LEWISTON – The mementos – books, baseball cards and newspaper clippings – all remember the man whom reporters dubbed “Old Rough.”

Cartoons commemorate his fights at home plate with Detroit Tigers legend Ty Cobb, who was known for his savage play. And the texts describe the unimaginable.

After all, it’s been 86 years since the Red Sox won a World Series. And this man, Lewiston native Bill Carrigan, led the Sox to win it in two consecutive years, 1915 and 1916 .

“He was one of the most important managers in Red Sox history,” said Bob Pacios, an amateur historian who helped create the Auburn-Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame.

Carrigan hasn’t been forgotten.

Next month, the Lewiston man, who died in 1969, will be enshrined in the Red Sox Hall of Fame, alongside modern players such as Dennis Eckersley and Wade Boggs. His name even came up during Tuesday’s telecast of Game 3 of the World Series.

Until that win, he had been tied with the current manager, Terry Francona, for the most postseason wins by a Sox manager.

The men couldn’t have been more different, though.

“Bill Carrigan was a stern guy,” said Pacios. That’s what led newspaper writers to give him his “Rough” nickname. “He never backed down.”

Born on Oct. 22, 1883, Carrigan graduated from Lewiston High School in 1904. He was playing baseball for Holy Cross College when the Sox spotted him. Before the year ended, he was playing for the team.

In 1913, he became the manager, while continuing to play as catcher in some games. A year later, a rowdy rookie pitcher named Babe Ruth was added to the roster.

In 1915, the team won the World Series, defeating the Philadelphia Athletics. The next year, they duplicated the feat, defeating the Brooklyn Robins, who would later be called the Dodgers.

After the Series’ last game, Carrigan quit and returned to Maine.

He became the president of Peoples Savings Bank and was reluctant to speak about his baseball career.

“He was very tight-lipped,” said Pacios, who first met Carrigan in 1951. “He didn’t want to talk about it.”

Carrigan carried himself as a businessman and was a little intimidating.

“I never talked to him about baseball,” Pacios said. The lifelong fan of the game wanted to ask him questions, though.

“I would like to have asked him about Ruth,” he said.

Pacios guessed, however, that Carrigan would have had little patience for talk of a curse.

“He would have thought it was horse water,” Pacios said.