When Wade Boggs grew bitter with Boston Red Sox for not retiring his jersey
Wade Boggs wore No. 26 as he fashioned a legendary career as the Boston Red Sox's third baseman. But the twelve-time All-Star expressed his displeasure in a 2013 interview with Boston.com with the Red Sox for not retiring that number, a move the franchise did not make until 2016.
“Am I bitter?" said Boggs, who retired in 1999 and was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2005. "I thought when I wore a Boston hat in the Hall of Fame, I’d be up there. It’s been eight years now. I used to be bitter. But I think those days are over. Was I bitter? Absolutely.’’
Wade, who played 11 seasons with the Red Sox, said the team had criteria for retiring Jersey numbers that he had not met.
“They told me there’s criteria,’’ he said. “You have to end your career as a Red Sox.’’
Wade played for the New York Yankees for five seasons (1993-1997) and then his final two seasons with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He is still famous among Boston fans.
Whether he truly is over the incident, we don’t know for sure. But Wade Boggs will forever be the No. 26 in a Red Sox jersey to his fans.
When Wade Boggs congratulated Fred McGriff for making the Hall of Fame
Wade Boggs was a teammate on the Tampa Bay Devil Rays with Fred McGriff, who was elected to the Hall of Fame earlier this month by the Contemporary Era Committee.
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Congrats to my former teammate Fred McGriff on making the HOF welcome to the family my friend 👏🏻👊🏻🐓⚾️
Boggs and McGriff, who both played high school baseball in Tampa, Florida, were members of the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the franchise's first two seasons, 1998 and 1999.
While Wade retired in 1999, McGriff retired in 2004. McGriff was traded from the Devil Rays to the Chicago Cubs in July 2001, but he returned to Tampa Bay in 2004 before being released in July of that season.
Both Wade Boggs and Fred McGriff were powerhouses of the Rays back in the late 1990s.
McGriff hit .284 with 19 home runs, 81 RBIs and 73 runs in 1998 before having a late-career power surge in 1999, smacking 32 homers, with 104 RBIs and 75 runs and a .310 batting average.
Boggs hit .280 with 52 RBIs and 51 runs in 1998 (123 games) and .301 with 40 runs and 29 RBIs in 1999 (90 games).
Can we all agree that Pete Rose, Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn were 3 of the best hitters of all time?