Boston Red Sox: Most important players in franchise history
The Red Sox have had numerous great players in their long and storied history, but several also have an importance to the team that goes beyond their numbers.
Lost amid all of the tumult during this winter of discontent is the fact that the Boston Red Sox have been the best Major League Baseball franchise of the twenty-first century. Their four World Series victories since 2000 are the most of any team and they’ve made the postseason in eleven of the nineteen seasons in that time span.
Along the way, they have a long and rich history filled with heartbreak and triumph. Through it all, some of the greatest players in baseball history have called Fenway Park home. However, many of these players have not only been among the best to suit up for the Red Sox, but they are also among the most important to do so.
While there is a distinction between “greatest” and “most important,” it’s inevitable that most (but not all) of the following players will fall into both categories. Still, the focus on these players will be on their importance to the Red Sox, not their individual accomplishments or their greatness. Many will probably be no surprise, but hopefully you may not have previously looked at them in this particular way.
(And before anyone says anything, Babe Ruth is not on this list. Even though he was a damn good pitcher during his time with the Red Sox, he didn’t become Babe Ruth until he was a Yankee).
Let’s begin.
Ted Williams
This one is most likely the least surprising entry on the list as Ted Williams is generally considered to be the greatest player in Red Sox history. His exploits both on and off the field are legendary and would make a fantastic Hollywood movie (and it’s shocking that in 2020 no one has made a film that told the story of Williams’ incredible life).
For the purposes of this slide show, the focus won’t be on Ted’s accomplishments; no discussion of his hitting .406 in 1941, winning two Triple Crowns, or clubbing over 500 home runs. Instead, the discussion will be on why Williams was one of the most important Red Sox players in their history.
From 1920 when they sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees until Williams’ rookie season in 1939, the Red Sox were bad. Until 1938 when they finished second in the American League, the Red Sox spent the post-Ruth years as one of the worst teams in league. They only finished fourth place or better three times during that span. The addition of Williams instantly made them relevant and one of the greatest teams of the 1940s to never win a World Series.
From 1940 to 1949, the Red Sox finished second five times and won the American League pennant in 1946. In 1948 and 1949, the Red Sox lost the pennant in heartbreaking fashion on the last day of both seasons, but there’s no denying that Williams made the Red Sox contenders in the 1940s. In the three years he missed due to his service in World War II (1943-45), they dipped to two seventh place finishes and one fourth place finish.
Upon his return, they instantly came back to be one of the AL powerhouses. Unfortunately, once the 1950s hit the Red Sox went back to being one of the worst teams in all of baseball. They spent the final decade of Williams’ career never finishing better than third place and for that entire decade, Williams was the only reason for Sox fans to bother coming to Fenway Park.
Having lost their other star players to trades or retirement, Ted was the only attraction on those awful 1950s Red Sox teams and fans came to the ballpark just to see what he would do. He rewarded them one last time in storybook fashion when he hit a home run in his final at bat in his last game in September 1960.
Ted Williams was the first Red Sox superstar since Babe Ruth and made the team exciting and relevant after two decades in the wilderness. Without him, it may have been forty-five (or more) years before Boston became a factor in the American League and for that alone, The Kid’s importance cannot be overstated.
Carl Yastrzemski
Another Red Sox all-time great who also happens to be one of the most important players in their history will come as no surprise to anybody. Carl Yastrzemski debuted in 1961, the year after Williams retired, and promptly took over left field for the next two decades. Yaz played his entire twenty-three year career with the Red Sox and retired as perhaps their second-greatest player after Williams.
Yaz’s most important and enduring contribution to the Red Sox, though, may be the fact that he helped to save baseball in Boston. As mentioned previously, the Red Sox were really bad in the 1950s and that carried over into the 1960s. From Yaz’ rookie season of 1961 to 1966, the Red Sox finished in sixth place or worse. Everything unexpectedly came together in 1967 in what became known as the Impossible Dream season.
The Red Sox caught fire and played brilliantly down the stretch of an exciting pennant race that came down to the last day of the season before they pulled it off. Throughout that summer, Yaz was the leader of the club, the face of the franchise, and a one-man wrecking crew. He ended up winning the American League Triple Crown and cemented his place in Red Sox lore.
While the Red Sox lost the 1967 World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games, they would spend the next decade as one of the better teams in the league, winning another pennant (and losing another World Series in seven games) in 1975 and finishing in second place four times (two of which, 1972 and 1978, happened on the final day of the season).
With ballpark attendance next to nothing and complete disinterest in the Red Sox since the early 1950s, it’s no hyperbole to say that Yaz and that 1967 team helped to save baseball in Boston while giving birth to what is now known as Red Sox Nation. Because of that, in a lot of ways he may actually be more important than Ted Williams.
Pedro Martinez
Skipping ahead through the 1980s brings us to the late 1990s and one of the greatest pitchers in Red Sox history, Pedro Martinez.
Acquired in a trade with the Montreal Expos after the 1997 season, Pedro instantly became a legend in Boston as one of the most dominating pitchers of his era. His run of greatness in Boston between 1998 and 2004 is now the stuff of legend and helped Martinez earn his spot in Cooperstown.
Beyond his accomplishments on the mound, what made Pedro so important to the Red Sox was that he finally gave them a dominant ace in the wake of Roger Clemens‘ departure after the 1996 season. With Pedro anchoring the rotation, the Red Sox made postseason appearances in 1998, 1999, 2003, and 2004.
By his final year in Boston he was struggling with shoulder issues and wasn’t as dominating and overpowering as before, but he used his smarts and his pinpoint control to help the Red Sox finally vanquish the Yankees and the Curse of the Bambino (if you believe in such things) while graciously stepping aside to let newcomer Curt Schilling assume the role of ace.
Beyond all of that, anyone who remembers watching Pedro pitch for the Red Sox will tell you that each and every one of his starts was must-see. There was an absolutely electric ripple of energy that permeated Fenway Park when he was on the mound (and it even came across on TV) as everyone watching waited to see what incredible thing he’d do next.
On a personal level, my wife and I went to numerous games at Fenway Park between 2000 and 2004 when Pedro was pitching and there was nothing at all like it. For that alone, in addition to his carrying those late 1990s/early 2000s Red Sox teams that were good but not quite good enough, Pedro’s importance to the Red Sox is secure.
Manny Ramirez
Manny Ramirez is another player on this list whose importance to the Red Sox goes beyond his accomplishments on the field. Anyone who remembers Ramirez during his time in Boston knows all about the monstrous offensive numbers he put up for the team (much of it chemically enhanced as is now known) as well as his various goofy shenanigans.
“Manny being Manny” became as much a part of his career in Boston as the towering home runs and incredible RBI totals. While he was, shall we say, not the most competent left fielder the team has ever had, the whole was greater than the sum of its parts and Manny was one of the most popular and productive Red Sox players of the 2000s.
Where his importance in the team’s history really comes into play, beyond the two World Series victories he helped the Red Sox win in 2004 and 2007, was in how he came to be on the team in the first place. In 2000, the Red Sox were not seen as a marquee destination for the top free agents, especially those who were not white.
In the wake of Alex Rodriguez‘ then record-breaking 10-year, $252 million free agent contract with the Texas Rangers in 2000, the Red Sox inked Ramirez to the second-largest free agent contract in baseball history. Manny signed with the Red Sox for 10 years and $200 million and went on to spend the next eight seasons with the team before being traded midway through the 2008 season amid some frustrating and ugly incidents which precipitated his departure.
Manny was the first marquee free agent to sign in Boston and showed the rest of the league that A) the Red Sox were willing to shell out big money on talent and B) that players of color could and would be embraced by Red Sox fans contrary to the team’s and city’s uglier past. Along with Pedro and later on David Ortiz, Manny energized the Dominican community in Boston which became one of the most loyal and vocal segments of Red Sox Nation.
For opening the floodgates for top free agents to sign with the Red Sox alone, Manny is one of the most important players in the team’s history. The prodigious offensive numbers he put up and all of the games he helped them win, along with the continued reputation of Boston as a destination for top free agents, are his Red Sox legacy.
The Idiots
This next one isn’t a single player but rather a group. Most of these guys weren’t superstars although they were all very, very good players. However, their importance to Red Sox history is secure and if not for this particular group of players, the Red Sox may still be in search of their first World Series victory since 1918.
The Idiots were a group of players comprising mainly of Johnny Damon, Kevin Millar, Bill Mueller, Trot Nixon, Jason Varitek, Curt Schilling, Manny Ramirez, and pre-legendary David Ortiz. Still smarting from their crushing defeat in Game Seven of the 2003 ALCS to the Yankees, the 2004 Red Sox seemed stuck in neutral until late in the summer when they suddenly caught fire and finished strong to win 98 games and the AL Wild Card.
The rest is not necessary to rehash here, but the Idiots will forever be a part of Red Sox history and perhaps the most important part since they ended the eighty-six year drought and exorcised so many ghosts. Evolving from the Cowboy Up crew of 2003, the Idiots were irreverent and fun. They grew their hair shaggy and didn’t shave. They hooted and hollered and drank shots of whiskey before big games.
They kept things loose and kept the team from buckling under pressure when things got tough (see: Game Four of the 2004 ALCS). They kept the faith and believed in themselves, letting both their teammates and every Red Sox fan know that they’d fight to the very end and thought they could overcome any adversity.
Most importantly, those guys played out of their minds and made history by not only winning the team’s first World Series in forever, but in defeating the Yankees in epic fashion along the way. For that and that alone, this group of players might be the singe most important group of guys to have ever put on Red Sox uniforms.
David Ortiz
David Ortiz obviously needs no introduction. From 2003 to 2016, he was the only constant on the Red Sox and became one of the most legendary figures in the team’s long and storied history. He won three World Series with the Red Sox and was a major, major contributor in every one. He put up excellent numbers with the bat and retired as not only one of the greatest hitters in Red Sox history (and their career home run leader), but probably the greatest DH of all time.
Beyond his accomplishments, Ortiz was not just the face of the Red Sox for those fourteen seasons in Boston, he was the team’s heart and soul. His clutch hitting in 2004 assured his immortality in Red Sox lore, but he was also their spiritual leader. Earlier in his Red Sox tenure, he was a swaggering, smiling behemoth who always seemed to get the big hit when the Red Sox needed it.
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As he got older, he became the wise elder statesman who took young budding stars like Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley, and Mookie Betts under his wing and helped them flourish. He was the comforting and defiant voice in the face of unspeakable tragedy in 2013 when he rallied Red Sox Nation and all of New England in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings and to the very end of his career, he was the most beloved Red Sox player in history.
Perhaps nothing encapsulated what David Ortiz means to Red Sox fan as the response to his shooting in 2019. Red Sox fans around the country and the world were shocked and saddened and the outpouring of concern, love, and support for Ortiz showed that the connection he had with the fanbase and the region was greater than that of any other player past or present.
Throw in the three World Series victories he helped lead in 2004, 2007 and 2013 and a strong case can be made that Ortiz is the most important Red Sox player ever. There’s no debating that he’s the most beloved, that’s for sure.
Mookie Betts
Call this one a bonus entry, call it premature, call it woefully misguided…you may be right on all three counts. But I’ve decided to include Mookie Betts on the list because for the six seasons that he was on the Red Sox, he was the face of the franchise, the best player on the team, and the next logical superstar progression from David Ortiz.
Betts came into the league in 2014 and immediately served notice that he was going to be something special. After two solid seasons in 2014 and 2015, Mookie broke out in a big way in 2016 with an MVP-caliber season. It was an award he would’ve won if not for Mike Trout, although he did finish second in the voting. Not coincidentally, that was also Ortiz’ final season and the passing of the torch to Betts.
The 2017 Red Sox suffered a bit of an identity crisis (not to mention a power outage) in the wake of Ortiz’ retirement, but Betts helped carry that team to another AL East division title and a postseason berth. It was in 2018 where Mookie made his presence known as one of the best players in the league as he won the AL MVP and numerous other awards while leading the Red Sox to their most recent World Series victory.
As we all know, Mookie is now a Dodger and his time in Boston came to a sudden and too soon end. However, he’s one of the most important players in Red Sox history (recency bias acknowledged) because he bridged the gap between the Ortiz era and the new, too-short Mookie era. He was not only the Red Sox best player but one of the top five best players in the league, something the team hadn’t had in a long time.
Next. Top 5 Mookie Betts moments. dark
Betts was the first Red Sox player to win a league MVP since Dustin Pedroia in 2008 and seemed poised to win many more. He was the quiet, unassuming face of the franchise with the big smile and the silky smooth game. He’s gone now and perhaps his Red Sox tenure doesn’t carry the same gravitas as the other players on this list, but over the last decade he was the most important player on the Red Sox.