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Boston Red Sox: Ranking the top 10 players from the 1970s

By Drew Athans

NEW YORK - CIRCA 1978: Butch Hobson #4 of the Boston Red Sox in action against the New York Yankees during an Major League Baseball game circa 1978 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. Hobson played for the Red Sox from 1975-80. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
NEW YORK - CIRCA 1978: Butch Hobson #4 of the Boston Red Sox in action against the New York Yankees during an Major League Baseball game circa 1978 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. Hobson played for the Red Sox from 1975-80. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /
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CIRCA 1978: Dennis Eckersley #23, of the Boston Red Sox, pitching during a game from his 1978 season with the Boston Red Sox. Dennis Eckersley played for 24 years, with 5 different teams was a 6-time All-Star, winner of the 1992 Cy Young and American League MVP and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004. (Photo by: 1978 SPX/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
CIRCA 1978: Dennis Eckersley #23, of the Boston Red Sox, pitching during a game from his 1978 season with the Boston Red Sox. Dennis Eckersley played for 24 years, with 5 different teams was a 6-time All-Star, winner of the 1992 Cy Young and American League MVP and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004. (Photo by: 1978 SPX/Diamond Images via Getty Images) /

The Red Sox of the 1970s had personalities as colorful as their uniforms. Here’s a list of their ten best players from that era.

After being one of the best teams in the American League during the 1940s, the Boston Red Sox were one of the worst for the 1950s and most of the 1960s. It wasn’t until the Impossible Dream pennant-winning season of 1967 that the team returned to respectability and being competitive on a (mostly) yearly basis.

While the Red Sox came up just short of achieving the ultimate goal of winning the World Series in 1967, that revitalized baseball in New England and gave birth to Red Sox Nation. It also sparked a run of teams that were competitive and resulted in the following decade, the 1970s, being one of the best in Red Sox history.

While the 1970s would only result in one pennant (in 1975), the team had a winning record every season of the decade and several near misses where they were in the race until late in the season (and in a couple of infamous cases, to the very last day of the season). The Red Sox players (and uniforms) of the 1970s also hold a special place in the hearts of fans who came of age in that decade in much the same way as I feel about the 1980s teams.

The following is a list of the best Red Sox players from the intense, freewheeling decade that was the 1970s. In no particular order, let’s begin.

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