Red Sox Rookie of the Year winners: Ranking their careers
By Rick McNair
Second Place: Fred Lynn
ROY Totals: 145 G, 175 H, .331/.401/.566, 21 HR, 105 RBI, WAR 7.1
Career Totals: 1969 G, 1960 H, .283/.360/.484, 306 HR, 1111 RBI, WAR 49.2
The Gold Dust Twins of 1975 were Lynn and fellow rookie Jim Rice, who led the Red Sox to the pennant and into the World Series against the Reds. Maybe if Rice did not shatter his wrist and could have played the Red Sox would have won?
In his six full seasons in Boston, Lynn was an All-Star each season, won four Gold Gloves, captured a batting title and finished his Boston stint with a .308 average before being sent to the California Angels in one of the more questionable moves in Red Sox history.
Lynn was a career .347 hitter at Fenway, but money became an issue and Lynn, adamant about his compensation, was sent packing to LA where he made the All-Star team each of the three seasons he was an Angel.
From LA, the route was Baltimore, Detroit and a final season with the Padres and then retirement at age 38. In his ten seasons out of Boston Lynn never reached the .300 mark again.
Lynn and Garciaparra are eerily similar in their careers. Both enjoyed tremendous success in Boston and were never able to achieve those lofty totals elsewhere. Both left under a dark cloud and both later returned and were welcomed home. Both had injuries that certainly impacted their performance.
One item that puts Lynn in a special class is his glove work. Red Sox fans have been amazed by Jackie Bradley, but Lynn did it just as well and maybe even better while hitting a ton in Boston.