Boston Red Sox: Ranking top 10 players from the 1980s

In the 1980s, the Red Sox came within a hair’s breadth of winning a World Series. Here’s a list of the team’s ten best players during that decade.

As a child of the 1980s, that decade holds a special place in my heart when it comes to many things, not just baseball. As far as the Boston Red Sox are concerned, those years will always have a lot of meaning for me, especially the year 1986. That magical season, which ended in horrific fashion, was the year I became a lifelong fan of both the game of baseball and the Red Sox.

I was six years in old in 1986 and was getting ready to play my first season of Little League after doing tee ball the year before. My mom bought me (for Easter, I think, although I can’t be sure…it was so long ago) the 1986 Topps Red Sox team set of baseball cards. I remember that they came in a small brown binder that had a brown faux-leather cover with the circular Red Sox logo embossed in gold on the front.

I still have those cards (though the binder is sadly long gone) and I remember poring over them (along with my other baseball cards) constantly during that season. The World Series was a wonderful thing and while my young self knew nothing of curses or sixty-eight year (at the time) droughts, I remember being thrilled watching game six on television, thinking that the Red Sox were going to win the World Series.

I also remember being horrified with how that game ended and then how the series ended a few days later when the Sox blew a late-inning lead in game seven to lose the World Series. It was the first season I followed both baseball and the Red Sox and to have it end in such gut-wrenching fashion, it’s a wonder I stayed a fan of the sport and the team.

Still, I kept watching and my devotion, and the devotion of countless others who suffered even longer than I did, was rewarded in 2004. While the Red Sox teams of the 2000s and 2010s won more than the 1980s teams ever did, those 1980s teams will always be special to me (especially the 1986 team, despite the ending).

With that in mind, here is my list of the top ten Red Sox players from the 1980s. Some of these guys were stars and ended up in Cooperstown, some were nothing more than good-to-very-good players, some played their entire careers, some played most of their careers here, and some were only here for a proverbial cup of coffee. All contributed in some way to the decade that produced one American League pennant (1986) and three AL East division titles (1986, 1988, 1990).

In no particular order, let’s begin.