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.

Roger Clemens

First on the list is perhaps the greatest pitcher in Red Sox history, Roger Clemens. Yes, he’s incredibly polarizing and Red Sox fans seem to love him or hate him, but there’s no denying that he spent the prime years of his career in Boston and he remains the Red Sox franchise leader in wins and strikeouts, numbers he racked up during his twelve seasons with the team from 1984-1996.

In keeping with the spirit of this article, we’ll only focus on what Clemens did during the 1980s, but even then he was one of the best and most dominant pitchers in all of baseball. I’ve made known my love for Clemens in previous articles; he was my favorite pitcher of the 1980s, one of my favorite Red Sox players of all time, and I think he belongs in Cooperstown despite the PED allegations that had swirled around him over the last decade.

A quick rundown of his numbers in the 1980s (from 1984-1990) show a 116-51 W-L record, an ERA of 3.01, 1424 K, 425 BB, 1513.0 IP, and a WHIP of 1.147 in 205 starts. Those are monster numbers! To go along with those stats, Clemens won the American League MVP award in 1986 and the American League Cy Young award in 1986 and 1987.

He also probably should have won that award in 1990 when he went 21-6 with an anemic 1.93 ERA and 209 strikeouts. He lost to Oakland’s Bob Welch who won 27 games that year, although Clemens’ ERA was a full run lower and he had almost 100 more strikeouts. Still, his 1986 season was superlative (24-4, 2.48 ERA, 238 K) and he led the Red Sox to the brink of a World Series victory.

Regardless of how you feel about the way Clemens left Boston, his time with the New York Yankees, or any of his off-field issues, remember that while the Red Sox haven’t retired his number (21), they also haven’t allowed anyone else to wear it since he left in 1996.

There’s no denying that Roger Clemens was the best Red Sox pitcher of the 1980s and he deserves to be at the top of this list.

Wade Boggs

The 1980s as a decade had several great hitters who flirted with .400 including Tony Gwynn, George Brett, and the Red Sox own Wade Boggs. Boggs was an obsessive student of hitting in the same mold as Ted Williams, although while Williams hit for power and average, Boggs eschewed power for average.

Boggs’ career spanned the years 1982-1999 and he spent the majority of that (1982-1992) with the Red Sox. During the nine seasons of the 1980s he spent in Boston, he put up some truly incredible numbers at the plate. The third baseman hit over .300 in every one of those seasons and had the following averages, in order, from 1982-1990: .349, .361, .325, .368, .357. .363, .366, .330, .302. In five of those seasons (1983, 1985-88) he led the league and won the AL batting title.

For the decade, Boggs finished with a .347 average, 70 HR (aided by a 24 home run outburst in 1987, otherwise hitting fewer than ten per season), 586 RBI, 841 BB, a .435 OBP, and 921 R. Boggs left the Red Sox after 1992 and played five seasons with the Yankees (where he won a World Series in 1996) and wrapped up his career with two seasons in Tampa where he collected his 3000th hit.

While Boggs wasn’t able to win a World Series in Boston, the Red Sox retired his number (26) and he wears a Sox cap on his plaque in Cooperstown. There’s no denying Boggs was one of the greatest Red Sox players (and their best hitter) of the 1980s.

Jim Rice

Jim Rice was another Hall of Famer who called Fenway Park home during the 1980s. He spent his entire sixteen year career, from 1974-1989, with the Red Sox and was the third in the team’s succession of great left fielders, carrying the torch passed on from Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski.

Rice was one of the Gold Dust Twins of the 1970s when he and fellow rookie Fred Lynn took the American League by storm in 1975 en route to a heartbreaking loss in the World Series that year. Rice evolved into one of the most feared sluggers in the game by the late 1970s, culminating with his MVP season of 1978. By the time the 1980s rolled around, he settled into being a productive power hitter who also hit for average.

During the decade, Rice hit .286 with 210 HR and 868 RBI. He led the American League in home runs and RBI in 1983 and in the pennant-winning season of 1986, he hit .324 with 20 home runs and 110 RBI. Slowed by injuries and age, Rice’s numbered dipped during his final three seasons of 1987-1989 (which he spent mostly as a DH) before he hung it up for good.

Still, he was one of more feared hitters in the American League during the decade and the Red Sox retired his number (14). He was enshrined in Cooperstown and remains one of the best sluggers the Sox ever had in both the 1970s and 1980s.

Dwight Evans

Rice’s long time teammate Dwight Evans was more of a late bloomer. Evans played all but the final season of his twenty year career (1972-1991) with the Red Sox, manning right field with an incredible glove and rocket arm before Mookie Betts was even born. That defensive prowess led to Dewey (as he was affectionately called) winning eight Gold Glove awards (including five in a row in the 1980s, from 1981-85).

As for his prowess at the plate, Evans was a solid hitter in the 1970s who never hit more than seventeen home runs in a season until 1978 when he suddenly developed his power stroke. From then to the end of his career, he was one of the best sluggers in the American League while hitting for respectable average.

Taking his 1970s numbers out of the mix and pretending as though his final season of 1991 which was spent in Baltimore didn’t exist, Evans spent the 1980s producing the following numbers for the Red Sox: .276 BA, 269 HR, and 963 RBI. Until the tail end of the 1980s, Evans seemed to get better with age. He’s remained a borderline Hall of Famer who isn’t yet in Cooperstown although I and many others think he deserves the honor.

Had Evans started hitting for power a few seasons earlier than he did, he’d probably be in Cooperstown. His numbers are eerily similar to Rice’s (although it took Dewey four more seasons than Rice to compile them), but combined with his defensive awards, he really should be in already. Either way, he was definitely one of the best Red Sox players of the 1980s.

Rich Gedman

Now we’re leaving behind all-time greats and getting into the second tier players, guys who were very good for the Red Sox during the decade but nowhere near Hall of Fame worthy. First up is the main Red Sox catcher of the 1980s, Rich Gedman. His career spanned the years 1980 to 1992 and he spent the first decade, from 1980 to 1990, with the Red Sox.

Gedman made his debut as a twenty year old in 1980 and following Carlton Fisk‘s departure after the season, became the Red Sox regular catcher in 1981. He struggled a bit until 1983 when he figured things out at the plate. He enjoyed his best seasons between 1984 and 1986. In those seasons he hit 24, 18, and 16 home runs, respectively while batting .269, .295, and .258, again respectively.

From there he tailed off at the plate but still finished the decade hitting .246 with 83 home runs and 356 RBI. Gedman also made two All Star teams in 1985 and 1986 while catching Roger Clemens’ first twenty-strikeout game, also in 1986. After his playing career ended, Gedman spent time coaching in the Red Sox minor league system and is currently the hitting coach for the AAA Pawtucket Red Sox

He may not have been one of the best catchers in the American League during the 1980s, but Rich Gedman was a solid and reliable player who helped the Red Sox a great deal during the decade.

Bruce Hurst

While Roger Clemens rightly gets all of the accolades as the greatest Red Sox pitcher of the 1980s, the team was lucky enough to have another excellent hurler take the mound for them during the decade. Bruce Hurst spent the first nine seasons of his fourteen year career with the Red Sox, from 1980 to 1988, and quietly became their second-best pitcher over that span.

After struggling a bit at the start of his career, Hurst broke out in 1986. To that point in his career Hurst had posted a 42-46 W-L mark with a 4.59 ERA, but in 1986 he went 13-8 with a 2.99 ERA and 167 strikeouts even while missing six weeks during that summer with a groin injury. He was even better in the 1986 postseason where his exploits still live on in Red Sox lore.

In the dramatic 1986 ALCS in which the Red Sox came back from a 3-1 defecit to win the series in seven games, Hurst went 1-0 with a 2.40 ERA in his two starts. He was even better in the World Series, going 2-0 by out-dueling Ron Darling in Game One (a 1-0 Red Sox victory) and then throwing a complete game to win Game Five. What happened next is in the realm of the bizarre but has since passed into baseball history.

When the Red Sox were one strike away from winning the World Series in Game Six, Hurst was named World Series MVP by the voters. Instead, the Mets came back to win the game and forced Game Seven. Oil Can Boyd was due to pitch for the Red Sox but was so hungover on the day of the game that Hurst was pressed into service on short rest and got the start instead. He pitched admirably and only gave up one hit through the first five innings.

However, he tired in the sixth and gave up three runs to the Mets which tied the game. He was pulled and got a no-decision as the Sox went on to lose the game and series. For the rest of his time in Boston he was an excellent pitcher and went 18-6 in his final Red Sox season.

During his years in Boston, Hurst compiled an 88-73 W-L record, a 4.75 ERA, and 1043 strikeouts. While he started slowly, from the mid-1980s onward he was an excellent pitcher and was one of the best they had in the decade.

Bob Stanley

Bob Stanley will forever be known to Red Sox fans as one of the pitchers who had a hand in blowing Game Six of the 1986 World Series. We’ve been debating for over thirty years if the fateful pitch in question was a wild pitch by Stanley or a passed ball by Gedman. What this debate has done is overshadow the long and excellent career Stanley had, its entirety spent with the Red Sox.

From 1977 to 1989, Stanley was a mainstay of the Boston bullpen and when he retired he was the team’s all-time saves leader, a mark he held until Jonathan Papelbon surpassed it in 2009. Stanley is still the Red Sox franchise leader in appearances  and relief wins and was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame.

During the 1980s, Stanley went 76-76 with a 3.70 ERA, 118 saves, and 555 strikeouts. He appeared in 501 games, all but 39 of them in relief, and was solid and dependable. In an era when relievers pitched far more than they do now, Stanley was one of the best and an important part of the 1980s Red Sox teams.

Bill Buckner

Bill Buckner is famous (or infamous) in Red Sox history for one play, but that doesn’t tell the story at all when it comes to the player he was. While he only spent five of his twenty-two seasons with the Red Sox, he was an integral part of the team and a huge reason why they even got to the 1986 World Series in the first place.

Buckner’s best years in Boston were the four he spent with the Red Sox from 1984 to 1987 (he came back in 1990 for the final year of his career). During those four years, he hit .279 with 47 home runs and 321 RBI. In 1986 he put up a line of a .267 average with 18 home runs and 102 RBI and was a big part of why the Red Sox won the pennant.

Knowledgeable Red Sox fans know that Buckner’s error in Game Six of the World Series was not the reason the team lost the game (and eventually the series). Bob Stanley, Rich Gedman, and Calvin Schiraldi (as well as manager John McNamara) were the goats of Game Six if such blame needs to be assigned. There was a reason the Red Sox traded for Buckner before the 1984 season and it was thanks to his contributions that the team was successful in 1986.

Mike Greenwell

Mike Greenwell had the unfortunate burden of playing left field for the Red Sox as the next in line after Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, and Jim Rice. While Greenwell broke the string of Hall of Famers playing the position which started in 1939 with Williams and ended when Rice retired in 1989, he was still a very good player for the Red Sox, with whom he spent his entire career from 1985-1996.

In the 1980s, Greenwell put up some excellent numbers, producing a .316 average, 73 home runs, and 388 RBI between 1985 and 1990. His 1988 season was superb, where he hit .325 with 22 home runs and 119 RBI. He finished runner-up to Jose Canseco for the American League MVP award with some thinking he should have won (although Canseco did put up monster numbers, albeit chemically assisted).

After Canseco admitted years later to using steroids during his career, Greenwell coming up short for the MVP stung a little bit more. However, even though he didn’t quite live up to the expectations he had in succeeding Rice in left field, Greenwell was a very good player for the 1980s Red Sox.

Oil Can Boyd, Dave Henderson, Ellis Burks

These are a few more players who were very good for the Red Sox in the 1980s but didn’t make the cut as one of their top ten players of the decade. Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd pitched the first eight seasons of his career (1982-1989) for the Red Sox and compiled a 60-56 W-L record, a 4.52 ERA, and 571 strikeouts. He best seasons were 1984-1986 when he won double-digit games and he went 16-10 in 1986.

He was also known for his colorful personality and substance abuse problems and he let the team down by getting drunk during the rain-induced day off between games six and seven of the World Series, forcing the team to turn to Bruce Hurst on short rest. Still, Boyd was an important part of those competitive 1980s Sox teams.

Ellis Burks was supposed to be the next great Red Sox center fielder and for a time it looked like he’d live up to that. He spent the first six seasons (and the final one) of his eighteen year career in Boston and put up some nice numbers during that time. From 1987-1990, Burks hit .291 with 71 home runs and 301 RBI. Knee and back injuries slowed him down and he left as a free agent after the 1992 season.

Burks came full circle when he returned to the Red Sox for his final season in 2004 and won a World Series ring to cap his career. The final honorable mention is for a player who didn’t even spend a full season with the Red Sox, Dave Henderson. He spent the second half of the 1986 season and the first half of the 1987 season with the team but will forever be known for his two dramatic hits in game five of the 1986 ALCS.

Down to their last strike and facing elimination, Henderson lofted a three-run home run over the fence to give the Red Sox the lead. Later in extra innings, his sacrifice fly drove in the winning run. After winning that series in seven games, Henderson hit .400 with two more home runs in the World Series.