The Boston Red Sox originated in 1901. They were called the Boston Americans before switching to the Boston Red Sox for the 1908 season. They have won nine World Series titles with the first one coming in 1903, and the ninth coming in 2018. Including number 42, the team has 11 retired numbers.
Here is a potential all-time starting lineup (with a DH) for the Boston Red Sox with a starting pitcher and a closer.
Hall of Fame Inductee in 2004
Uniform Number 26 Retired by the Red Sox in 2000
Wade Boggs finished his MLB career with 3,010 hits. The former third basemen is a 12 time All-Star with two Gold Glove awards and eight Silver Slugger awards. He played with the Red Sox for 11 seasons, slashing .338/.428/.462. Boggs led the MLB in on-base percentage five seasons in-a-row from 1985-1989. In four of those five seasons, his OBP was at least .450.
Hall of Fame Inductee in 1951
In the seven seasons Jimmie Foxx played with the Red Sox, he hit 222 home runs, 181 doubles and had 722 RBIs. He was the American League MVP in 1938 when he slashed .349/.462/.704. Foxx drove in 175 RBIs and hit 50 long balls that year. The Hall of Fame first basemen made the All-Star game every season he was with the Red Sox except for his last one in 1942 when he only played 30 games with the club before heading to Chicago.
Ted Williams (Image from Sporting News)
Hall of Fame Inductee in 1966
Uniform Number 9 Retired by the Red Sox in 1984
Ted Williams is one of the best players in Red Sox history. He played in 19 MLB seasons, all with Boston. He missed three seasons from 1943-1945 due to military service. Williams is currently listed as the all-time OBP leader among qualified players with .482. He also had 521 homers and 525 doubles in his career. Williams leads the Red Sox in numerous categories, including all three in the slash line. His career slash line is .344/.482/.634.
Uniform Number 34 Retired by the Red Sox in 2017
David Ortiz played with Minnesota for six seasons before an offensive spike when he joined the Red Sox in 2003. He is a 10-time All-Star as well as a seven-time Silver Slugger award winner, all with the Red Sox. Ortiz had some impressive Postseason stats with Boston. He won three Fall Classics with them and he won MVP of the 2004 ALCS and the 2013 World Series. In the 2013 Fall Classic, Ortiz slashed .688/.760/.1.188. Ortiz hit 483 career regular-season home runs with the Red Sox.
Hall of Fame Inductee in 1989
Uniform Number 8 Retired by Red Sox in 1989
Carl Yastrzemski was primarily a left fielder but is in center field in this lineup due to Ted Williams getting the left-field spot. Yastrzemski spent his entire 23 year MLB career with the Red Sox. He won American League MVP in 1967, made 18 All-Star games and won three batting titles. He hit 452 dingers and 646 two-baggers in his 23 seasons played with the Red Sox. Yastrzemski participated in two World Series, but they lost both of them in seven games.
The 1997 AL Rookie of the Year Nomar Garcaparra is the shortstop in this lineup. He debuted with Boston in 1996 and played with them until 2004 when he joined the Cubs. In his nine seasons with the Red Sox, he slashed .323/.370/.553. He also collected 1,281 hits, 709 runs scored and 690 RBIs during those nine seasons. Garciaparra didn’t play in any Fall Classics, but he did make the Postseason in three seasons with Boston. In the three ALDS series’ that he played in, he had an OPS of 1.166.
Dwight Evans spent all but one season of his MLB career as a member of the Red Sox. The amount of time he spent with Boston is a factor in his selection as Mookie Betts could have gone in the right-field spot as well. Evans had over 10,000 plate appearances with Boston, slashing .272/.369/.473 in his time there. He never won a World Series, although he made it twice did a solid job at the plate. His World Series slash line is .300/.397/.580.
Carlton Fisk (Image from foxsports.com)
Hall of Fame Inductee in 2000
Carlton Fisk played the first 11 seasons of his career with Boston. He is the 1972 AL Rookie of the Year, an 11-time All-Star and a three-time Silver Slugger award winner. In 1977, Fisk played in 152 games, slashing .315/.402/.521 with 26 homers and 26 doubles. He had one of his better seasons at the plate the following year in 1978. That year, Fisk hit 20 home runs and 39 two-baggers.
Although injuries have been very prevalent in his career, Dustin Pedroia has still put up numbers with the Red Sox. He won AL Rookie of the Year in 2007 and then won AL MVP the next year in 2008. In 2008, Pedroia tied Ichiro Suzuki for most hits in the MLB with 213. Pedroia also had a league-leading 54 doubles that year. At this point in his career, he has a slash line of .299/.365/.439. Pedroia has won two World Series with the Red Sox in 2007 and 2013.
Hall of Fame Inductee in 2015
Uniform Number 45 Retired by Red Sox in 2015
In Pedro Martinez‘s first three seasons with the Red Sox, he finished in second for the AL Cy Young award once and won it the other two seasons. In the 2000 regular season, Martinez pitched 217 innings and had a 1.74 ERA with 284 strikeouts. He pitched seven complete games that year, four of them being shutouts. Martinez was a member of the 2004 World Series team. He got a win in that series when he pitched seven shutout innings against the Cardinals.
Jonathan Papelbon (Image from New York Daily News)
Jonathan Papelbon debuted with the Red Sox in 2005 and stayed there until 2011. Besides his first year in 2005, he pitched at least 58 1/3 innings in each of his seasons with Boston. He had a 2.33 ERA and 509 strikeouts in the regular season with the club. In 27 Postseason innings pitched, Papelbon had an impressive 1.00 ERA in his playoff career. He was on the 2007 World Series winning team. Papelbon pitched 4 1/3 shutout innings in that series.
Feature Image Courtesy of NESN.
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