Red Sox: Boston’s all time washed up player All-Star team
By Drew Athans
Tony Perez
Like Fergie Jenkins, Tony Perez is another example of a Hall of Famer who the Red Sox brought in way after the years that made them Cooperstown-bound. Perez had his best seasons between 1964 and 1976 when he was a member of the Big Red Machine, the Cincinnati Reds teams of the 1970s that won four pennants and two World Series in that decade.
Perez left the Reds after 1976 and played three seasons with the Montreal Expos before the Red Sox signed him in 1980. He was actually pretty good in his first season in Boston, hitting 25 home runs and driving in 105 runs while batting .275. He also played in 151 games. However, there was a sharp drop off after that and his numbers in 1981 and 1982 were not nearly as good.
In 1981, Perez hit .252 with 9 home runs and 39 RBI in 84 games. He followed that up in 1982 with a .260 average, 6 home runs, and 31 RBI in only 69 games. At that point, he was forty-one years old and near the end of the road. He left after 1982 and played one season in Philadelphia before returning to Cincinnati for three abbreviated seasons.