Francona played in MLB from 1981 to 1988 for the Montreal Expos, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, and Milwaukee Brewers.

The Arizona Wildcats won the 1980 College World Series[6] and Francona was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

He appeared mainly as an outfielder that first year, and he went 4-for-12 in the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, an extra playoff round used in that strike-divided season.

He also developed a reputation as a contact hitter, with few home runs, walks, or strikeouts and baseball writer Bill James described him as a 'worthless player'.

He went on to sign one-year contracts with the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, and Milwaukee Brewers.

[10] After retiring as a player, Francona began coaching, spending several years in the Chicago White Sox organization.

Francona managed in the Dominican Winter League with the Águilas Cibaeñas, and he also won the championship and the Serie del Caribe in 1995–96.

[12] Francona spent the following season as a special assistant to the general manager with the Cleveland Indians in 2001, which was followed by two one-year terms as a bench coach for the Texas Rangers (2002) and Oakland Athletics (2003).

As the American League wild card, the Red Sox swept the AL West champion Anaheim Angels, three games to none, in the Division Series.

[14] Francona and the Red Sox posted a 95–67 record in 2005, tied with New York for first in the American League East.

The 2006 Red Sox started strong but stumbled in the second half of the season after many key players suffered extensive injuries.

Under Francona's leadership, the Sox swept the Angels in the Division Series before dropping three of the first four games to the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS.

[15] Francona is the only manager in Major League history to win his first eight consecutive World Series games and just the second manager to guide two Red Sox clubs to World Series titles, the other being Bill "Rough" Carrigan, who led Boston to back-to-back championships in 1915 and 1916.

On July 23, 2011, Francona got his 1,000th win as a manager, but his team collapsed historically in September, finishing 7–20 and squandering a nine-game lead over the Rays for the AL Wild Card spot.

[19][20] He finished his Red Sox career with a 744–552 record in the regular season—second to Cronin in victories, but tops in winning percentage (.574) among those having managed at least 750 games—and 28–17 (.622) in the postseason with those two World Series championships.

The Indians chose Francona over Sandy Alomar Jr., who had served as the club's interim manager for the final six games of the 2012 season after Manny Acta was fired on September 27.

Alomar, who had spent the past three seasons as a coach in Cleveland, and Francona were the only candidates interviewed for the Indians' opening.

The Indians were eliminated from the 2013 MLB playoffs by losing 4–0 to the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Wild Card Game.

[25] His team swept his former club, the Boston Red Sox, in three games in the divisional series—clinching a berth in the ALCS with a win at Fenway Park on October 10, 2016.

Of historic proportions, the streak placed second longest all-time in major league history to the New York Giants' 26 consecutive (included ties and suspended games) in 1916.

Dominant in all aspects, the Indians trailed at the end of just eight of the 199 innings, and their run-differential of plus-105 (142–37) was higher than all but six teams through that point in the entire 2017 season.

[33] Francona won the 2022 American League Manager of the Year, beating out Brandon Hyde and Scott Servais.

[35] Francona was hired as the manager of the Cincinnati Reds on October 4, 2024, agreeing to a three-year deal with the club.

[36][37] Following his departure from the Red Sox in 2011, Francona was employed by the Fox network as a substitute color analyst for the first two games of the American League Championship Series.

Francona, who teamed with play-by-play announcer Joe Buck, filled in for regular Fox analyst Tim McCarver, who was recuperating from minor heart surgery.

Francona married Jacque Lang on January 9, 1982,[40] and they have four children: son Nicholas and daughters Alyssa, Leah, and Jamie.

This incident, as well as a life-threatening pulmonary embolism suffered in 2002, painful knees, and ongoing treatment for blood clots, has led to circulation issues, which necessitate wearing extra clothes including two pairs of tights.