Since the trade of Ramirez in 2008, the Red Sox have had a rotating cast of mediocrity at what has traditionally been the bedrock of the Red Sox offense. From 2009- 2016, Jason Bay, Daniel Nava, Carl Crawford, Johnny Gomes, Hanley Ramirez, Chris Young, and Brock Holt have been the only players with over 50 games played at the position in a given year during those seasons. Aside from Bay in 2009 and the highly productive 2013 platoon of Nava and Gomes (25 HR and 118 RBI!), the production has left the team wanting.

This hasn’t always been the case though and I think it’s fair to argue that from 1940-2008 no team in baseball has had a more productive position than left field has been for the Boston Red Sox. During that 68-year span, the team has had just six left fielders (min. 50 games per year) with three or more seasons at the position. To put that in perspective, over the same time span, Boston has voted in a new mayor a mere seven times. The names are pretty stunning, so here they are along with their best single-season OPS:

This is obviously a slight oversimplification, but these six men represent a nearly unbroken line at the position. There were a few exceptions: from 1943-45 and from 1952-53, Ted Williams missed time due to being a war hero in WWII and Korea. In 1964, the Red Sox experimented by putting Tony Conigliaro in left and Yaz in center field before switching back the following year. In 1973, Tommy Harper took over left field from Yaz before splitting time with Yaz in 1974, and then being traded to the Angels in the off-season. When Rice took over in 1975, he and Yaz continued to evenly split time until 1978. Yaz played less and less there until he retired in 1983. Mike “The Gator” Greenwell missed 1992 due to Tommy John surgery, and Wil Cordero bridged the gap between The Gator and O’Leary in 1997.

The fact that we can sum up 68 years of baseball at a single position on the team in just a few bullet points and a single paragraph shows just how special the string of Red Sox left fielders have been.

 

The fact that we can sum up 68 years of baseball at a single position on the team in just a few bullet points and a single paragraph shows just how special the string of Red Sox left fielders have been. Williams played for 19 years and is considered a top-three hitter of all time. Yaz played for 23 seasons, amassing a career WARP of 99.4 before retiring as arguably the most iconic Red Sox player of all time. Rice wasn’t as accomplished as Williams and Yaz, but still managed an MVP season in 1978 and eight All-Star appearances. At 24-years-old in 1988, The Gator posted one of the most under the radar great seasons in Red Sox history, generating a WARP of 7.5 while finishing second to Jose Canseco in the MVP vote due to his chemically aided 40-40 campaign – something Greenwell is still bitter about. O’Leary enjoyed his best seasons with Boston in LF, and Manny gave the Red Sox 2004 and 2007 along with some of the best offensive seasons in Fenway history.

Benintendi has a real chance to be the next guy to grab the job and never let it go, as he currently sports a nifty .864 OPS. This mark is better than all left-fielders 22-years-old and under aside from Boog Powell, Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, and Miguel Cabrera and better than Barry Bonds, Jim Rice, Yaz, and Rickey Henderson, to name a few. This is good company to be in. While he may not be a traditional slugger in the mold of Williams, Yaz, Rice, and Ramirez, years like Greenwell’s 1988 season – when he posted a .325/.416/.531 slash line – are within reach.

Many teams see left field as a place to hide players with defensive issues by rotating players in and out, but the Red Sox can consistently trot out a player with “future All-Star” written all over him. Time will tell, but I would bet on Benintendi manning left field and hitting in the middle of the order for a long time to come.

Instead, perhaps he can settle for being the most emblematic player to don the colors of Fenway. Yaz was steadfast and sure, capable of great peaks and the producer of a long, storied history. He never made it to the top of the mountain, so his struggle to win the World Series could mirror that of the team’s 86-year drought between victories. His career may even also mimic the struggle in the shadow of the more popular, more anointed team in New York. No matter how or what the Red Sox do, they may never be able to eclipse the sheer scope of the Yankees, the same way Yaz’s accomplishments must always be compared to that of Ted Williams.

Today, let’s pull the career of Yaz out from Williams’ shadow, and examine it in the context of modern sabermetric stats. We’ll review the things he did well and the memories he helped to create.

Yaz was nearly unique in Red Sox lore in that he played for over two decades, only spent his career with a single franchise, and possessed both longevity and an astounding, productive, nigh-magical peak.

Yaz began his career taking over for Williams in left field in 1961, at the young age of 21. During his first season he showed few signs of the incredible hitter he’d become–his True Average of .249 was the worst it would ever be in his career, though that was still just a bit below league-average. He also didn’t cover himself in glory in regards to his defense, as his -2.2 FRAA in left field would turn out to be one of the worst marks of his career. But there were flashes: despite a .266 batting average, he managed to earn a respectable .324 OBP thanks to a combination of solid approach at the plate and a plus feel for hitting. His arm was already a valuable asset, and he began to learn how to play off his home stadium’s signature feature: the Green Monster.

By the time 1962 rolled around, the “real” Yastrzemski was ready to emerge. First, the defense came around. Yaz earned 18.8 FRAA in left field–think of Alex Gordon’s defensive prime–and began to establish himself as truly elite in that position. Despite left field defense often being looked at as inferior to those players in the center of the diamond, Yaz began to add between a win or two of value each season thanks to his instincts, his ability to play balls off the wall, and his rifle arm. In addition, he had three major pillars of offensive success starting to develop: bat-to-ball ability, power, and a keen batting eye. Though not possessed of Ted Williams’ once-in-a-generation eye, Yaz was already starting to rack up a healthy on-base percentage (.363 that season) thanks to the ability to draw a walk and make solid contact. Finally, he posted 19 home runs, but also 43 doubles. He was starting to emerge as a true offensive threat as well as a defensive force.

In 1963, Yaz officially broke out. He earned 7.4 WARP (fifth among position players in all of baseball and second among position players in the American League) on the strength of his combination of defense and offense, finding himself sixth on the AL MVP ballot while earning an All-Star appearance and a Gold Glove. He won his first batting title, and led all of baseball with a .418 OBP–the first five AL OBP titles he’d win over his career. His .328 True Average was one of the best in the game, far better than what he’d posted before and the mark of a well above-average hitter, even for a corner outfielder.

Over the next three seasons there would be ebbs and flows, but Yaz established himself as a consistent, top-flight young outfielder. In 1964, his power dipped a little, but it rebounded in a big way in 1965 when he hit 45 doubles and 20 homers, good for a .536 slugging percentage. He had a surprising defensive dip by FRAA–the BP metric for defense rated him as slightly below-average despite three consecutive stellar seasons–but by the next year he earned enough fielding runs to make up for that lull. His 31.0 defensive runs by FRAA in 1966 is an astonishing feat; that’s more than three wins of value in defense while spending most of his time in an outfield corner. Despite slipping into bit of an offensive lull, he still played above an All-Star level, with above-average offense, stellar defense, and good all-round skills. But the best was about to come.

Let’s take a moment and talk about 1967. ‘67 was a big year for the Sox as a team–this was the “Impossible Dream” team that made it to the World Series only to run into the unstoppable force that was Bob Gibson. Yastrzemski was a force in that Series, with three home runs in 30 plate appearances and a .400/.500/.840 triple-slash line. He did everything he possibly could to push the Sox to the brink in seven games, but the team could not overcome the Cardinals and win the championship.

Before that ever happened, however, Yaz led up to that point with one of the greatest single seasons in MLB history. After years of 10-20 homers, Yaz’s power finally broke out, and he dominated the American League offensively. First, there were his 44 homers, which tied him with Harmon Killebrew for the league lead. He also led the AL in batting average and RBI, granting him the Triple Crown, a feat that would not be replicated in baseball for nearly 50 years. He led all of baseball in OBP (.418), slugging percentage (.622), and just for good measure, True Average (.373) … lest you think those big numbers were just a creation of hitter-friendly Fenway Park. And, of course, he paired it with his solid signature defense. When you put it all together, you get an 11.8 WARP season, one of the highest in baseball history, and a season that would go down in the books as one for the ages.

Yaz would lose out on a unanimous MVP award thanks to one voter’s decision to go with Cesar Tovar over him. For the record, Tovar earned 2.9 WARP while manning second base for the Twins that season, and the Twins were a good team. But that makes for an 8.9 WARP difference between the two ballplayers, which is an unforgivable gap no matter how big the error bars on WARP may get. For reference, that would be like the National League MVP voters this season choosing Daniel Murphy over Bryce Harper last season. Not a good look.

Yaz would never be as great again as he was in ‘67, but few players in MLB history have ever put up a season that excellent, so we can forgive him. But in 1968, he’d try. He was once again an outrageous offensive force, but this time he traded much of his power (just 23 homers) for an increase in walks and a .428 OBP, which led all of baseball. Of course he missed out on the MVP award this year, as Denny McLain won 31 games, and the pitcher win was king at the time, but Yaz also fell behind teammate Ken Harrelson and a trio of Tigers position players in the voting, among others. He came in ninth in the AL MVP race, despite racking up 10.3 WARP. (Fun fact: he also won the AL batting title with a mere .301 batting average, which is the lowest batting average to ever lead that particular leaderboard.)

1969 was a bit of a down year, but this was primarily due to uncommon bad luck on balls in play. During that season everything else seemed to be working for Yaz: he crushed 40 homers and walked 101 times, but his batting average for the season only reached .255, which would end up being the third-lowest mark he’d ever post in the big leagues. How did last season’s batting champ let things get so low? Despite a career .290 BABIP (and that takes into account the lower BABIP during his career twilight), Yaz only had a .241 BABIP during this season thanks to, likely, dumb luck. A regular batted-ball distribution would’ve resulted in another MVP-caliber season, instead of a comparatively-low .298 TAv. The expected rebound came the next season, as in 1970 he hit another 40 homers … only this time he ran his average back up to .329, led his league in OBP (.452) and slugging (.592), and came in fourth in the MVP race. Oh, and if he’d posted his typical FRAA numbers out in the field instead of the surprisingly-low 6.8 mark of that season, he probably would’ve posted a third 10+ WARP season.

The only recent examples of dominance to start a season that I can think of to compare to Yaz’s decade-long debut are two guys who currently play for the Angels: Albert Pujols and Mike Trout.

So let’s take a break to examine just how great Yaz’s first decade was by the black ink markers. He found himself on the MVP ballot in eight out of 10 seasons, and won the award once. He was selected to seven All-Star games and won five Gold Gloves. He posted a .390 OBP, a .496 slugging percentage, and 66.3 WARP. Can you actually believe that? You know what kind of players average six and a half wins per season? The absolute greatest ones. Miguel Cabrera, another Triple Crown winner, is a no-doubt Hall-of-Famer and one of the game’s premier players. Over his 10 best seasons, he posted 57.4 WARP … and that’s with the benefit of cherry-picking just the best ones. The only recent examples of dominance to start a season that I can think of to compare to Yaz’s decade-long debut are two guys who currently play for the Angels: Albert Pujols and Mike Trout. The list ends there.

Anywho, after 1970, Yaz would continue to grind away at left field and first base for the Red Sox, but his peak was over. In the next 13 seasons, he’d amass plenty more hardware: 11 more All-Star Game selections, another Gold Glove, and spots on six more MVP ballots. But he’d never again win a batting title, lead the league in an important offensive category, or post a six-WARP season. He’d embark on what amounted to a second career: solid regular with occasional flashes of five-win brilliance (‘71, ‘73, ‘77). His True Average marks would rise and fall, but most often would hover around .270-.280, making him a better-than-average hitter, but not much more than that. His defensive brilliance faded into quiet consistency, especially as he transitioned to first base from the outfield.

By the end of his career, he owned many of the Sox’s career records, including games played, plate appearances, runs scored, RBI, hits, doubles, intentional walks, and more. (Miraculously, both Dewey Evans and Jim Rice beat him out for the strikeouts record!) He sauntered into the Hall of Fame with 94 percent of the vote, and his number eight has been retired by the team. He was an absolute fixture for over two decades, and was a valuable, effective player at the least for nearly all of them–an elite peak plus elite longevity.

There are probably just two things I’ve done with any consistency over the past 23 years: watch baseball and enjoy brownies. That’s it. I can imagine things that I’ll continue to do and enjoy from now to a point two decades down the line, sure … but even still, doing any one thing for a quarter of a century seems so long. Timeframes of that length stick in my head as esoteric concepts like special relativity and string theory–as hard as I try to wrap my head around them, I just can’t do it.

It’s possible that this is the first time Carl Yastrzemski’s career has been compared to a concept like time dilation, but there was certainly a gravity to Yaz. He was solid, sure, and true. The further that we’ve moved from his orbit, the clearer we can see what he was. No other player in the history of this franchise will ever eclipse his marks in longevity, I’d bet; the game is no longer designed to give players 23-season careers, let alone with a single franchise. As much as you may love Mookie or Xander, can you honestly imagine them starting for this Red Sox team in 2035 or beyond?

For that reason, among others, I decline to do as I often do and point toward a player currently in the organization who compares to my subject. To call a Red Sox player the “next Carl Yastrzemski” is to do to him the same disservice as calling him the “next Ted Williams.” No man should be expected to hold his own for 23 seasons, to be the most valuable player in the league, to be a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer. Carl Yastrzemski was a singularity, doing all the amazing things we expect from a baseball player but at a scope that stretched longer, deeper, and broader than anyone could have hoped. If that’s not representative of this storied franchise, I’m not certain what is.

Photo by Greg M. Cooper/USA Today Sports Images

I love baseball for many reasons but the stars of my youth and their gregarious personalities have influenced that more than anything.  From Pedro Martinez’s hilarious and self-deprecating humor off the field and his bulldog demeanor on the mound to the outgoing nature and swagger of David Ortiz there has never been a shortage of these on Yawkey Way.  Boggs is no exception and it seems that the longer he’s away from the game the more his legend continues to grow.

With no way to truly do the man justice — and with Bryan Grosnick having already summer up his career – I thought it would be best to give the namesake of my long-time dynasty league team his due with 26 “facts” about his life and playing career.  I say facts loosely because some stories are legend but a few common themes unite them all:  Beer. Chicken.  Any yes many many hits.  

1. Wade Boggs accumulated 88.3 fWAR over the course of his 18-year playing career, which ranks fourth all-time amongst third basemen behind Eddie Matthews, Mike Schmidt and Alex Rodriguez.  
2. 70.8 of his fWAR was accumulated in his first 11 seasons, all with the Red Sox.
3. His 70.8 fWAR ranks him third all-time for fWAR accumulated while in a Red Sox uniform, only behind Carl Yastrzemski at 94.8 and Ted Williams at 130.4.
4. Legend has it that Boggs once consumed 64 beers on a cross-country flight from Boston to Los Angeles. While the number is disputed, the beer of choice is not.  
5. Wade Boggs drinks but one beer, none other than Miller Lite.
6. Known for his affection for chicken, Boggs tried his hand at sharing his favorite chicken recipes with all of us in his little-known recipe book and only known foray into writing Foul Tips: My Favorite Chicken Recipes—it is spiral bound.
7. Throughout his 1,625 games with the Red Sox, Boggs slashed .328/.428/.462. His OBP ranked behind only Jimmie Foxx at .429 and Ted Williams at .482.
8. Boggs finished his playing career with 3,010 hits, a fact which he honors with his excellent twitter handle @ChickenMan3010.
9. Boggs won five American League batting titles over his career, in 1983 and from 1985-1988.  All of these were won in a Red Sox uniform.
10. In 2005, Boggs was selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 91.9% of the vote in his first year eligible.
11. Boggs was an 11-Time All-Star with eight of his selections coming while wearing a Red Sox uniform.
12. While he never won a World Series with the Red Sox he did reach one in 1986.  
13. When Boggs did win a World Series with the hated Yankees in 1996 he celebrated by riding on a police officer’s horse.
14. The number of beers consumed by Boggs is still very much up for debate. However former teammate Jeff Nelson is on the record saying “50-60 beers was not just an isolated incident but was something he did on almost every cross country flight.”
15. Boggs led the American League in OBP six-times, in 1983 and from 1985-1989.
16. In 1987 and 1988 he also led the American League in OPS.
17. 200+ hit seasons are very hard to come by, but Boggs had seven such seasons with the Red Sox.
18. As good as he was with the bat, Boggs was no slouch defensively, winning two golden gloves late in his career in 1994 and 1995.
19. While filming an appearance on my favorite comedy show “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” Boggs reportedly told Charlie Day that the actual number of beers he drank on the flight was a staggering 107.  Day shared this fact with the world on the Jimmy Fallon Show.  
20. From 1986-1988 Wade Boggs led the American League in fWAR amongst position players. His marks were 7.7, 8.9, and 8.6.
21. During this impressive stretch Boggs also put up an fWAR of 8.8 in 1985, but was unable to best the mark of 9.7 set by Ricky Henderson.
22. While he wasn’t considered a power hitter by any stretch of the imagination, Boggs could hit doubles.  He had 40 or more doubles eight times over his career with the Red Sox.
23. Do you like Silver Slugger awards?  Boggs has eight of them, six while playing for the Red Sox.
24. His .338 career batting average with the Red Sox is second only to the great Ted Williams.
25. Over his time with the Red Sox, Boggs led the MLB in batting average, hits, doubles and on base percentage.
26. From May 26th forward no player will ever again wear a number 26 Red Sox jersey. Boston fans will ALWAYS remember Boggs for what he did on the field while with Boston and we will cheer him on this year when his number 26 is retired in the place where he delivered the best moments of his storied career.Photo by Gregory Fisher/USA Today Sports Images