooster (Rick Burleson) and I are all California guys, and it’s required. Jimmy looks good, too,” Lynn said.

This being Father’s Day, Lynn has been swamped these past few weeks making videos for Cameo. For $75, fans can get a personalized video greeting from Lynn offering his best wishes, encouragement or whatever else one desires (within reason).

“We’re very busy this week with Father’s Day coming up,” Lynn said. “I’ve made about 1,400 of these videos. And about 90% of them are for Red Sox fans.”

During a season in which the 1975 Red Sox have become a staple, Lynn’s No. 19 returned to the spotlight when it was bestowed on rookie phenom Roman Anthony.

Lynn spoke to the Herald at length on Tuesday about multiple topics concerning the Red Sox, including Anthony.

“I hope it works out well for him. That number was really good for me, and I hope it’s good to him,” Lynn said. “He knows what he could do.”

The fanfare or hype — or lack thereof — when Lynn first came up to the major leagues, in contrast to today’s highly publicized prospects. Today’s players like Anthony reach the majors after much media coverage, elevating expectations.

What was the atmosphere when Lynn finally reached the majors on Sept. 5, 1974?

“Jimmy was in the organization a few more years than I was, they’d seen him come up through the ranks. He tore them up in the minor leagues. I was a professional a very short time before I got to the big leagues, so they knew about me in college and even though I had a very good college career, there was no TV back then. I never did an interview, so there was no fanfare whatsoever,” Lynn said. “It was my advantage and not theirs because I could see what the picture was showing, but he didn’t know what I could do.”

For Lynn, playing in the minors meant bad lighting and a short foul pole in right at the late McCoy Stadium that cost him home runs.

“When I was in the minors, guys would throw strikes and the lighting sucked, the field sucked, and I got to the big leagues. I could see that the guys were throwing strikes. I thought, ‘Well this is better.’”

Lynn wasn’t shy with his thoughts on Raffy Devers, who was moved off third base in spring training only to be asked again to move to first after being slotted as the DH.

“His offensive numbers speak for themselves. He doesn’t have to worry about playing third base. Now all he has to work on is hitting,” Lynn said. “When I was asked to DH, it felt at first like you’re pinch-hitting four times. I had to quit thinking like that. You’re in the game. You’re going to get four or five at-bats, so just play the game like you normally would. It’s not that hard. If you get a hit, you always feel good. You’re not tired. You’re not winded. You’re not cold. You’re not hot. You didn’t boot a ball in the outfield or in the infield. You’re just hitting. And if you can hit, oh my God, it’s a nice position once you wrap your head around it mentally, and I think he’s done that, man. He should do really, really well there.”

Lynn had no issue with changing positions — to a point.

“I would volunteer to play another position in the outfield — left, right or center. You’d have to learn the angles. If I could help the team by doing that, then that’s what I would do. But if you don’t feel comfortable with it, and he’s already been moved, pushed once from third to DH, and now they said DH to first, well wait a minute. DH or first? What do you want me to do? These are mental gymnastics you have to go through. Could he play first? Yeah, probably because he can catch the ball. So I think he probably could do it. I’m not sure how that’s going to play out.”

Lynn is not fully sold on Triston Casas, who is out for season due to an injury.

“Boston’s long-term first baseman is going to be a question,” Lynn said “Casas swings and misses too much. That has to go away. Otherwise, he’s not going to be the answer either. He’s got to tighten up that swing. He could be a positive influence on the team there. But if he doesn’t, then they’re going to have to look for a long-term solution to that.”

The Red Sox organization’s slavish devotion to analytics has a downside, Lynn said.

“In spring training. They had a big flap because Jimmy apparently was talking to one of the hitters, and then one of the batting instructors sort of got in the way. I would never do that because it’s not my position.

If a player asked for my advice, I’d be more than happy to tell him what I think about his approach, what he’s doing, what he’s seeing. But I would not volunteer because I’m not being paid to do that. And they don’t even know me,” Lynn said.

But Rice is a fixture both in Fort Myers, and with the Red Sox all season at Fenway Park and on NESN.

“Jimmy’s there all the time and Jimmy sees something and says, ‘Yeah, you want to try this.’ If somebody gave him grief? Are you kidding? That’s Jimmy Rice, man. He knows how to hit. If he’s going to give me some advice, I’m going to be all ears.”

When it comes to excuses for their subpar performance this season, injuries carry only part of the blame, Lynn said.

“That’s always difficult when you lose frontline guys like (Alex) Bregman. That’s a big deal. Your right-handed pop. If (Trevor) Story starts to hit for power, then that alleviates some of that issue. But that’s a big gaping hole. And then you bring up young guys, and I’m fine with that, especially if you’re going to be like a .500 club, get these guys up here and let’s see what they can do, especially defensively.”

For Lynn (and many others) it’s pitching and defense.

“Two things that the Red Sox have to do immediately. They have to play better defense, period. And they need to pitch better,” Lynn said. “This team can hit. They score runs. That’s not the issue. The issue is defense and keeping the ball in the park”

Recording 27 outs is challenging enough. “You can’t give away outs, especially in Fenway Park. You can’t survive. You don’t have to make great plays all the time, but you have to make all of the routine plays to help your pitching staff. And if the defense tightens up, maybe the pitchers can relax a whole little bit. Maybe pitchers now feel like they have to make a perfect pitch to get guys out?”

One possible root of Boston’s pitching woes is endemic across baseball, Lynn said.

“The philosophy of pitching across the whole game has to change. Instead of trying to throw as hard as you can, how about throwing quality strikes with movement that get guys out? That works. Throw more strikes. Keep the ball in the ballpark. Catch the ball.”

And for Lynn, that personal contact between teammates when it comes to “x’s” and “o’s” in the game itself is a lost art.

“In today’s game, and it’s been going on for quite some time, they’re so wrapped up in videos and statistics and those kinds of things. They forgot to just go out to a bar and have a couple of beers and sit around and just talk about it. What are the other guys thinking? You’d be surprised when you talk to really good hitters about what they’re thinking, how they’re trying to set up pitchers. And it’s really quite entertaining, too, even for me to talk to some of my guys that I played against,” Lynn said.

Less FaceTime and more face time.

“We’d sit around, we’d start talking and just kind of pick their brain, well, what’d you think about when you face this guy? What were you trying to do? So those kinds of things. We used to do that all the time, especially if we’re having some trouble with a certain pitcher. And if I can get some sort of information that might help me, I could look at videos so I’m blue in the face, but that’s not going to help me. I’m hearing it from another player, my teammate. That resonates for me.”

“But that was then. Today is different. So who am I to criticize what they do?”

Lynn is proud of the fact that he and his teammates never needed to pull a note card out of his pocket to identify where to play for each different batter. His job in center field was to oversee the defense.

“Your eyes tell you what you should be doing. You should be watching your pitcher. If he’s hitting his spots and you can see that hitters are late on swings, you play the hitter the other way. Or if your pitcher’s missing, you played deeper into the alleys. You can see this. You shouldn’t be having to be told by looking at a sheet. You have your own computer,” Lynn said.

The perspective from center field was all he needed.

“I could really see what was going on with my pitchers. When the pitchers are behind in the count a lot, you better back up because you’re going to float one over the middle and guys are going to hit it. And conversely, if your guy’s on, you can tell he’s on, well then, OK, I might move in a little bit. If I’m playing right field against a left-handed hitter, I don’t think he’s getting it over my head. They’re not getting good swings, so I’m going to move in. I don’t care what the cheat sheet says. That’s not today. That’s history. That’s not today. Today is different.”

And he happily served as the eyes for his teammates.

“If the catcher sets up to throw outside and my guy’s missing over the middle. I would whistle for Dewey. If I’m going to move over towards Jimmy in left center, I’ve got to pull Dewey with me. I’d wave him over like 20 feet. I make that call because we’re going off of what I see. And so if I see everything as copacetic where they are, I don’t say anything. We had a good working relationship. We knew each other’s game. They knew I was going to get balls in the gap. So we were pretty tight that way. In today’s game, they just all do their own thing.”

(Contact: @BillSperos and @RealOBF on X and bsperos1@gmail.com).