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Top 10 Red Sox players enshrined in Baseball Hall of Fame

By Sean Penney

COOPERSTOWN, NY - JULY 24: Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez is introduced at Clark Sports Center during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony on July 24, 2016 in Cooperstown, New York. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
COOPERSTOWN, NY - JULY 24: Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez is introduced at Clark Sports Center during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony on July 24, 2016 in Cooperstown, New York. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /
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BOSTON, MA – MAY 26: Wade Boggs looks on during his number 26 retirement ceremony before the game between the Boston Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies at Fenway Park on May 26, 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA – MAY 26: Wade Boggs looks on during his number 26 retirement ceremony before the game between the Boston Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies at Fenway Park on May 26, 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

Wade Boggs
Year Inducted: 2005

When it came to the art of getting on base, nobody did it better than Wade Boggs in his day. Boggs won five batting titles during his 11 seasons in Boston and led the league in OBP six times.

It’s not that he couldn’t hit for power, as he displayed by hitting 24 home runs in 1987. Boggs simply preferred efficiency over swinging for the fences. He also showed plenty of pop with eight seasons of 40+ doubles, including twice when he led the league in that category.

Boggs ranks second in franchise history with a .338 batting average, third with a .428 OBP, and tied for 10th with a 13.7 BB%.

Boggs tallied 200+ hits in seven consecutive seasons, which was an American League record until it was broken by Ichiro Suzuki in 2008.

Red Sox fans soured on Boggs when he left in free agency to join the rival Yankees. He was coming off the worst season of his career when his average slumped to .259 at the age of 34. He certainly wasn’t washed up though, as that proved to be a mere blip in his career. Boggs bounced back with four consecutive All-Star seasons with the Yankees with his batting average cracking the .300 mark in each of them.

Most fans who felt betrayed by his defection to the Bronx eventually got over it. The Red Sox organization certainly did, inducting him into their franchise Hall of Fame and retiring his No. 26.

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