Sox 88 – Wade Boggs

In mid-November 1988, several pieces appeared concerning the status of Wade Boggs. One, by Globe icon Leigh Montville, questioned why Boggs was held in such low esteem by Boston fans. In a piece entitled "No Love of Boggs" , Montville wrote:" He engenders no more affection than a trusty mixer on the kitchen counter….His uniform number should be those little lines, a bar code striped across the back of his Red Sox jersey. He is an animate inanimate object. Product. Who can root for an air conditioner or vacuum cleaner?"

 

Montville went on to mention some of Boggs' statistics. After six seasons with Boston, his lifetime average was .356, behind only Ty Cobb and Rogers Hornsby. He and Lou Gehrig were the only ones with 200 hits and 100 walks in a season. In 88, he reached base 342 times. Only Babe Ruth and Ted Williams had surpassed this. He had won four straight batting titles, five in the past six years. HIs fielding was above average. And so on.

 

Later in the piece, Montville stated that in the minds of Red Sox fans, Boggsy should be a Williams, a Cy Young, a Phil Esposito, a Bobby Orr. But that was not happening, and there were several reasons.

 

It was hard to feel warmth toward the man. Montville was right to compare his personality to that of a household appliance. He was not easy to like, even among teammates. The Margo Adams affair had fostered rumors of Sox players in "compromising" positions and statements like "Jim Rice thinks he's white." Boggs also made some rather ignorant statements about sex addiction. His strange habit of speaking of himself in the third person implied a superior attitude. His superstitions were well-known. On the other side, he had had to endure the tragic death of his mother and a sister's illness, but fans took little pity on him.

 

In retrospect, fall 88 would have been a good time to trade Boggs away from Boston. The late Will McDonough  the same week quoted GM Lou Gorman as saying "There are no untouchables on our team." McDonough stated that if this were true, it would represent a marked departure from Sox history. "The Red Sox have lived-and for the most part failed-with their Star Wars systems- the individualistic, statistically-oriented thinking that led directly to the feeling-big attitudes…Too many butts have been kissed instead of kicked."

 

Late in his piece, McDonough speculated on a possible Boggs trade to Cleveland involving slugger Joe Carter. "But," he states, "the Sox have had dynamite hitting lineups before and still haven't won it all in 70 years. Put an Orel Hershiser and Doc Gooden together with Clemens, Bruce Hurst and Mike Boddicker and the rest, and you can start printing World Series tickets."

 

McDonough did not know, of course, that Hurst would walk and Gooden would fall into substance abuse. But the thought of trading Boggs for a top-flight hurler is intriguing. Would a Hershiser been available after a Cy Young year, possibly involving some Boston prospects? It is impossible to tell. But Uncle Lou apparently did not even try, hoping that average starters like John Dopson, Danny Darwin and Greg Harris would be enough. Meanwhile, Boston would lose Boggs to free agency in 92 and get nothing in return. It would take a front-office change to bring a Pedro Martinez to the Sox. One more missed opportunity.