Boston Red Sox: Top 5 displaced homegrown players in history
By Manny Gómez
With Tom Brady’s latest departure from the New England Patriots, we’ve decided to list the top 5 displaced homegrown Boston Red Sox players.
After learning about Tom Brady‘s decision to leave the New England Patriots, a team he’s been with since the very beginning 20 years ago, I started jotting together a list of players out of New England; homegrown players who were later traded or signed elsewhere to never return.
As the list grew and grew, I decided to whittle it down to New England’s sole baseball team, the Boston Red Sox. I then further shaved that list down to five players, ranked by their average Baseball-Reference’s and FanGraphs’ Wins Above Replacement ((bWAR + fWAR)/2) scores.
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Before we jump into it, I wanted to acknowledge a number of players that barely missed being on the list. Players who deserved more from their hometown Boston Red Sox.
I’m talking about guys like Smoky Joe Wood, one of the original two-way players. Wood came up through the Red Sox system in the early 20th century. In all, he is a top 10 Boston player all-time.
In February 1917, Wood’s contract would be sold to Cleveland for $15,000. In his six seasons there, he went on to slash .297 / .374 / .431. He also appeared in 7 games as a pitcher, going 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA.
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Then, there was Hall of Fame right fielder Harry Hooper. Hooper won four World Series titles as a member of the Boston Red Sox. After playing 12 seasons with the Red Sox, however, Hooper was traded to the Chicago White Sox for Shano Collins and Nemo Leibold.
In Chicago, Hooper slashed .302 / .383 / .436, all improvements from his time in Boston.
The third honorable mention belongs to none other than the “Sultan of Swat” (aka Babe Ruth). The Babe’s departure from Boston was such an epic fail, it triggered an 86-year-old curse.
What’s more, Ruth went from being the greatest player in the sport in Boston to superhuman with the New York Yankees. While a member of the “Bronx Bombers,” Ruth would go on to win the World Series 4x. He’d also become the single-season and all-time home run king.
Finally, we have Reggie Smith, a 2x All-Star and Gold Glove award winner as a member of the Red Sox. In 1973, Smith was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for Rick Wise and Bernie Carbo. He’d go on to win the World Series as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1981.