Boston Red Sox All-Time 25-Man Roster
We continue our off-season project with a look at the Boston Red Sox All-Time 25-Man Roster.
The Boston franchise that would become known as the Red Sox came into existence in 1901 when Ban Johnson declared the Western League as the equal of the already existing National League. Johnson changed the name to the American League and put teams in Philadelphia and Boston, which were two of the most important cities that already had NL teams. The Boston team was often called the Americans at this time.
In 1903, the Boston Americans played in the first World Series and beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, five games to three. Their biggest star was Cy Young, the best pitcher in baseball. The team first became known as the Red Sox in 1908. It was an abbreviation for Red Stockings. They had a terrific run from 1912 to 1918. In this seven-year stretch, they won all four World Series they appeared in, with Tris Speaker being a key part of the first two World Series champions and Babe Ruth being a key part of the final three.
One of the worst moments in franchise history occurred prior to the 1920 season when owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees. Ruth had just set the single-season home run record with 29 bombs. In his first year as a Yankee, he would hit 54, then 59 in his second year.
After selling Ruth to the Yankees, the Red Sox went 85 years without winning a World Series title. In that same time period, the Yankees would win the World Series 26 rimes. The Red Sox post-Ruth were a terrible team for many years. From 1919 to 1933, they never finished in the upper half of the standings. Then Ted Williams showed up in the late 30s and the team had some success, finishing in second place three times in his first four years with the team.
Of course, Williams never won a World Series. He retired after the 1960 season, just in time for Carl Yastrzemski to take over left field in 1961. The Red Sox went to the World Series twice with Yaz on the roster, losing two epic Fall Classics. They lost to the St. Louis Cardinals and series MVP Bob Gibson four games to three in 1967, then lost the 1975 series to the Cincinnati Reds, despite the highlight-reel home run by Carlton Fisk in Game Six.
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All for Tennessee
Yastrzemski retired in 1983, one year after Wade Boggs made his debut with the Red Sox. Boggs would win five batting titles in his first six years and help the Red Sox to the 1986 World Series which, of course, they lost in heartbreaking fashion in Game 7 Bill Buckner, Bob Stanley, John McNamara .
After more than eight decades without a World Series title, the David Ortiz-led Red Sox finally captured the title in 2004, then won it again in 2007 and 2013. This was the best stretch of seasons for the Red Sox since Babe Ruth was a young pitcher with the team.
The Red Sox have often been known for their great hitters. It’s true; they’ve had some great hitters over the years, including their 50-year run of left fielders from Ted Williams to Carl Yastrzemski to Jim Rice. They’ve also had some of the greatest pitchers to ever play the game, including baseball’s all-time leader in wins, Cy Young.
Here is the Boston Red Sox’ all-time 25-man roster.
Catcher
Carlton Fisk (with Boston from 1969, 1971-1980)
.284/.356/.481, 1078 G, 4353 PA, 126 OPS+ (with Red Sox)
The original “Pudge”, Carlton Fisk was drafted by the Red Sox in the first round of the 1967 amateur draft that was held in January. When Major League Baseball created a draft for first-year players, there were originally three separate drafts. The June draft was the biggest and included recent high school and college graduates. There was also an August draft for players who participated in amateur summer leagues. The January draft was for players who graduated in the winter. Carlton Fisk was taken with the fourth pick in this draft, just after the Mets drafted Ken Singleton.
Fisk spent most of his first five professional years in the minor leagues. He got into two games as a 21-year-old in 1969 and another 14 games in 1971, but didn’t establish himself in Boston until 1972. That year, he exploded on the scene by making the all-star game, winning a Gold Glove award, the AL Rookie of the Year award and finishing fourth in AL MVP voting.
Early in his career, Fisk made it clear that he was a no-nonsense player. He would yell at his pitchers if he felt they deserved it and got into scuffles with opposing players because of his intensity. In a memorable play against the Yankees, Thurman Munson was thrown out on a missed suicide squeeze attempt by Gene “Stick” Michael and barreled into Fisk at the plate. As Fisk pushed Munson off him, Gene Michael grabbed Fisk and Fisk tossed him to the ground. A guy nicknamed “Stick” found out he shouldn’t get into a battle with a guy nicknamed “Pudge.”
Fisk struggled in his second year. He hit 26 homers and drove in 71 runs, but his batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage were all down greatly from his rookie year. He recovered to have a bounce back season in 1974 before getting injured on a home plate collision with Cleveland’s Leron Lee that tore ligaments in his left knee. The injury limited him to 52 games in 1974. Then he suffered a broken forearm when he was hit by a pitch in spring training of 1975 that delayed his start by two months.
Despite the injury, Fisk was very good in a half-season of play in 1975. He hit .331/.395/.529. The Red Sox won the AL East, then beat the Oakland A’s in the League Championship Series, with Fisk hitting .417. This, of course, led to the epic 1975 Fall Classic against the Cincinnati Reds, which included one of the greatest baseball games ever played: Game Six of the 1975 World Series.
This was the defining moment of Fisk’s career. After a back-and-forth battle with the Reds, the game went to the bottom of the 12 tied at 6-6. Fisk led off the inning and hit a home run that would be remembered by a generation of Red Sox fans for the rest of their lives.
That is still one of the great moments in Red Sox history and led to a memorable scene in the movie Good Will Hunting (“I had to see about a girl”). Of course, the team then blew a 3-0 lead in Game Seven and lost the series, but for a brief, shining moment, Red Sox fans could celebrate.
Fisk played five more years with the Red Sox and was an all-star in four of them. His tenure with the Red Sox ended after the 1980 season when general manager Haywood Sullivan failed to mail a contract to Fisk in time and Fisk became a free agent. He signed with the Chicago White Sox, changed his number from 27 to 72, and went on to hit 214 more home runs over the next 13 years.
When he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2000, he announced that he would wear a Red Sox cap into the Hall, despite spending more years with the White Sox. He said, “I would like to say that this has always been my favorite hat, and I will be wearing this hat probably for the rest of my career.”
First Baseman
Carl Yastrzemski (with Red Sox from 1961-1983)
.285/.379/.462, 3308 G, 13992 PA, 130 OPS+ (with Red Sox)
Yaz played more games in left field than at first base, but there happens to be one of the greatest left fielders of all time standing out in left, so Yaz gets shifted to first base, where he played in 765 games. That left field spot for the Red Sox had an incredible run of talent, starting with Ted Williams from 1939 to 1960 (with three years missing due to World War II). The year after Teddy Ballgame retired, Carl Yastrzemski arrived and held down left field until the early 1970s, then handed the spot over to Jim Rice in 1974, with Yaz moving to first base. All three are Hall of Famers.
Yaz played one year of college ball at Notre Dame, then signed with the Red Sox as an amateur free agent. This was in the days before the draft had been established. He’d played shortstop in college but was moved to second base in his first year in the minor leagues. He hit .377/.472/.579 in 120 games that year. When the season ended, he was invited to Fenway Park and met Ted Williams. Williams told him, “Don’t let them screw around with your swing. Ever.”
The Red Sox had Pete Runnels at second base, so they moved Yaz to left field and sent him to the Triple-A Minneapolis Millers, where he hit .339/.391/.467. He joined the Red Sox in 1961. His first all-star season was in 1963 and he would eventually be named to the all-star team 18 times.
Yaz led the league in batting average three times, on-base percentage four times, and slugging percentage three times. His greatest season was the incredible 1967 Triple Crown campaign when he was the AL MVP and led the Red Sox to the World Series. According to FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement, this was one of the 20 greatest seasons any hitter has ever had.
That 1967 season was amazing overall, but Yaz turned it up a notch in the final two weeks as the Red Sox were gunning for the pennant. In the final 12 games, he was 23-for-44 with 14 runs scored and 16 RBI. He was 7-for-8 in the final two must-win games of the season. The Red Sox lost the World Series in seven games when they ran up against the Bob Gibson Experience, but Yaz did his part by going 10-for-25 with four runs and five RBI.
Yaz continued to lead the Red Sox for the rest of the 1960s and into the 70s. He had a slightly down year during the 1975 regular season, but hit .455/500/.818 in the ALCS against the Oakland A’s, then hit .310 with a .382 OBP against the Reds in the 1975 World Series.
One of the impressive things about Yastrzemski’s long career was his consistency. He had three incredible years in which he was worth more than nine wins above replacement (1967, 1968, 1970). He was also worth more than 2 WAR every year from 1962 to 1979 and averaged 5.2 WAR per season during this 18-year stretch.
Yaz finished his career as the Red Sox all-time leader in many categories, including games played, plate appearances, runs scored, hits, and RBI. He was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame with 94.6% of the vote in 1989.
Second Baseman
Dustin Pedroia (with Red Sox from 2006-2016)
.301/.366/.445, 1398 G, 6280 PA, 115 OPS+ (with Red Sox)
“Laser Show” Dustin Pedroia is very close in value as a Red Sox player to Bobby Doerr, the second baseman for the team in the 1940s, but Pedroia is likely to pass him in the next couple of years. Pedroia also has some hardware in his trophy room—a Rookie of the Year award, an MVP award, and two World Series rings.
Pedroia is listed at 5’9” and 175 pounds, but he’s probably a couple inches shorter and a bit lighter than that. He plays big, though. The former Arizona State Sun Devil swings from the heels at the plate and plays second base like the smallest, scrappiest guy on your little league team. He’s the second base version of Tanner from The Bad News Bears.
The draft report on Pedroia, courtesy Baseball America had some interesting things to say:
- Pedroia’s tools are below-average across the board, but people have learned not to sell him short.
- He’s not physically-gifted at 5-foot-9 and 165 pounds, but Pedroia is a classic overachiever and possibly the best player in college baseball.
- He’s hard-nosed and competitive, and without peer as a team leader.
- He’s a blood-and-guts player who thrives under pressure and makes everyone around him better.
- Scouts question whether he can be an everyday shortstop on a good team because his arm and range are short, but he catches almost everything hit at him.
- While he led the Sun Devils with a .409 average and nine home runs, he doesn’t have a pretty swing and is a slap hitter.
- Pedroia is not a high-round pick but he’s a perfect fit for a performance-based organization like the Athletics, who have four of the first 40 picks.
The Red Sox drafted Pedroia in the second round of the 2004 draft, with the 65th overall pick. In his career, he’s been worth more wins above replacement (WAR, per Baseball-Reference.com) than any player taken ahead of him, including the #2 overall pick that year, Justin Verlander.
Pedroia struggled in his initial season in the big leagues when he hit .191/.258/.303 in 31 games at the end of the 2006 season. He bounced back to hit .317/.380/.442 in 2007, his Rookie of the Year season. The Red Sox also won the World Series that year and again in 2013.
One thing to note about Pedroia’s career with the Red Sox is how fortunate he is to play his home games at Fenway Park. In his career, Pedroia has hit .316/.379/.478 at home and .286/.353/.412 on the road. One of the keys has been his ability to yank doubles off the 37-foot-high Green Monster in left field. At home, Pedroia has averaged 40 doubles per 550 plate appearances. On the road, he’s averaged 25 doubles per 550 plate appearances.
Shortstop
Nomar Garciaparra (with Red Sox from 1996-2004)
.323/.370/.553, 966 G, 4345 PA, 133 OPS+ (with Red Sox)
The way Nomar Garciaparra’s career fizzled out after he left the Red Sox can make it difficult for some people to remember just how incredible he was for a half-decade stretch in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1997, following in the footsteps of the 1996 winner, Derek Jeter. The trio of Jeter, Garciaparra, and A-Rod were a trifecta of greatness at the shortstop position in the American League.
Nomar followed his Rookie of the Year season with a 111-run, 35-homer, 122-RBI season in 1998 that saw him finish second in the league in MVP voting. This was an ugly year in MVP voting. Juan Gonzalez won the award even though there were 14 players who were worth more wins above replacement than he was, including Nomar Garciaparra. Of course, Nomar was fourth in the league, behind A-Rod, Roger Clemens, and Derek Jeter.
The 1999 and 2000 seasons saw Garciaparra hit .357 and .372, leading the league both years. His .372 average in 2000 was the highest in the American League since George Brett’s .390 average in 1980 and the highest by a right-handed hitter since Joe DiMaggio hit .381 in 1939.
Before the 2001 season, agent Scott Boras ran a statistical study that predicted Nomar would finish his career with 3,581 hits, 513 home runs, and a .336 career batting average (the study was done for Boras client Alex Rodriguez, but included other players). Unfortunately, Garciaparra aggravated a wrist injury in spring training and played in only 21 games, which would be a pre-cursor to more injuries later in his career.
Garciaparra came back from the wrist injury to play in 156 games in each of the next two seasons. He hit .305/.349/.526 and averaged 110 runs, 26 homers, and 112 RBI. Everything should have been great in Beantown but nothing is ever that simple in Boston. The Red Sox tried to acquire Alex Rodriguez in the off-season after 2013 and, predictably, this didn’t sit well with Nomar.
Heading into his final year before free agency, Nomar suffered an Achilles injury that caused him to miss the first 57 games of the 2004 season. He hit well when he returned (.321/.367/500 in 38 games) but the injury would require more days off than usual and was believed to lead to a big downgrade in his defense. This led to the Red Sox trading Garciaparra and minor league outfielder Matt Murton to the Chicago Cubs for Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz at the trade deadline.
The trade was shocking to the players. Johnny Damon said, “We just traded away Mr. Boston, a guy that meant so much to the city, and just like that, he’s gone.” The Red Sox went on to win their first World Series since 1918 and the players voted to give Nomar a World Series ring and three-fourths of a playoff share (worth $167,715).
After leaving Boston, Garciaparra would play five more years with three different teams, but he never got back to being the player he’d once been. Over those final five seasons, he averaged just 85 games played per year and hit .287/.338/.440.
Third Baseman
Wade Boggs (with Red Sox from 1982-1992)
.338/.428/.462, 1625 G, 7323 PA, 142 OPS+ (with Red Sox)
After six years in the minor leagues, Wade Boggs came to the big leagues in 1982 and hit .349 in his rookie year, then won five batting titles over the next six years. It was a fitting start to his Red Sox career because the last perennial batting champion who called Fenway Park home was Ted Williams. When Boggs was in high school, he read Williams’ book The Science of Hitting. Boggs didn’t rotate his hips and pull the ball like Williams. He would often slash the ball to left field for base hits. He did model Williams in his patience at the plate. Boggs was famous for his batting eye. It often seemed like he purposely waited until he had two strikes before lining a single to left.
Boggs won his first batting title in 1983, with a .361/.444/.486 season. He led the league in on-base percentage that year also; one of six times he would do so. From 1985 to 1988, he won four straight batting average and on-base percentage titles and averaged a .364/.460/.508 batting line. It was like something out of a different era.
In the middle of that stretch, Boggs had a bizarre 24-homer season in 1987. That was the year baseballs were flying out of the park like never before. Major League Baseball saw an increase of more than 650 homers from 1986 to 1987 and then saw a reduction by 1300 home runs from 1987 to 1988. Maybe the wind was blowing out regularly in 1987 <cough> it was the ball <cough>. He also appeared in an episode of the TV show Cheers, which was set in Boston.
After Ted Williams (.344), Boggs has the second highest batting average in Red Sox history. His career average is .328, the same as Rod Carew, but most of the players around him are from a different era. The active top three in batting average are Miguel Cabrera (.321), Ichiro Suzuki (.313), and Joey Votto (.313).
Of course, the legend of Wade Boggs extends beyond the diamond, It has long been rumored that he once drank 64 beers on a cross-country flight. According to actor/writer Charlie Day of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, the actual number is 107. In a FanGraphs post by David Laurila, one-time Red Sox pitcher Brian Rose talked about Boggs’ ability to down the cold ones. This was when Rose was claimed off waivers by the Devil Rays and Boggs was a coach with the team.
According to Rose, when they boarded the plane a flight attendant brought Boggs a case of beer even though it was only a one-hour flight. Rose was impressed that Boggs just downed them, one beer after another. He told Boggs, “I’m impressed with the way you hit, but I’m more impressed right now.” He goes, ‘Yeah, beer doesn’t affect m. I don’t get drunk unless I’ve had at least a case and a half.’ I don’t think he even went to the bathroom.”
Left Fielder
Ted Williams (with Red Sox from 1939-1942, 1946-1960)
.344/.482/.634, 2292 G, 9788 PA, 190 OPS+ (with Red Sox)
Ted Williams signed with the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League when he was still in high school. It didn’t take long for him to be noticed by Boston Red Sox general manager Eddie Collins. Collins made a handshake deal with Padres owner Bill Lane for an option on Williams. Williams played two seasons with the Padres before the Red Sox exercised that option and invited him to big-league camp in 1938. He played that season with the Minneapolis Millers and won the Triple Crown in the American Association, hitting .366 with 43 homers and 142 RBI.
He was in Boston the next season and hit the ground running with a league-leading 145 RBI and 344 total bases. His 145 RBI is still the record for rookies. If the Rookie of the Year award had existed at the time, he surely would have won it. Williams continued to post crazy numbers over the next three years.
In 1941, he hit .406/.553/.735, leading the league in all three rate stats. He did the same the following year with a .356/.499/.648 batting line. Amazingly, he finished second in AL MVP voting both years, losing to Joe DiMaggio and his 56-game hitting streak in 1941 (despite Williams’ .406 average and 1.5 WAR lead) and to Joe Gordon for unexplainable reasons in 1942 (despite Williams’ 2.4 WAR lead).
Despite his excellence on the field in his early years, Williams began to have a contentious relationship with the press and the fans. The press found that writing articles criticizing Williams did well, so they continued to do it. He was also not an easy person to cover. He admitted that he was not very diplomatic. He also didn’t appreciate that fans cheered him one day and booed him the next. He decided at one point that he wouldn’t tip his cap to the fans.
Coming off two straight MVP-worthy seasons, Williams then missed three seasons while serving as a Navy (and then Marine Corps) pilot in World War II. He showed such excellence as a pilot that he was made an instructor and trained other pilots. He returned to the Red Sox in 1946 and picked up where he left off, leading the league in runs scored, walks, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and total bases. He also finally earned an MVP award and led the Red Sox to the World Series, which they lost in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals. Williams was 5-for-25 in the series, which didn’t help his relationship with the press.
More batting titles and all-star appearances followed over the next five years. Williams won his second MVP award in 1949 when he led the league in multiple categories, hitting .343/.490/.650, with 150 R, 43 HR, and 159 RBI.
When the Korean War heated up in 1952 the Marines desperately needed pilots and Williams returned to active duty after playing just six games for the Red Sox. He flew 39 combat missions and was awarded three Air Medals before being sent home with a severe ear infection and recurring viruses in June of 1953. His plane was hit by enemy gunfire at least three times. During his time in Korea, he was a frequent wingman of John Glenn.
Williams returned to the Red Sox in August of 1953 and hit .407/.509/.901 in 37 games. He was like a metronome, just set him on the field and watch him hit .350. In 1957, at the age of 38, he took a .400 average into early June. A mid-season “slump” dropped him below the mark, but he got his average back up to .393 in mid-August. He ultimately finished with a .388 mark, along with a .527 on-base percentage and .731 slugging percentage. These were incredible numbers for anyone, let alone a 38-year-old.
Williams played three more years. He led the league in hitting and on-base percentage for the final time in 1958, then had his worst season at the plate in 1959 when he hit .254/.372/.419. He couldn’t go out on a bad note, though, and came back at the age of 41 and hit .316/.451/.645 in his final season.
Writing in The New Yorker, John Updike described the last at-bat of Williams’ career which was, fittingly, a home run at Fenway Park. Updike wrote:
“Like a feather caught in a vortex, Williams ran around the square of bases at the center of our beseeching screaming. He ran as he always ran out home runs—hurriedly, unsmiling, head down, as if our praise were a storm of rain to get out of. He didn’t tip his cap. Though we thumped, wept, and chanted “We want Ted” for minutes after he hid in the dugout, he did not come back. Our noise for some seconds passed beyond excitement into a kind of immense open anguish, a wailing, a cry to be saved. But immortality is nontransferable. The papers said that the other players, and even the umpires on the field, begged him to come out and acknowledge us in some way, but he never had and did not now. Gods do not answer letters.”
Center Fielder
Tris Speaker (with Red Sox from 1907-1915)
.337/.414/.482, 1065 G, 4554 PA, 166 OPS+ (with Red Sox)
Tris Speakers was only 19 years old when he got a taste of big league play in 1907. He hit .158/.200/.158 in seven games and was sent back to the minors. He got another chance in 1908 as a 20-year-old and hit .224/.262/.276. Finally, at the age of 21 in 1909, he took over centerfield for the Red Sox with a .309/.362/.443 season.
After his initial slow start, Speaker reeled off seven straight excellent seasons for the Red Sox. This stretch included his MVP-winning 1912 season in which he led the league in doubles, homers, and on-base percentage. The Red Sox won the World Series that year, then won it again in 1915.
With Speaker in center and Harry Hooper and Duffy Lewis flanking him in the outfield, the Red Sox had what is considered one of the best defensive outfields in history. Speaker led AL center fielders in putouts five times and in double plays four times. In two different years, he had 35 assists. Teammate Joe Wood said of Speaker, “At the crack of the bat he’d be off with his back to the infield and then he’d turn and glance over his shoulder at the last minute and catch the ball so easy it looked like there was nothing to it, nothing at all.”
Despite helping the Red Sox win their second World Series in the previous four years, Speaker was offered a contract with his salary cut in half for the 1916 season. Team president Joe Lannin claimed the cut was due to Speaker’s batting average having dropped three years in a row. Speaker refused to sign the contract and the Red Sox traded him to Cleveland for Sam Jones, Fred Thomas, and $55,000. His time as a Red Sox player was done, but the fans continued to remember him fondly for many years.
Right Fielder
Dwight Evans (with Red Sox from 1972-1990)
.272/.369/.473, 2505 G, 10240 PA, 127 OPS+ (with Red Sox)
With the recent Hall of Fame announcement, it should be remembered that Dwight Evans was almost ignored by the BBWAA when he was on the ballot. He got voting percentages of 5.9%, 10.4%, and 3.6% and then was off the ballot. This was more than 15 years ago. So many of the things Evans did well during his playing days are much more appreciated by voters now. It would be interesting to see how Evans might have done with the current electorate.
Based on Baseball-Reference WAR, Evans is the 125th best player in baseball history. His 66.9 bWAR is more than Hall of Fame outfielders Duke Snider, Goose Goslin, Andrew Dawson, Dave Winfield, Richie Ashburn, Billy Williams, and others, including his teammate, Jim Rice, who had 47.4 bWAR. Evans had a .370 career on-base percentage and won eight Gold Gloves in right field. He “only” had 2,446 hits, but he also walked 1,391 times, so he was on base by hit or walk 3,837 times in his career. First-ballot Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn got on base 3,931 times in his career.
In the field, Evans was a strong defender with a terrific arm. He made a great play on a fly ball off the bat of Joe Morgan in the top of the 11th inning of Game Six of the 1975 World Series. Morgan hit one deep to right with Ken Griffey on first base. Evans ran back to the fence, made the catch, and fired a laser to the infield. His throw was wide of first base by about 20 feet, but it was caught and relayed to Rick Burlson for the double play. This kept the game tied and allowed Carlton Fisk to hit his classic, game-winning home run off the foul pole in the bottom of the 12th.
After playing in the shadow of Carl Yastrzemski, Fred Lynn, and Jim Rice in the 70s, Evans was the Red Sox best position player for two years before Wade Boggs arrived for good in 1983. Evans’ best year was the strike-shortened 1981 season. He hit .296/.415/.522 with 22 HR and 71 RBI in 108 games. He finished third in the AL MVP voting behind Rollie Fingers and Rickey Henderson. Both Henderson and Evans were worth more than 2 WAR than Fingers.
Evans continued to be a productive player into the late 80s. He was the Red Sox’ most productive hitter in the heart-breaking World Series loss to the New York Mets in 1986. Evans hit .308/.400/.615, with four runs scored and nine RBI.
After hitting .249/.349/.391 in 1990, the Red Sox decided not to re-sign him. He was released in October and signed with the Orioles in December. He played one year with Baltimore before hanging his spikes up for good.
Having spent 19 years with the Red Sox, Evans is among the team leaders in many categories for hitters. He’s second to Carl Yastrzemski in games played and plate appearances. He’s third on the team in runs scored, fourth in hits, and fifth in RBI and home runs. Many longtime fans are still hoping Evans will get a chance at the Hall of Fame through the Veterans Committee at some point.
Designated Hitter
David Ortiz (with Red Sox from 2003-2016)
.290/.386/.570, 1953 G, 8398 PA, 148 OPS+ (with Red Sox)
Before David Ortiz became Big Papi, two MLB teams tossed him aside. The Seattle Mariners signed him as an amateur free agent in 1992 when he was just 17 years old and know as David Arias. It took him a few years to get going with the Mariners, but he had a breakthrough season with the Single-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in 1996 and was named the most exciting player in the Midwest League by Baseball America and the league’s best defensive first baseman.
Despite the strong season, Arias was sent to the Minnesota Twins as the player to be named later for Dave Hollins. He literally became “the player to be named later” when he informed the Twins that he wanted to go by David Ortiz, not Arias. He still wasn’t yet Big Papi, though.
Ortiz played six years with the Twins, with an average season being 76 games, 282 PA, 36 R, 10 HR, 40 RBI, and a .266/.348/.461 batting line. He was a slightly above average hitter, below average defensively and worth 0.4 WAR per year while getting about a half season’s worth of plate appearances. He still wasn’t Big Papi.
The Twins released Ortiz after the 2002 season in a cost-cutting move. Ortiz had started that season slowly, but hit .297/.363/.572, with 15 HR and 42 RBI in the second half. His salary was likely to increase from the $950,000 he made in 2002 to around $2 million. The Twins reportedly tried to trade him but couldn’t find any takers, so they just released him.
Ortiz was in the Dominican Republic during the 2002-2003 off-season and ran into Pedro Martinez at a restaurant. Pedro made some phone calls to Red Sox team officials and Ortiz was invited to spring training on a non-guaranteed free agent contract. He made the team but had to compete with Jeremy Giambi, Bill Mueller, Shea Hillenbrand, and Kevin Millar for playing time at first base and Designated Hitter early in the season.
When the Red Sox traded Hillenbrand and benched Giambi, Ortiz became the everyday DH and ran away with the job. He finished the year with 31 homers and 101 RBI and finished fifth in AL MVP voting. Big Papi had arrived.
That was the start of a terrific run for Ortiz. He won the Silver Slugger award as the best hitter at his position seven times and made the all-star team 10 times in his 14 years with the Red Sox. He also finished in the top five in AL MVP voting five straight years from 2003 to 2008.
More importantly, he was a key part of the 2004 Red Sox team that won the franchise’s first World Series since 1918, then won it again in 2007 and again in 2013. Ortiz was the MVP of the 2004 ALCS against the hated New York Yankees and the MVP of the 2013 World Series victory over the Cardinals. In addition to his regular season excellence, Ortiz hit .289/.404/.543 in 85 post-season games. He had many great post-season moments.
Ortiz retired after the 2016 season, which was one of the best age-40 seasons a player has ever had. According to FanGraphs, Ortiz was worth 4.4 WAR. Only Willie Mays (5.9 WAR), Sam Rice (4.6 WAR), and Darrell Evans (4.6 WAR) were better as 40-year-olds. The retirement of Big Papi leaves a big hole in the Red Sox lineup and his big bat and even bigger smile will be missed by Red Sox fans next season.
Backup Catcher
Jason Varitek (with Red Sox from 1997-2011)
.256/.341/.435, 1546 G, 5839 PA, 99 OPS+ (with Red Sox)
Jason Varitek was an easy choice as the backup catcher for Pudge on the Red Sox all-time roster. Varitek caught the most games and had the most plate appearances of any catcher in Red Sox history. He wasn’t the hitter that Fisk was, but he was the heart-and-soul of two World Series-winning teams in the 2000s. Also, he did this:
Five years before the Red Sox picked up David Ortiz after the Twins released him, they acquired Jason Varitek in one of the most lopsided trades in the 1990s. At the trade deadline in 1997, the Seattle Mariners were looking for relief pitching help and traded pitcher Derek Lowe and minor leaguer catcher Jason Varitek to the Red Sox for Heathcliff Slocumb. Slocumb would be worth 0.5 WAR for the Mariners over the season-plus he was with them. Lowe and Varitek would be worth a combined 43.7 WAR in their time with the Red Sox.
Varitek played 86 games with the Sox in 1998, then became the full-time starter in 1999 and had his first 20-HR season. On offense, Varitek had an up-and-down career. He was about average as a hitter in 1999, then had alternating years going from below average to above average to below average again. He peaked during the three seasons from 2003 to 2005 when he averaged 532 PA, 67 R, 22 HR, 76 RBI, and a .283/.369/.494 batting line. He made the all-star team twice in these three seasons and won his only Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards.
After the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, Varitek was signed to a four-year contract extension and was named just the third team captain in franchise history. The previous two were Carl Yastrzemski (1969-1983) and Jim Rice (1986-1989).
As he aged into his late-30s, Varitek’s bat became a liability and his playing time decreased. He averaged just 72 games per season over his final three years and hit .216/.306/.414. He retired in the spring of 2012. Later that year, he was named special assistant to the general manager, a position he still holds in the Red Sox front office.
Backup First Baseman
Jimmie Foxx (with Red Sox from 1936-1942)
.320/.429/.605, 887 G, 3937, 156 OPS+ (with Red Sox)
Jimmie Foxx had already been in the big leagues for 11 seasons before joining the Red Sox in 1936 at the age of 28. He played on the powerhouse Philadelphia A’s teams that went to the World Series in three straight years from 1929 to 1931. As those teams regressed and fell back to the pack, owner Connie Mack started to move their most expensive players. The Red Sox had previously purchased Lefty Grove from the A’s before the 1934 season. Two years later, they acquired Foxx in a trade.
Double X was very good right from the start with the Red Sox. He hit .338/.440/.631, with 41 homers and 143 RBI in his first year. He would be even better two years later. In 1938, Foxx led the league in all three rate stat categories (.349/.462/.704), hit 50 home runs, scored 139 runs, and had 175 RBI. That performance earned him the AL MVP award. He had another great season the following year and finished second in AL MVP voting. He also got a new teammate named Ted Williams that year.
After being the best player in baseball in the 1930s (#1 with 77 WAR, according to Fangraphs), Foxx handed the baton to Ted Williams. The young player looked to Foxx as a father figure and mentor and would often point out places in the different ballparks around the league where Foxx had hit gargantuan blasts. They would form a friendship that lasted the rest of their lives.
As the 1930s turned into the 40s, Foxx was still a productive hitter. He was well above average in 1940 and 1941 and made the all-star team both years. His end came quickly, though. He did not have the respect for Red Sox manager Joe Cronin that he’d had for his manager with the A’s, Connie Mack.
Despite hitting .300/.412/.505 in 1941, Foxx was told he would have to compete for the job at first base in 1942. He won the job and hit .270/.392/.460 in his first 30 games but broke a rib in late May and was placed on waivers on June 1. The Cubs claimed him and he was sold to Chicago for $10,000. Red Sox fans regretted to see him go. He didn’t hit at all with the Cubs over the rest of the season, then sat out the entire 1943 season.
Foxx returned to play again in 1944 with the Cubs and then in 1945 with the Philadelphia Phillies. Unfortunately, he had trouble with his eyes and was no longer the player he’d once been. He did have one last bit of fun, though. With so many players serving in the military, Foxx volunteered to help the Phillies anyway he could. He ended up pitching 22 2/3 innings with a 1.59 ERA.
A footnote to Foxx’s career is that he returned to baseball in 1952 as the manager of the Fort Wayne Daisies, which was a team in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The manager character played by Tom Hanks in the movie A League of Their Own was loosely based on Jimmie Foxx, although the women who played for him said he was not as crude as Hanks’ character.
Backup Second Baseman
Bobby Doerr (with Red Sox from 1937-1944, 1946-1951)
.288/.362/.461, 1865 G, 8028 PA, 115 OPS+ (with Red Sox)
Before joining the Red Sox, Bobby Doerr was teammates with Ted Williams on the San Diego Padres in the Pacific Coast League. The Sox were scouting Doerr when they noticed Williams and shook hands on a deal to purchase Williams’ contract at a later time. Doerr and Williams would remain lifelong friends.
Doerr joined the Red Sox in 1937. He was hit by a pitch in late April and played much of the season as a backup to Eric McNair. He ended up playing in 55 games and getting 170 plate appearances. He became the team’s regular second baseman in 1938 and would go on to make the all-star team nine times in his 14 years with the Sox. From 1938 to the end of his career in 1951, Doerr’s average season looked like this: 139 G, 604 PA, 82 R, 17 HR, 95 RBI, .289/.363/.464.
World War II cost Doerr the last month of the 1944 season and all of the 1945 season. The Red Sox were in the thick of the pennant race in 1944 and Doerr was having his best season when he left the team to serve. One of his teammates, pitcher Tex Hughson, was also called to action. Hughson was 18-5 at the time. The Red Sox went from 1.5 games behind in early September to 12 games out by the end of the season.
Doerr returned from the war in 1946 and helped lead the Red Sox to the World Series for the first time since 1918 with a season that saw him finish third in AL MVP voting (teammate Ted Williams won the award). The Red Sox lost the series to the Cardinals in seven games, but Doerr led the team with a .409/.458/.591 batting line (Williams hit .200).
A back injury in 1951 ended Doerr’s career early. He was just 33 years old at the time and was still an above average player. He retired to Oregon for the mid part of the 1950s but came back to work for the Red Sox as a roving instructor and scout in 1957. Doerr, along with Ted Williams, Dom DiMaggio, and Johnny Pesky, was featured in the 2003 book by David Halberstam, The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship.
Backup Third Baseman/Shortstop
Rico Petrocelli (with Red Sox from 1963, 1965-1976)
.251/.332/.420, 1553 G, 6171 PA, 108 OPS+ (with Red Sox)
The same scout who signed Carl Yastrzemski signed Rico Petrocelli out of high school in 1961. He began play as a professional in 1962 in the Class-B Carolina League, then moved up to Double-A in 1963. He got into one game that season with the Red Sox but was sent down to the Triple-A Seattle Rainiers for the 1964 season. He joined the Red Sox for good as a 22-year-old in 1965.
During the Red Sox 1967 “Impossible Dream” pennant-winning season, Petrocelli was a big part of a famous Red Sox—Yankees brawl at Yankees Stadium on June 21. After an exchange of beanballs, the benches cleared. Once things settled down, Petrocelli got into it with Yankees first baseman Joe Pepitone and the brawl ignited again into a full-blown battle royal. The Red Sox went on a 60-39 run to end the season and won the American League pennant, then lost the World Series in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Petrocelli played shortstop in the first half of his career. He was a two-time all-star and set an American League record for home runs in a season by a shortstop when he hit 40 in 1969 (since broken by Alex Rodriguez). Many of those home runs flew over the left field wall in Fenway Park. Petrocelli learned early on to cater his swing to his home ballpark and the Green Monster. In his career, he hit .272/.354/.489 at home and .230/.312/.354 on the road.
After a 29-HR, 103-RBI season as a shortstop in 1970, the Red Sox had the chance to acquire shortstop Luis Aparacio, but wouldn’t make the move if Petrocelli was not comfortable moving to third base. Petrocelli agreed to the move and made the switch. In his first year as the regular third baseman, he hit .251/.354/.461, with 28 homers and 89 RBI.
Starting with the 1973 season, Petrocelli suffered numerous injuries that reduced his playing time. He missed the final 47 games of the 1973 season with chronic elbow problems. He had a nagging hamstring injury early in the 1974 season. In September of that year he was hit in the head by a Jim Slaton pitch and missed the rest of the season.
The beaning affected Petrocelli during the 1975 season, but he hit well when the World Series around. The Red Sox beat the A’s in the ALCS, then had their epic seven-game series loss against the Cincinnati Reds. Petrocelli hit .308 with a .379 on-base percentage in the World Series.
By 1976, Petrocelli was a shell of his former self. He hit .213/.307/.288. When Don Zimmer took over as manager shortly after the All-Star break, he started rookie Butch Hobson ahead of Petrocelli. The team released Petrocelli in spring training of 1977. Two years later, he joined the Red Sox as a color commentator in the radio booth. He later managed and worked as a roving instructor for the organization in the mid-1990s.
Backup Outfielder
Jim Rice (with Red Sox from 1974-1989)
.298/.352/.502, 2089 G, 9058 PA, 128 OPS+ (with Red Sox)
In some ways, Jim Rice was a casualty of the Sabermetric insurgence in the early 2000s. Rice appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot in 1995 and got just under 30% of the vote in his first year. He slowly gained votes over the next 10 years but was still under 60% by 2005. At the time, a battle raged between the old-school guys who favored traditional stats like home runs and RBI and the new-school guys who also considered on-base percentage, defense, and base running. In the case of Rice, the old-school guys won. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2009, his 15th and final year on the ballot.
While Rice has the honor of being a Hall of Famer, the argument against his candidacy focused so much on the things he didn’t do that many people continue to see him that way. He benefitted greatly from a friendly home ballpark. In his career, Rice hit .320/.374/.546 at Fenway and .277/.330/.459 on the road. He wasn’t a good fielder. He didn’t provide value on the bases.
The guy could hit, but his overall value (47.4 bWAR, 50.8 fWAR) was well below the average Hall of Famer. For reference, in his career Rice was worth about as much as Jose Cruz, Brian Giles, and Matt Holliday. Because of the old-school/new-school Hall of Fame debate that lasted for many years, Rice is often looked at as one of the worst Hall of Fame choices by the BBWAA.
As it happens, Rice played in the outfield with a guy, Dwight Evans, who has become a favorite of the Sabermetric crowd. Evans was a very good fielder, better on the bases, and better at getting on base. Evans has a legitimate argument for the Hall of Fame and is a much better candidate than Rice was, yet he fell off the ballot after three years.
Because of the battle with his Hall of Fame candidacy, it can get lost that Rice was a very good player. He played 24 games with the Red Sox in 1974, then exploded with a terrific 1975 season. He finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting and third in the AL MVP race. The guy who won both awards just so happened to be his teammate, Fred Lynn.
Rice made his first all-star team in 1977, then had his best season in 1978. He hit .315/.370/.600 and led the league in hits, triples, home runs, RBI, and total bases. That season earned him the AL MVP award. This stretch from 1977 to 1980 was peak Jim Rice. These were the years that his loyal supporters would say he was most “feared.”
In the early 80s, Rice continued to hit and drive in runs but he also developed a tendency to hit into double plays at a prodigious rate. He led the league in grounding into double plays four years in a row from 1982 to 1985, averaging 33 per season. He also hit .296/.351/.500 and averaged 30 homers and 112 RBI during this stretch.
Rice had his last good season at the age of 33 in 1986. He scored 98 runs and drove in 110, while posting the best on-base percentage of his career (.384). The final three seasons of his career consisted of weak hitting and declining playing time. He played his final game in August of 1989.
Six years after his career ended, Rice came back to the organization as a hitting coach in 1995 and helped young hitters like Nomar Garciaparra, Mo Vaughn, and Trot Nixon until 2000. He then worked as a baseball analyst for NESN.
Backup Outfielder #2
Harry Hooper (with Red Sox from 1909-1920)
.272/.362/.367, 1647 G, 7333 PA, 114 OPS+ (with Red Sox)
Harry Hooper was considered one of the best leadoff hitters of the Deadball Era and one of the game’s best defensive right fielders. He played next to Tris Speaker for many years and the two of them plus Duffy Lewis formed a terrific defensive outfield for the Red Sox during one of the most successful runs the franchise every had. Hooper played for the Red Sox for 12 years and helped the team to four World Series titles.
Ironically, Hooper’s worst full season was in 1912, the year the Red Sox won the World Series for the first time in his Red Sox career. He struggled at the plate during the regular season but came around in the World Series when he hit .290/.371/.419 against the New York Giants. He also made a terrific catch in the fifth inning of the final game that robbed Larry Doyle of a home run. Tris Speaker called that catch, “the greatest, I believe, that I ever saw.”
Hooper was also a big part of the Red Sox World Series titles in 1915 and 1916. In the 1915 series, he hit .350/.435/.650 and became the second person in World Series history to hit two home runs in one game when he bounced two into the stands in Game Five. They were home runs based on the rules at the time; today they would be considered ground-rule doubles.
The Red Sox won the World Series for the fourth time in seven years in 1918, but key members of the team were already on their way out. Tris Speaker played his last season with the Red Sox in 1915. Babe Ruth would be sold to the Yankees after the 1919 season. Harry Hooper was gone after the 1920 season when he was traded to the White Sox in March of 1921. He would go on to hit well for the White Sox and ended his career after the 1925 season. The Red Sox would finish in last place eight times in the 10 years after Hooper was traded away.
Backup Outfielder #3
Dom DiMaggio (with Red Sox from 1940-1942, 1946-1953)
.2983/.383;/.419, 1399 G, 6478 PA, 110 OPS+ (with Red Sox)
Dominic DiMaggio was the youngest of nine children in the DiMaggio family. Three of the DiMaggios played center field in the major leagues. Before the majors, they all played in the minors. Vince was the first to play for the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Cost League and he would be followed by Joe and Dom. Joe, of course, was the most famous, but Dom was a good player in his own right.
Young Dom played with the Seals for three seasons. In his third season, he hit .360 and led the league in hits, runs, triples, and stolen bases, which won him the league MVP award. He gave credit to hitting coach Lefty O’Doul for his success, saying he was “ . . . far and away the finest hitting instructor that ever put on a baseball uniform.” His contract was purchased by the Red Sox after that season.
Boston had a good outfield when Dom arrived in 1940, but he was able to beat out Lou Finney for the right field job. He was moved to center field later in the season and stayed there for the rest of his career. He scored 81 runs in 108 games in his first season thanks to a very good .367 on-base percentage. This would be a trademark of his—getting on base and scoring runs. In his 13 seasons as a regular in the lineup, he averaged 105 runs scored and a .383 on-base percentage.
When World War II started, Dom tried to enlist but was turned down because he was nearsighted (he was a rare baseball player who wore glasses). He was finally admitted after the 1942 season and spent the next three years in the Navy. After the war ended, the Red Sox got the core of their team back from serving in the military. This included DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, and Bobby Doerr.
The 1946 Red Sox were a terrific team. They went 104-50 and won the American League by 12 games over the Tigers and 17 over the Yankees. They took on the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. In the top of the eighth inning in Game Seven, Dom came to the dish with two outs and men on second and third. The Red Sox were down by two runs. He lined a pitch into right-center to tie the game but pulled a hamstring on his way to second.
Dom was replaced by Leon Culberson on the bases and in center field. The Red Sox failed to score. Then, with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning and Enos Slaughter on first, Harry Walker hit a soft line drive to center. Slaughter was running on the pitch and came barreling around third while Culberson threw the ball in to shortstop Johnny Pesky. Slaughter ignored the stop sign from the third base coach and took off for home. Pesky took the relay throw and hesitated, then threw home, but it was too late and Slaughter scored what would be the winning run. Dominic DiMaggio always felt like he could have prevented the run from scoring if he’d been in centerfield on the play.
DiMaggio continued to be a productive player into his 30s. He made the all-star team four years in a row from 1949 to 1952 when he was 32-35 years old. In this four-year stretch, he had a .390 OBP and averaged 113 runs scored per year. Twice he led the league in runs scored. He also led the league once in triples and once in steals.
Despite coming off an all-star season, Dom lost the starting center field job in 1953. He had three pinch-hit appearances in the team’s first 20 games. Rather than sit on the bench, he retired. Many years after his career ended, at the age of 84, he and Johnny Pesky drove to visit Ted Williams, who was dying. Their trip was told in the 2003 book by David Halberstam, The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship.
Starting Pitcher #1
Roger Clemens (with Red Sox from 1984-1996)
192-111, .634, 3.06 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 2776 IP, 144 ERA+ (with Red Sox)
Roger Clemens was the 19th pick of the 1983 June Amateur Draft. Eight right-handed pitchers were drafted ahead of him and Clemens was worth more than four times as many Wins Above Replacement than all of them combined.
Clemens didn’t spend much time in the minor leagues before joining the Red Sox in May of 1984. He had a very rough start to his career. In his first six starts, he allowed 56 hits and 28 runs in 35 1/3 innings for a 7.13 ERA and 1.78 WHIP. Opposing batters hit .366/.390/.510 off of him, with a .419 Batting Average on Balls In Play (BABIP). Twice he allowed six earned runs in an outing.
The Red Sox stuck with him and he was much better after his initial struggles. Over his final 98 innings, he struck out 98 batters and had a 3.31 ERA and 1.14 WHIP. He followed that up with 15 good starts in 1985, but his season ended in August with a shoulder problem. He had surgery to remove cartilage near his rotator cuff and there was concern about his future.
It turned out there was nothing to be worried about. Clemens had an incredible season in 1986. He was 24-4 with a 2.48 ERA and 238 strikeouts in 254 innings. He won the first of two consecutive Cy Young awards (he would win seven altogether) and was the AL MVP. On April 29, 1986, he struck out a major league record 20 batters in a game against the Seattle Mariners (he would equal the feat 10 years later against the Detroit Tigers).
Clemens started three games in the 1986 ALCS. He was knocked around in the first one, but came back strong in his final two starts. He was the winning pitcher in Game Seven. Clemens then started two games in the 1986 World Series. He was knocked out in the fifth inning in Game Two, but the Red Sox bats came on strong and they won the game anyway, 9-3.
He took the mound again for Game Six, with the Red Sox leading the series 3 games to 2. The Red Sox led 3-2 in the top of the eighth inning. After Dave Henderson singled and Spike Owen bunted him to second, Mike Greenwell pinch-hit for Clemens. The Red Sox didn’t score. Calvin Schiraldi came into the game in the bottom of the eighth and allowed the Mets to tie the score. The game went 10 innings and ended with a Mookie Wilson ground ball going through Bill Buckner’s legs. The Red Sox then lost Game Seven.
Clemens had another 20-win season in 1987 as he established himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball. In his first seven full seasons with the Red Sox, Clemens averaged 257 innings, 239 strikeouts, 19 wins, 12 complete games, and a 2.66 ERA.
He was named to five all-star teams, won three Cy Young awards and finished in the top six in Cy Young voting six times.
It wasn’t all peaches and cream, though. The Red Sox had that devastating loss in the 1986 World Series, then were swept in the 1988 ALCS by the Oakland A’s, with Clemens unable to hold a 2-0 lead after six innings. They faced the A’s again in the ALCS in 1990. Clemens pitched well in Game One, but the Red Sox lost when the bullpen couldn’t hold the lead. He started Game Four but was ejected in the second inning for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Terry Cooney.
In the off-season, Clemens and his older brother Randy were arrested at a Houston nightclub. He then reported to spring training eight days late. He pitched well that year, going 18-11 with a 2.41 ERA, but his relationship with the Red Sox front office was strained. Things got worse when he went 11-14 with a 4.46 ERA in 1993. He bounced back with a good performance in the strike-shortened 1994 season, but had another ERA above 4.00 in 1995.
As a 33-year-old in 1996, Clemens was 10-13 with a 3.63 ERA. He was still a dominant pitcher. He struck out 257 batters in 242 2/3 innings, but he’d gone 40-39 over the previous four seasons, with a 3.77 ERA. As a free agent, he would command a hefty raise. Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette made an offer Clemens COULD refuse and the big right-hander signed a three-year deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. Hen
After he left the Red Sox, Clemens found the Fountain of Youth. It may or may not have come in the form of a needle chock full of steroids. In the 11 seasons after he left the Red Sox, when he was 34-44 years old, Clemens was 162-73 with a 3.21 ERA and 2082 strikeouts in 2140 2/3 innings. He won four more Cy Young awards.
There’s no doubt that Clemens is the greatest pitcher in the history of the Red Sox when you consider his entire body of work with the team. He didn’t have the peak that Pedro Martinez had, but the sustained greatness for a longer period of time made him more valuable. If it were a popularity contest, though, Pedro would leave him in the dust.
Starting Pitcher #2
Pedro Martinez (with Red Sox from 1998-2004)
117-37, .760, 2.52 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 1383.7 IP, 190 ERA+ (with Red Sox)
Pedro Martinez was already a very good pitcher when he was acquired by the Red Sox in a steal of a deal with the Montreal Expos for Carl Pavano and player to be named later Tony Armas, Jr. The previous year, Pedro was 17-8 with a league-leading 1.90 ERA and 13 complete games (also leading the league). He had just won the NL Cy Young Award.
With the Red Sox, Pedro Martinez went from very good to transcendent. Right in the heart of the high-offense era, Pedro was 101-28, with a 2.26 ERA and 0.94 WHIP in the six years from 1998 to 2003. During this time,the ERA in the American League was 4.65 and the WHIP was 1.43. He struck out 11.2 batters per nine innings and walked just 1.9 batters per nine. Pedro’s peak was at an all-time high level. He was worth more Wins Above Replacement in those six years than Bartolo Colon has been worth in his 19 years in the big leagues.
During his seven years in Boston, Pedro won two AL Cy Young awards and finished in the top four six times. The one year he didn’t finish among the top pitchers in the league was 2001, when he only started 18 games because of an injury. He was still a very good pitcher in the 116 2/3 innings he pitched (2.39 ERA).
He was also a joy to watch. At 5’11”, 170 pounds, he was not the big, thick-bodied pitcher that many teams love to have. He was small and wiry, more in the mold of Negro League legend Satchel Paige. He was a magician on the mound, with a great fastball and excellent control. He was at his peak during the 1999 All-Star game when he struck out the first four batters he faced and five of the first six.
One of the great stathead debates regarding Pedro is whether he was better in 1999 or 2000. He started 29 games both years and pitched 213 2/3 innings in 1999 and 217 innings in 2000, so his time on the mound was roughly the same. In 1999, he was 23-4 with a 2.07 ERA (1.39 FIP). In 2000, he was 18-6 with a 1.74 ERA (2.17 FIP). His WHIP was 0.92 in 1999 and 0.74 in 2000. Some people choose the 2000 season because he had a better ERA and WHIP, while others choose 1999 because he had a better FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) and struck out 29 more batters in 3 2/3 fewer innings, so he was more dominant.
FanGraphs WAR, which uses FIP, has Pedro’s 1999 season as the most valuable single season by any pitcher ever (11.6 WAR). His 2000 season ranks 37th (9.4 WAR). Baseball-Reference, which uses runs allowed, has Pedro’s 2000 season worth 11.7 WAR and his 1999 season worth 9.7 WAR. Whatever side you’re on, both seasons were incredible.
Pedro’s final season with the Red Sox was in 2004. It was also his worst season. After six years with an ERA under 3.00 each year, his ERA ballooned to 3.90. This was still well below the AL average of 4.63, but not vintage Pedro. The Red Sox made the playoffs that year and swept the Angels in the ALDS. Pedro started and won the second game of the series.
The Red Sox faced the hated Yankees in the ALCS, which was one of the great seven game series of our time. The Yankees took a 3 games to 0 lead. Pedro pitched well in his Game Two start, but lost. The Red Sox looked to be down and out in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game Four . . . until Kevin Millar walked, pinch-runner Dave Roberts stole second, and Bill Mueller singled him in. They won the game on a David Ortiz home run in the bottom of the 12th.
Pedro pitched poorly in Game Five, but the Red Sox were able to eek out a 14-inning victory on another David Ortiz game-winning hit. They won the next game to force a Game Seven. In Game Seven, Pedro came on in relief with the Red Sox leading 8-1, but he was ineffective and allowed two runs. The Red Sox won anyway and were in the World Series once again.
As seen in the movie Fever Pitch, the Red Sox swept the Cardinals to win their first World Series since 1918. Pedro started and won Game Three with seven shutout innings. Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore lived happily ever after.
After the 2004 season, Pedro was a free agent. The Red Sox were willing to give him three guaranteed years on a contract, but not a fourth. The Mets came in with a guaranteed contract for four years and Pedro signed with the Mets. He had a good first year with the Mets (15-8, 2.82 ERA), but limped to the finish line of his career with three more seasons with the Mets and a final nine-game stint with the Phillies. He’s still well-loved in Boston.
Starting Pitcher #3
Cy Young (with Red Sox from 1901-1908)
192-112, .632, 2.00 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 2728.3 IP, 147 ERA+ (with Red Sox)
Cy Young had already won 286 games in his career before joining the Red Sox as a 34-year-old in 1901. At the time, he was coming off the worst season of his career. Many thought that he was in decline and this move was more of a public relations ploy than anything. This was the first year of the American League and they were hoping to gain credibility by having one of baseball’s best pitchers.
Young proved to be much more than a public relations ploy. He was terrific in his first year with Boston. He led the league with 36 wins, a 1.93 ERA, and nine shutouts. He also pitched the first perfect game in American League history. It was also the first perfect game ever from the 60’, 6” mound distance. If they had a Cy Young award at the time, he would have won it.
Young won 93 games in his first three years with the Red Sox and 192 games in eight years with the team. This was a very different era. Young regularly started more than 40 games in a season and pitched 350 or more innings in a season 11 times in his career.
By the time he joined the Red Sox, Young had a Bartolo Colon-esque physique. He was big around the middle, and his waistline expanded as he aged. On the mound, he threw from multiple angles with increasingly good control over the years. He was effective at locating his fastball and had an overhand curve that broke down and a sidearm curve that swept across the plate. He also dropped down with a submarine-style deliver at times.
In 1903, Boston participated in the first World Series ever played. They went up against the winner of the National League, the Pittsburgh Pirates. Young appeared in four of the eight games and pitched 34 of the team’s 71 innings. He had two wins as the Boston Americans won their first World Series title.
Young’s best seasons were his first three seasons with the team. He led the league in wins all three years. He continued to pitch for the Red Sox until he was 41 years old. Then they traded him to his original team, the Cleveland Naps, in February of 1909. He continued to pitch until he was 44 years old and retired with unbreakable records for wins, losses, games started, and innings pitched.
Starting Pitcher #4
Lefty Grove (with Red Sox from 1934-1941)
105-62, .629, 3.34 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 1539.7 IP, 143 ERA+ (with Red Sox)
It’s interesting that the Red Sox are often associated with great hitting because they have four of the greatest starting pitchers who ever toed the rubber. Cy Young, of course, is one of the best based on quality and quantity. He was very good in an era in which pitchers threw more innings than in any period in baseball history. He has the award named after him that recognizes the top pitchers in each league. Pedro Martinez may have had the greatest peak for any pitcher ever. Lefty Grove also had an incredible peak (with the A’s and Red Sox). And Roger Clemens combined a high peak with a long career to be one of the best pitchers in recent memory.
By the time Lefty Grove joined the Red Sox, he had already led the league in wins four times, ERA five times, and strikeouts seven times. He was getting older, though, and Philadelphia Athletics’ manager Connie Mack was looking to trim payroll. Grove was traded to the Red Sox prior to the 1934 season, when he would be 34 years old.
The Red Sox were a terrible team at this time. They won four World Series in seven years from 1912 to 1918, but unloaded their star players (including Babe Ruth) after that run and dropped into the basement. They finished in last place every year from 1925 to 1930. In the two years before Grove arrived, they had gone 43-111 and 63-86. Grove was seen as the guy who would turn the team around and he knew it. He had never been an easy person to get along with, but he was particularly ornery when he joined the Red Sox.
His first year with the team was terrible. He was 8-8 with a 6.50 ERA and only pitched 109 1/3 innings because of a sore arm. He spent the next off-season golfing and came back to spring training telling everyone he was fully recovered. Then he went out and had a 20-12 season with a league-leading 2.70 ERA. He no longer had the fastball he’d once had, but he learned to be a better pitcher by mixing up his pitches and changing speeds.
Grove led the league in ERA four times in his eight years with the Red Sox. He was no longer the guy with the blazing fastball that he’d been with the A’s, but he was still a very good pitcher. He also matured as a person. After battling with Connie Mack in his younger years on the A’s, Grove’s personality softened.
On the last day of Grove’s final season, he was honored in between games of a double-header against the A’s. Connie Mack said of Grove, “Well, he’s a better guy now. All he used to have was a fastball and a mean disposition. I took more from Grove than I would from any man living. He said things and did things—but he’s changed. I’ve seen it year by year. He’s got to be a great fellow.”
Starting Pitcher #5
Luis Tiant (with Red Sox from 1971-1978)
122-81, .601, 3.36 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 1774.7 IP, 118 ERA+ (with Red Sox)
After six years with Cleveland, one with Minnesota, and a return to the minor leagues at the age of 30, Luis Tiant joined the Red Sox in 1971. Thee years earlier, he had gone 21-9 with a league-leading 1.60 ERA and nine shutouts. The next year he was 9-20 and allowed more home runs and walks than any pitcher in the league. It was hard to know what to think of Tiant at this point of his career.
In his first year with the Red Sox, Tiant started and relieved and was not very effective. He went 1-7 with a 4.85 ERA. He began 1972 pitching mostly out of the bullpen but pitched so well that he ended up getting a starting spot and finished the year with 15 wins and a league-leading 1.91 ERA. Along the way he had a 40-inning scoreless streak and won over the hearts of Red Sox fans. He was named the Comeback Player of the Year.
Once he got established with the Red Sox, Tiant took on the role of staff ace. From 1972 to 1976, he averaged 19 wins and 260 innings per year, with a 3.12 ERA and 1.17 WHIP. He was also a beloved teammate. He kept the players entertained with a lively personality. His bio at SABR described Tiant this way: “a barrel-chested man who looked fatter then he really was, Tiant would often emerge from the shower with a cigar in his mouth, look at his naked body in the mirror and declare himself to be (in his exaggerated Spanish accent): ‘a good-looking sonofabeech.’”
On the mound, Luis patterned his pitching after his father, who had pitched for many years in the Cuban Leagues and the American Negro Leagues. Tiant twisted and turned and threw pitches from all angles. He mixed his pitches well and changed speeds with the best of them. He was all about deception.
Tiant had three 20-win seasons in the four years from 1973 to 1976. The year he didn’t win 20 was 1975, when he was 18-14 with a 4.02 ERA. The Red Sox made the playoffs that year and Tiant was his old, masterful self with nine strong innings in the team’s Game One victory. The Sox swept the A’s and took on the Reds in the 1975 Fall Classic. Tiant started three games in the series, winning two and posting a 3.60 ERA. Of course, the Red Sox lost that series in seven games to the Cincinnati Reds.
After going 21-12 with a 3.06 ERA in 1976, Tiant held out during spring training of 1977 in a quest to get a better contract. The team wasn’t willing to meet the demands of the 36-year-old pitcher. He eventually returned to the team but the relationship with management had taken a hit.
In 1978, the Red Sox had an epic end-of-season battle with the New York Yankees. The Red Sox led the AL East by as many as 10 games in early-July and were up by 8 ½ games on August 20. Starting with the second game of a double-header on August 30 through their game against the Yankees on September 16, the Red Sox went 3-14 and moved from 7 games up to 3 ½ games back in the standings.
They stopped their free-fall with a win in their final scheduled game against the Yankees, then pulled to within two games on September 22. Over the next eight days, they won eight straight games. Tiant won three of them, the final two on three days rest. Unfortunately, they lost the one-game playoff in a game known around Boston as the “Bucky F-ing Dent” game.
In the off-season, the Red Sox would only offer Tiant a one-year contract. The Yankees were willing to give him two years, plus a 10-year deal as a scout. His departure from the team left a hole in the hearts of his teammates. Dwight Evans was crushed that the front office didn’t realize what Tiant meant to the team. Carl Yastrzemski cried when he heard the news and said, “They tore out our heart and soul.”
Relief Pitcher #1
Jonathan Papelbon (with Red Sox from 2005-2011)
23-19, 219 SV, 2.33 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 429.3 IP, 197 ERA+ (with Red Sox)
Jonathan Papelbon has the most saves in Red Sox history and the second-best ERA for any reliever with at least 100 innings pitched for the Red Sox. Before he established himself as a top closer he was considered for the starting rotation. He started three games in his rookie year, but the bullpen became his home. When he had a 0.92 ERA in 68 1/3 innings in 2006, there was no going back to being a starter. He followed up that season with a 1.85 ERA in 2007.
The Red Sox went to the playoffs four times in his seven years with the team and he was very good in the post-season, with a 1.00 ERA and seven saves in 27 innings. He saved three of the team’s four victories in the 2007 World Series. Then he danced a happy jig, the likes of which had never been seen before on a baseball diamond (and hopefully will never be seen again).
Papelbon did have one awful post-season appearance, and it happened to be his final post-season with the team. In the 2009 ALDS against the Angels, Papelbon entered Game Three with a 5-2 lead in the top of the eighth and immediately gave up a two-run single to Juan Rivera. The Red Sox added a run in the bottom of the eighth to up make it 6-4, but Papelbon gave up three hits and two walks in the top of the ninth to blow the lead. The Red Sox lost the game and were swept out of the playoffs.
The 2012 season was Papelbon’s final year with the Red Sox and he ended on a good note. He was an all-star for the fifth time, led the league in games finished, saved 38 games, and had a 2.44 ERA. The Red Sox were not willing to meet his contract demands and he definitely wanted to go a team that would “show him the money.” The Philadelphia Phillies did just that by signing him to the most-expensive contract a relief pitcher ever had to that point. The deal called for $50 million over four years, with a vesting option that could push it to more than $60 million. The Red Sox didn’t miss him.
Relief Pitcher #2
Bob Stanley (with Red Sox from 1977-1989)
115-97, .542, 132 SV, 3.64 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 1707 IP, 118 ERA+ (with Red Sox)
Bob Stanley pitched more than twice as many innings as any other reliever in Red Sox history (1,159 to Dick Radatz’ 557.3). He also pitched in more games and had more wins than any other Red Sox reliever and is second all-time in saves.
He pitched during a time when relievers regularly pitched more than one inning, but he was even more versatile than most. He started, he relieved, he might pitch two or three innings one outing and just a single inning the next. In his rookie year in 1977, he started 13 games and relieved in 28. During the Red Sox heartbreaking “Bucky F-ing Dent” 1978 season, Stanley was 15-2 with 10 saves while pitching almost exclusively out of the bullpen.
After starting just three games in 1978, Stanley was mainly a starting pitcher in 1979. He started 30 games and relieved in 10 games. He finished the year with a 16-12 record and a 3.99 ERA. He made his first of two all-star games.
Stanley was 10-8 in 1980 and 10-8 again in 1981, but he achieved the same win-loss record in very different ways. He started 17 of his 52 games in 1980, then started just one of 35 games in the strike-shortened 1981 season. In 1982, he didn’t start a single game but set the American League record with 168 1/3 innings in relief. His second all-star game appointment came in 1983 when he was 8-10 with a 2.85 ERA and a career-high 33 saves.
Despite pitching well in 1984 and 1985, Stanley wasn’t always a favorite of the Fenway faithful. He once joked with teammates, “Maybe I should change my name to Lou Stanley.” If his name was Lou, he could pretend the fans were saying his name when they booed him.
Stanley had one of his worst seasons in 1986. He was 6-6 with a 4.37 ERA. The Red Sox were good, though, and made it back to the World Series for the first time since 1975. Stanley was knocked around a bit in the ALCS (5 2/3 innings with a 4.76 ERA), but was better in the World Series. In fact, Red Sox fans may not remember that Stanley pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings in the 1986 World Series loss to the Mets.
That’s because it was Stanley who was on the mound at the end of the soul-crushing Game Six loss. He came into the game in the bottom of the 10th with the Sox leading 5-4. There were two outs and runners on first and third. Stanley threw a wild pitch that allowed Kevin Micthell to score, then gave up the slow ground ball to Mookie Wilson that went through Bill Buckner’s legs.
Stanley pitched three more years with the Red Sox. He started 20 games in 1987, then went back to the bullpen again over his final two years. He didn’t get along well with manager Joe Morgan and decided to retire after the 1989 season.
Relief Pitcher #3
Dick Radatz (with Red Sox from 1962-1966)
49-34, .590, 102 SV, 2.65 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 557.3 IP, 147 ERA+ (with Red Sox)
Dick Radatz was a 6’6’ pitcher who could throw in the mid-90s back when few pitchers threw that hard. He brought that gas from a low sidearm delivery. His weight fluctuated between 230 and 260 pounds. Radatz was such an imposing presence that he was nicknamed “The Monster”.
Like a meteor flashing across the sky, Radatz shined brightly for a brief three-year stretch at the beginning of his career. From 1962 to 1964, Radatz was 40-21 with 76 saves, and a 2.17 ERA pitching solely in relief. He led the league in saves twice and was named to two all-star games. During this stretch he averaged 69 games pitched and 138 innings per season. If a modern reliever could be this effective in this many innings, he would make a bajillion dollars.
As Radatz says in the video below, he may have been one of the first pitchers who was groomed to be a reliever in the minor leagues. Most relievers had previously been starters.
The meteor started to fade in 1965. After three brilliant years with a blazing fastball, Radatz started to lose it. He was 9-11 with a 3.91 ERA. He started the next season with the Red Sox but was traded to Cleveland in June after posting a 4.74 ERA in his first 19 innings. It was all downhill from there. He pitched for four different teams over his final three years in the big leagues and was 3-11 with a 5.04 ERA. Despite his ignominious end, the Monster will always be remembered fondly by a generation of Red Sox fans.
Relief Pitcher #4
Derek Lowe (with Red Sox from 1997-2004)
70-55, .560, 85 SV, 3.72 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 1037 IP, 127 ERA+ (with Red Sox)
Derek Lowe was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the eighth round of the 1991 amateur draft. Six years later, the Mariners kicked themselves in the jimmies when they traded Lowe and Jason Varitek to the Boston Red Sox for Heathcliff Slocumb. The Mariners got 96 innings of a 4.97 ERA from Slocumb. The Red Sox got the heart-and-soul of their team, Jason Varitek, and a pitcher who would lead the league in saves one year, then win 21 games two years later.
Lowe was primarily a reliever early in his career with the Red Sox. He appeared in 74 games in back-to-back seasons in 1999 and 2000. He also led the league in saves in that 2000 season. In 2001, he had 21 saves through the end of July, but lost his closer’s job when the Red Sox traded for Ugueth Urbina at the trade deadline.
Lowe wasn’t happy about being bumped from the closer’s job. He was used as a setup man for most of the rest of the season, but asked to be given a shot as a starting pitcher at the end of the season. He made starts in his final three appearances and was 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA.
He took that late-season success into the 2002 season. Lowe was 21-8 with a 2.58 ERA. He made the all-star team for the second time and finished third in AL Cy Young voting. It was an impressive move from the bullpen to being a successful starter. Most pitchers go the other direction.
Lowe couldn’t repeat his success over the next couple seasons. He had a 4.47 ERA in 2003 and a 5.42 ERA in 2004. Even though he pitched poorly in the regular season in 2004, he did well in the post-season, going 3-0 with a 1.87 ERA in 19 1/3 innings. Lowe was the winning pitcher in the series-clinching Game Four victory that gave the Red Sox their first World Series title since 1918. About a month after that historic World Series win, Lowe was granted free agency by the Red Sox and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Boston Red Sox All-Time 25-Man Roster:
Starting Lineup
3B Wade Boggs
RF Dwight Evans
LF Ted Williams
DH David Ortiz
1B Carl Yastrzemski
C Carlton Fisk
CF Tris Speaker
SS Nomar Garciaparra
2B Dustin Pedroia
Bench
C Jason Varitek
1B Jimmie Foxx
2B Bobby Doerr
3B Rico Petrocelli
OF Jim Rice
OF Dom DiMaggio
OF Harry Hooper
Starting Rotation
SP Roger Clemens
SP Pedro Martinez
SP Cy Young
SP Lefty Grove
SP Luis Tiant
Relievers
RP Jonathan Papelbon
RP Bob Stanley
RP Dick Radatz
RP Derek Lowe
Just Missed the Cut (the next 10 players)
1B Kevin Youkilis
SS Johnny Pesky
SS Joe Cronin
OF Reggie Smith
OF Fred Lynn
OF Manny Ramirez
SP Jon Lester
SP Joe Wood
SP Mel Parnell
SP Tim Wakefield