Boston Red Sox first great right fielder

The Boston Red Sox have had many great right fielders and this is a look at the very first.

The Boston Red Sox have had some legendary right fielders through the years and the latest is Mookie Betts. Just how good will Betts be?

The defensive requirements can be simplified to catching balls, returning hit balls to the infield and backing up routine – or not routine – plays. Betts certainly fills the defensive requirement and the other side of his game is being the most productive lead off hitter in baseball. Historically the right field tradition has to begin somewhere.

David Ortiz has appeared in three World Series for the Boston Red Sox and the performances have been the stuff of legends, but someone has actually appeared in four World Series for Boston and that is Hall of Fame member Harry Hooper.

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On May 30th, a special day happened to Hooper when in 1913 he led off both games of a double-header against Washington with a home run. Leading off a game with a home run is not unusual since Betts has done it three times and Rickey Henderson a bundle more, but Hooper hit only four for the season and this was the dead ball era.

Hooper was a fleet-footed left-handed hitting outfielder who spent most of his Boston tenure patrolling right field and became the first noted authority on fielding that most difficult of positions at Fenway Park. The dimensions were different in that pre “Williamsburg” era with no bullpens, so the territory to cover was far more expansive than today.

Hooper was somewhat unusual in baseball of that day and age since he was a college man with a degree in engineering. On the field, Hooper was an engineer of exceptional talent as a lead-off hitter, one of the greatest fielders, a smart practitioner of “inside baseball” and a noted clutch player. Hooper was also part of the great “Million Dollar” outfield along with Tris Speaker and Duffy Lewis.

Hooper still holds the Red Sox team record for career steals with 300 while being caught 83 times. The steals offer a tempting target for Betts, who also is now part of the lineage of great right fielders who have called Fenway home. For Boston, Hooper finished with a slash of .272/.362/.367 before owner Harry Frazee – remember him – traded Hooper to the Chicago White Sox as punishment for a holdout.

Hooper caught fire for five seasons in Chicago, as baseball was transitioning into the lively ball era from the dead ball era and in those seasons, Hooper slammed 45 home runs compared to 30 in Boston and had a five-year average of .302 to finish with a career average of .281.

Hooper returned to his native California after his MLB days and served one minor league season as player-manager – not unusual in those days – before returning to a career in real estate. Hooper later played a bit in the minor leagues in California while pursuing his real estate career and later served two seasons as baseball coach at Princeton.

Next: Electrifying Jackie Bradley realizing enormous potential

When great right fielders are mentioned in Boston, with such notable names as Dwight Evans, Jackie Jensen and now Betts, the path can be followed all the way back to the opening of Fenway Park and the only Red Sox player to appear in four Boston World Series – Hooper – until Ortiz joins him in 2016.

Sources: Harry Hooper An American Baseball Life by Paul Zingg. Baseball-reference