August 27, 2013: Red Sox acquire Quintin Berry from Kansas City Royals in exchange for Clayton Mortensen.
The Dave Roberts steal remains one of the most memorable moments in franchise history and showed the Red Sox the importance of having a stolen base threat they could bring off the bench. That clearly played a factor in Boston’s decision to acquire Quintin Berry when they were gearing up for another championship run.
Berry played sparingly down the stretch, appearing in only 13 games, but they picked his spots wisely. He went 5-for-8 with a home run and three steals to wrap up the regular season.
While he didn’t record a plate appearance in the postseason, Berry appeared in three games as a pinch-runner and stole a base each time. His impact on the game was limited but he accomplished what he was brought in to do and the Red Sox ended up winning each of the postseason games he played in.
Berry appeared in only 25 games for three different teams over the next four years. He was always a fringe major league player but he possessed one skillset the 2013 Red Sox sorely lacked on their bench – speed. He provided the team with a threat on the base paths and earned a World Series ring for his efforts.