FORT MYERS, Fla. – In an effort to improve their future, the Boston Red Sox ownership group has reached out to some helping hands from the past.

It doesn’t seem to matter that many of Boston’s current crop of young, unproven rookies who will toil at the Single-A and Double-A levels this spring weren’t even born when Boston legends such as Carl Yastrzemski, Frank Malzone and even Dwight Evans were winding up their playing days with the Red Sox. Fundamentals are still fundamentals, hitting is still an inexact science, and many of the same problems and pressures players dealt with in the past remain.

And that’s where a new group of instructors called player development consultants come in with a wealth of knowledge for young players.

But that’s not their only selling point. Players such as Malzone, Yastrzemski, Evans and Tommy Harper – as well as special assignment instructors like Johnny Pesky, Jim Rice and Luis Tiant – provide a bridge between the past and present while affirming the rich Red Sox tradition few other teams can match.

“What this new administration has done is bring back players and tradition, and they’re building on it,” said Red Sox Hall of Famer Evans, who earned eight gold gloves and three All-Star selections in 19 seasons with Boston.

“Every time we’d go to play the Yankees at Fort Lauderdale in spring training, you’d see Mickey Mantle and Yogi [Berra] out there rubbing shoulders with the players and that’s important. Now the Red Sox are doing the same thing and we’re seeing the benefits of this,” Evans added.

The Sox are seeing it in terms of the quality and quantity of good, young players in their minor league system.

“I think in 2001 or 2002, we were ranked 29th in baseball in the minor league system. I’m guessing now we’ve got to be the top 10 or 12 right now,” said Evans, now in his third season as a consultant after serving as Boston’s hitting coach in 2002. “In the first two rounds this year, we have six picks in the first 60. If we come out of there with some decent players, it could turn this whole organization around.”

It’s hard to imagine any young player who wouldn’t want to talk fielding with Evans, hitting with Triple Crown winner Yastrzemski or slugger Rice, or pitching with Tiant.

“I think it’s a great trend to have veteran players around you – just for kids to see us,” said Malzone, a Red Sox Hall of Fame member who was an All-Star eight times and a gold glove winner three times in 11 seasons with the Sox. “If they want to talk to us, fine. If they don’t, that’s their problem. We can give them knowledge on the way the game should be played.”

Some say the strategy is long overdue.

“It’s about time. I can remember four or five years ago, myself and Charlie Wagner were the only two people down here who ever played for the Red Sox,” said Yastrzemski. “There are only a few of us who saw what our minor leagues became and are now seeing it get built up again. This year is the first time that I’ve seen our kids as big or bigger than the other teams who come in here.”

Evans can barely conceal the satisfaction and contentment he gets out of his job.

“I’ll tell you, I’m having fun. This is where I want to be. I’m happy where I am,” said Evans, who will visit players on each of Boston’s farm teams this season. “You get to see and work with all the kids. Our knowledge and being around the game as much as we have, it allows us to work with them on hitting and fielding.”

Malzone, who has attended spring training either as a player or scout or consultant for the last 57 years, comes to spring training for three weeks. The longtime Needham, Mass., resident also attends games in Boston, Pawtucket and Portland.

“I’m just observing the infielders and trying to do little things with them,” Malzone said. “I don’t want to get too involved because that’s what the younger instructors are here for. Their preparation is important and I like to watch third basemen because that’s what I played.

“I try to make it as simple as possible to play it at their age. And the more they play, the more they can learn what they can do and what they can’t do.”

A Hall of an injustice

The recent controversy over the use of steroids and testing in professional baseball may have at least one positive side effect. The sudden attention paid to steroids and their possible inflationary effect on hitting statistics, specifically home runs, in recent years may benefit Jim Rice.

“I was just talking about that, about why Jimmy’s not in the Hall of Fame. I truly think it’s because of the inflated numbers from steroids,” said former Sox star outfielder Evans. “I look at when I left the game, I was 29th all-time in home runs. In the last 13 years, I’ve been passed by 20 guys, so you can see the inflated numbers at work.”

Rice, who has had lukewarm support for enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame despite being one of the most feared sluggers of the late 1970s and early ’80s, is finding his support on the upswing.

Some say it’s about time.

“Jim should have been in a long time ago. Three guys, him number one, should have been voted in already,” said Yastrzemski. “I don’t think enough consideration has been given to Tiant and Evans either. Check Tiant’s numbers and Evans’ and they deserve to be considered, but there’s no doubt about Rice.”

Evans couldn’t agree more, and he discounts any lingering voter dislike of Rice simply because of his perceived anti-media attitude.

“I don’t think his problems with the press are an issue. Most of the guys who vote now didn’t cover him, and it may be more of a problem that the ones who are around didn’t see him play,” Evans said. “He definitely belongs, I think, in the Hall of Fame.”

More than 2.4 million served

With Red Sox home opener looming April 11, Boston had already sold 2.4 million tickets for the 2005 season as of March 12. Never before had the club reached that mark that early. A few hundred are still available between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. by calling 1-877-REDSOX9 or going online at www.redsox.com. Fans can also call a 24-hour touch tone ticketing phone service by calling 617-482-4SOX.

As of March 12, Boston had sold 2,400,291 tickets, putting them 5.9 percent ahead of where the team was in ticket sales a year ago. Season ticket holders renewed at a rate of 99 percent and the Sox have sold out both their 10th Man mini-season tickets as well as all group tickets.

The Red Sox shuffle

The Boston Red Sox have used a total of 80 different players in spring training games this spring, not including scrimmages and simulated games. Fifty of those are position players with the rest being pitchers. Of the 58 players who started the spring in camp, only three have yet to see any action. Only two (pitchers Wade Miller and Curt Schilling) are injured. The other is Chris Smith, who was recently optioned to the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs.

Changes in latitude

Game time temperature for Tuesday night’s spring training game at City of Palms Park was 80 degrees with slightly overcast skies. At the same time in Boston, the temperature was 42 degrees.

Sox deal for Neal

The Red Sox traded outfielder Adam Hyzdu to the San Diego Padres on Tuesday for right-handed pitcher Blaine Neal. Neal, who turns 26 April 6, has made 94 career major league relief appearances for Florida (2001-03) and the Padres (2004) while posting a 4-1 record and 4.62 ERA. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Neal has allowed 126 hits and 39 walks with 82 strikeouts in 101 1/3 innings.

The 33-year-old Hyzdu was Pawtucket’s player of the year and an International League all-star last year after batting .301 with 29 homers, 79 RBIs and 92 runs scored in 129 games. He went 3-for-10 with two doubles, a homer and two RBIs in 17 games with Boston after a September call-up.