The 5 greatest Boston Red Sox hitters in franchise history
By Ben Porter
2. Wade Boggs
Wade Boggs is somewhat of a legend in pop-culture today. Not because of his hitting abilities, mind you, but because of his beer-drinking prowess. He was known to drink upwards of 70 beers on travel days, and going out the next day and hit the cover off the ball. But his hollow leg is not what I’m here to talk to you about!
When looking at Wade Boggs’ stats, there’s one name that comes to mind: Tony Gwynn. You know, one of the best contact hitters of all-time? Yes, him. That’s what Boggs’ stats look like.
Over his 18 year career, No.26 won 5 batting titles, accumulated over 3,000 hits, and hit at an amazing .328 clip. He’s an 8x Silver Slugger, 12x All-Star, and a Hall-of-Famer to top it off. In other words, Boggs is one of the greatest hitters to ever live.
What he lacked in power, he more than made up for in contact. His career-high for strikeouts in a season was 68, and he only hit under .300 in three seasons. Only three. Some great players go their entire careers without eclipsing the .300 mark.
Allow me to walk you through 1985-1988 for a minute. In those four seasons, Boggs batted .368, .357, .363, and .366. His OPS was over .900 in each of the 4 years and he even posted an unbelievable 1.049 OPS in 1987. That’s incredible for a man who only hit double-digit home runs in 2 of his 18 seasons in the MLB.
I don’t know about you, but I’ll take Boggs’ .328/.415/.443 with 8 home runs any day over the week over a guy who will hit .220 with 40 bombs. This man was a hitting virtuoso and he has the track record to prove it. Hit the ball in the air? No thanks.
Can you imagine how good Boggs would have been if he didn’t drink 75 beers on his flights to and from the games? Wow.