Happy Birthday to the great Wade Boggs, Hall of Fame Third Baseman and one of the greatest contact hitters ever. Playing his entire 18-year career in the American League, he paralleled with Tony Gwynn, who spent his entire 20-year career in the National League around the same time.

Career Statistics/Accolades (1982-1999):

.328 BA, 3,010 HITS, 118 HR, 1,014 RBI, 1,513 RUNS, .415 OBP

  • 12x All-Star
  • 8x Silver-Slugger
  • 5x Batting Champion
  • 2x Gold-Glove
  • 1996 World Series Champion

Most of his career took place with Boggs playing for the Boston Red Sox; while Fenway Park is a hitter-friendly ballpark, especially for power hitters, Boggs was a contact hitter. From (1983-1989); which is seven seasons, Boggs collected 200 or more Hits and 100 or more Runs yearly. He’d also win five Batting Titles and led in On Base Percentage six times during that span. While he only hit Home Runs in the double digits twice, he hit 40 or more Doubles in eight of his first eleven seasons, leading the majors twice. Boggs hit .369 all-time, the highest of any player who played at Fenway Park. Boggs went (254 for 635) a .400 AVG over his next 162 games starting on June 8th, 1986.

While he was and will always be remembered for his Hitting, Fielding wise at Third Base, he took home a couple of Gold Glove awards. Boggs was known as being one of those very superstitious players. He woke up at the same time every day and ran sprints at 7:17 PM. Who could also forget him eating chicken before every game, and despite not being Jewish, he drew the Hebrew word “Chai” in the batter’s box before every at-bat. After the Red Sox, he went to the arch-rival Yankees, where he’d have more productive years and would win his first and only World Series in 1996. In 1998-99, his final two seasons were with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, where he’d record his 3,000th career Hit, a Home Run. 

A well-deserved Hall of Famer, probably the fifth-greatest third baseman who ever lived. In 1997, the Sporting News named him the 95 on their 100 Greatest Ball Players list.

References:

  1. Wade Boggs Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/boggswa01.shtml
  2. Wade Boggs via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade_Boggs#