MLB Legends: Wade Boggs
Wade Boggs is one of the most consistent players the MLB has ever seen. He was a third baseman and played primarily for the Boston Red Sox and then later the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Throughout his MLB career, Boggs showed himself to be an impressive hitter, consistently hitting over .300 in a season which led him to him being named the 95th greatest baseball player by Sporting News in 1997.
Regarding baseball players, Boggs is considered one of the best and has an impressive legacy across his 18 seasons in the MLB. In this article, we outline his MLB career and the legacy he left behind.
Many of the players we see today were inspired by Boggs which explains why there are so many formidable ones. These newer players are prime for bets which you can look at and get a sign up bonus bet for doing so.
Born on June 15th, 1958 in Omaha Nebraska, Boggs started playing sports at a young age. He started playing baseball in high school and played quarterback in football. He later changed his position in football during his senior year in order to avoid injury, which ultimately saved his baseball career.
He joined the minor league in 1976 after being drafted by the Red Sox. As a member of the Pawtucket Red Sox team, Boggs took part in the longest game in professional baseball history in 1981. The game was for 33 innings and lasted for 8 hours and 25 minutes. Pawtucket ended up winning the game 3-2.
He ended his minor league career at a .335 batting average, 41 doubles, and 167 hits.
Boggs’ MLB career began in 1982 with the Red Sox and it started off strong with him getting 200 or more hits every season from 1983 to 1989. In his rookie year, he batted an average of .349 which would’ve given him the batting title but he had only 381 plate appearances out of the required 502.
In 1986 he also got the record for batting average at Fenway Park with .369. Boggs was regularly amongst the leaders in batting for a season.
He made it to the World Series with the Red Sox once and that was in 1986. They ended up losing to the New York Mets.
His 1987 plays were some of the best in his career with him hitting more than double the amount of home runs he would in a typical season at 24. That season he had a .588 slugging average and 89 RBIs.
From 1993 Boggs played for the arch-rivals of the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees, until 1997. He was awarded 3 straight All-Star appearances, had 4 .300 plus seasons, and received 2 Gold Glove awards.
In 1996, Boggs helped the Yankees win their first World Series title in 18 years against the Atlanta Braves. After their victory, Boggs memorable jumped on the back of the NYPD house and paraded around the field despite his fear of horses. This was also Boggs, first and only World Series title.
The final 2 seasons of his career from 1998 to 1999 were played with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. In his first year with the Devil Rays, he hit a home run which was the first home run in Devil Rays history.
Just before his retirement, Boggs got his 3,000th hit and did so with a home run. He is the 23rd player to get 3,000 hits and the first to do so with a home run.
Boggs played his final game on August 27th and went 0-for-3 against the Cleveland Indians.
He retired in 1999 after a knee injury and finished with a batting average of .328 after 3,010 hits.
Throughout his career, Boggs was awarded 12 All-Stars and was the AL batting champion 5 times.
In 2000, Boggs' number 12 was retired by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and the Boston Red Sox would follow suit in 2016 with his number 26.
Boggs was inducted into the Boston Red Sox’s Hall of Fame in 2004 and then one year later he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
With a career as long as Boggs’, it makes sense that he would leave a lasting impact on the world of baseball. This wasn’t just with his incredible batting skills.
Boggs was known as one of the most superstitious baseball players. He would eat chicken before every single game and would only play them at specific times. With how well he played, we can’t argue with the results of his superstitions.
His chicken eating habits gained him the nickname ‘Chicken Man’ which has followed him out of the MLB as he has embraced it and even made it his Twitter handle.
Throughout his career, Boggs failed to reach .300 only 3 times which demonstrates his incredible hand-eye coordination.
Outside of the MLB, Boggs has also appeared on TV shows, been a fill-in color commentator for some Red Sox games, and written 3 books.
