Ranking the Red Sox shortstops
By Rick McNair
Number Seven – Everett Scott
The Yankees needed some pitching and a shortstop after the 1921 season, so naturally they go to their farm system north and get Bullet Joe Bush and his 16 wins, Sad Sam Jones and his 23 wins and Everett Scott and his exceptional defensive play – thanks, Harry!
Scott was a key player on three Red Sox World Series championship teams and added one more with the 1923 Yankees. If it is hitting numbers, then Scott will certainly not stand out with a Boston slash of .246/.281/.315 in eight seasons, but another number does stand out and that is 1,307 consecutive games played, a record that stood until Lou Gehrig broke it. Scott also took pride in his conditioning and that was rare in that era – conditioning that was instrumental in “The Deacon’s” ability to play and survive at 5’8” and under 150 pounds.
Scott’s value was his glove and his baseball intellect as he was capable of doing the right thing at the right time by fully understanding – in classic Clint Eastwood style “His limitations.”
Scott is somewhat of a forgotten figure on the great Red Sox teams of that era that had Babe Ruth, Tris Speaker, Joe Wood and plenty of others with flashy numbers, but Scott was about as good as it gets with the glove for a dozen or so years.