WADE BOGGS

'Wade Anthony Boggs' (born June 15 1958 in Omaha, Nebraska) is a former third baseman in Major League Baseball, primarily with the Boston Red Sox. His hitting in the 1980s and 1990s made him a perennial contender for American League batting titles, in much the same way as his National League contemporary Tony Gwynn. Boggs was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005. With 12 straight All-Star appearances, Boggs is second only to Brooks Robinson in number of consecutive appearances as a third baseman.
He currently resides in the Tampa, Florida neighborhood of Tampa Palms.

Contents

Career

Superstitions

Trivia

Bibliography

See also

References

External links

Career

A left-handed hitter, Boggs won five batting titles starting in 1983. He also batted .349 in his rookie year which would have won the batting title, but was 121 plate appearances short of the required minimum of 502. From 1982 to 1988, Boggs hit below .349 only once, hitting .325 in 1984. From 1983 to 1989, Boggs rattled off seven consecutive seasons in which he collected 200 or more hits, an American League record for consecutive 200-hit seasons that was later matched by Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki. Boggs also had six seasons with 200 or more hits, 100+ runs and 40+ doubles. Although he would not win another batting title after 1988 (his batting title that year broke Bill Madlock's Major League record of four by a third baseman), he regularly appeared among the league leaders in hitting.
In 1992, Boggs slumped to .259 – one of only three times in his career that he failed to reach .300 – and at the end of the season he left the Red Sox, with whom he had spent his entire career. He was heavily pursued by two teams: the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees - he chose the Yankees when they added the third year to the contract that the Dodgers would not offer. Boggs rewarded the Yankees' faith with three straight all-star appearances, four straight .300-plus seasons and even collected two Gold Glove Awards for his defense.
In 1996, Boggs helped the Yankees to their first World Series title in 18 years. It was the first (and only) World Series title earned by Boggs. He memorably celebrated by jumping on the back of a NYPD horse, touring the field with his index finger in the air - despite his self-professed fear of horses.
Boggs signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for the final two seasons of his career, in 1999 collecting his 3,000th hit. Despite his deserved reputation as a singles hitter with limited power, he is the first and only member of the 3,000-hit club whose 3,000th hit was a home run. The historic ball was caught in the right field stands of Tropicana Field by Mike Hogan, a sports information director at the University of South Florida, who gave it back to Boggs at the conclusion of the game. Hogan had moved to Tampa just 10 days prior to the event. Boggs retired in 1999 after sustaining a knee injury, leaving with a career batting average of .328 and 3,010 hits.
Boggs is credited with teaching the Yankees their current pitch-selection technique; swinging only at perfect pitches and fouling off close but tough to hit pitches, forcing teams to go to their usually weak bullpens. Before Boggs joined the Yankees, they were 14th in pitches per plate appearance, and 4th and then 1st after he joined. In addition, the Yankees were 12th and 8th in on base percentage the two years prior to Boggs joining the team and 2nd the year he came on board (1993), followed by 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 1st.
His own style included mental preparedness techniques including visualizing four at-bats each evening before a game and imagining himself successfully getting four hits.
In 1987, Boggs – who was up for a new contract following the season – hit 24 home runs, easily the most in any year of his career.
His #12 has been retired by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Although he has not had his number retired by the Boston Red Sox, he was inducted into the team's Hall of Fame in 2004.

Superstitions

Boggs was known for his superstitions as much as his hitting. He ate chicken before every game (Jim Rice once called Boggs "chicken man"), woke up at the same time every day, took exactly 150 ground balls in practice, took batting practice at 5:17 and ran sprints at 7:17. His route to and from his position in the field beat a path to the home dugout. He drew the Hebrew word "Chai", meaning "life", in the batter's box before each at-bat, though he is not Jewish. Most people don't know that his favorite count was 3 balls and 2 strikes . Boggs also claimed that his at-bats improved when longtime mistress Margot Adams attended games while not wearing underwear.^[1]

Trivia

★ Wade Boggs once guest starred on ''Cheers'' (sixth season, "The Bar Wars") as himself. He also made a famous guest appearance in an episode of ''The Simpsons,'' (Homer at the Bat) in which he was punched out by Barney Gumble after arguing over who was the best Prime Minister in England's history (Boggs favored William Pitt the Elder, while Barney backed Lord Palmerston). Boggs was also portrayed in an episode of ''Futurama'' as a head in a sports museum. When Hank Aaron XXIV drinks out of Wade Boggs's jar he says, "Wade Boggs, goes down smooth!"

★ Boggs also recorded a few innings pitched at the Major League level. His main pitch was a mean knuckleball, which he allegedly used 16 times (along with one fastball) in one shutout inning of pitching for the Yankees against the Anaheim Angels in a 1997 game.

★ Boggs played in the longest game in professional baseball history as a member of the Pawtucket Red Sox in 1981 along with Cal Ripken Jr..

★ In 1999, he ranked number 95 on ''The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

★ An urban legend states that Boggs once drank 64 beers on a cross-country flight from Boston to Los Angeles, a feat which he denies.[1]

★ Boggs hit the first home run in Devil Rays history off Justin Thompson of the Detroit Tigers.

★ Boggs lost his mother in a car accident in Tampa while he was with the Red Sox. Shortly after her death, Boggs and his father bought a fish camp in Hawthorne, Florida on Lake Lochloosa they called ''FinWay'' which his father ran until shortly before he died.

★ Although not known primarily as a power hitter, Boggs is the career leader in home runs for a player born in Nebraska.

★ The team he played the least amount of time for (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) is the only team where his number is retired.

★ Boggs inducted the late "Mr Perfect" Curt Hennig into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 31 2007. He had previously appeared in vignettes with Hennig that aired on WWE programming when he was first introduced, and was close friends with Hennig until his death. ^[2]

★ Boggs claimed that he once avoided being harmed by an assailant with a knife by willing himself invisible. ^[3]

Bibliography

★ ''Boggs!'', Contemporary Books, 1986. ISBN 0-8092-5063-2.

★ ''The Techniques of Modern Hitting'', Perigee Books, 1990. ISBN 0-399-51595-X. (With David Brisson.)

See also

★ Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame

★ DHL Hometown Heroes

★ List of major league players with 2,000 hits

★ List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles

★ List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs

★ List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI

★ 3000 hit club

★ List of Major League Baseball batting champions

★ List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions

★ Tampa Bay Devil Rays all-time roster

References

1. ''The Rundown.'' > Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me NPR. August 6, 2005
2. Wade Boggs is the "Perfect" inductor Louie Dee
3. ''The Rundown.'' 'Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.' NPR. August 6, 2005

External links

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Accomplishments