Baseball's steroid era lasted from the early 1990s to the early 2000s — a time when the Boston Red Sox were still stuck in the Curse of the Bambino and reeling from the collapse of the 1986 World Series.
From 1990 to 2005, Boston made the playoffs seven times, including finally breaking the curse in 2004. Despite having the longest World Series drought in baseball at the time, the team has always had star players.
During the steroid era, the Red Sox had an MVP winner in Mo Vaughn, two Cy Young Award winners in Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez, as well as many Silver Slugger and Gold Glove winners. Star power has never been Boston's problem. But, never being top dog meant some players also were snubbed of awards.
The Silver Slugger is given to the best hitter at each position in each league. The award was first distributed in 1980, and the Red Sox have had their fair share of winners in the 45 years since. That doesn't mean there haven't been players who deserved to get theirs that didn't, though, especially in the steroid era, where offense was at its peak. This season, FanSided has partnered with Louisville Slugger to have exclusive access to reveal the award winners — before the 2025 reveal, we'll look to the past.
2 Red Sox who were robbed of a Silver Slugger award during the steroid era
Nomar Garciaparra - 1998, 1999, & 2000
From 1998-2000, Nomar Garciaparra was the best-hitting shortstop in baseball. He led all shortstops in OPS all three seasons, and led in average in '99 and 2000. 1998 was his best power season with 35 home runs and 80 extra-base hits. He was a pure hitter, and his .372 batting average is the closest anybody has been to .400 in the 2000s.
But Alex Rodriguez existed. Even still, in 1998, he had a better average and OPS with just two fewer RBIs. In '99, his average was 70 points higher, and his OPS was 80; he had more extra-base hits and just seven fewer RBIs. In 2000, it was closer between the two, but Nomar still had a marginally higher OPS and an average of 50 points higher. In a time when batting average meant a lot more, the best pure hitter in the AL was robbed three seasons in a row.
Mo Vaughn - 1998
The Hit Dog was Boston's best hitter through the mid-90s. He was rewarded with an MVP in the shortened 1995 season, but he was consistently great until he left the team after 1998. As a first baseman, he competed with other '90s greats like Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, and Carlos Delgado for the award every season, but in 1998, he should have won.
He hit .337 that season, with 40 home runs and 115 RBIs, and 205 hits overall. Palmiero won the Silver Slugger that season, but it just wasn't as good as Vaughn. While playing eight more games, he hit just .296 that season, had 43 home runs and 121 RBIs, and an OPS 50 points worse than Vaughn's. While he slugged slightly better and had a few more RBIs, as an overall hitter, Mo was better.