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

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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BOSTON, MA – CIRCA 1978: George Scott #15 of the Boston Red Sox bats against the Detroit Tigers during a Major League Baseball game circa 1978 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. Scott played for the Red Sox from 1966-71 and 1977-79. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA – CIRCA 1978: George Scott #15 of the Boston Red Sox bats against the Detroit Tigers during a Major League Baseball game circa 1978 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. Scott played for the Red Sox from 1966-71 and 1977-79. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)

Honorable Mentions

Here’s a list of the Red Sox players from the 1970s who didn’t quite make the top ten, in no particular order. Butch Hobson manned third base for the Red Sox from 1975 to 1980, taking over the position from Rico Petrocelli. In 1977 he set he franchise record for home runs and RBI by a third baseman with 30 HR and 112 RBI and for his Red Sox career he hit .252 with 94 home runs and 358 RBI.

Rick Wise spent from 1974 to 1977 with the Red Sox and helped them win the pennant in 1975 with a 19-12 record. He went 47-28 for the Sox in those four seasons before he was traded to the Indians for Dennis Eckersley in 1978. Cecil Cooper began his career with the Red Sox in 1971 and played for them until 1976. The first baseman was a solid hitter and excellent defender who unfortunately didn’t find his power stroke until after he left Boston when he was traded to the Brewers in 1977.

George “Boomer” Scott began his career with the Sox in 1966 and was on the team until being traded to the Brewers in 1972. He came back to Boston in 1977 and played for the Red Sox again until 1979. His best Red Sox season of the 1970s came in 1977 when he hit 33 home runs and drove in 95 runs, but he was usually good for at least 15-20 homers a season while in Boston.

The last two players are a pair who were known far more for their defensive prowess than what they did with a bat. Rick Miller‘s major league career spanned from 1971 to 1985 and he spent all but the years of 1978 to 1980 with the Red Sox. While he only hit 15 home runs between 1971 and 1977, he was an excellent outfielder and had a career fielding percentage of .986. Finally, longtime Red Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy spent the final seven seasons of his ten year career with the Red Sox, from 1977 to 1984.

His best years were in the 1970s when he was named an All Star (1978) and helped the Red Sox get to within a game of winning the division that season before they lost the heartbreaking one game playoff to the Yankees. He was a good defensive second baseman who hit for good average and stole a fair amount of bases while hitting for absolutely no power.

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