Red Sox all-time washed up player All-Star team (part two)
By Drew Athans
The Red Sox history of signing stars past their prime was too large for one article. Here’s a look at more washed up stars who spent time in Boston.
When I did the first article on the Red Sox All-Time Washed Up All-Star Team, my original intention was born out of my curiosity as to why the Red Sox always seemed to eagerly sign so many formerly great players who were in the last gasps of their careers. While it may not be an exclusive proclivity of the Red Sox, since they’re the team that gets the majority of my attention, it at least seemed that way when I was growing up.
What was fun about the response to the first article was how many people not only agreed with the players I included, but the suggestions they came up with. I had several more players on my list but didn’t want the article to become too unwieldy and so limited it to only eight players. Based on the feedback and page views, though, it made it a no-brainer for me to do a sequel.
I was also happy that not a single bit of feedback I got took me to task for being mean to the players. That wasn’t my intention and I even made that clear in the introduction to the first article, but in a time when so many people are either unwilling or unable to read beyond a headline, it was nice to see that fellow Red Sox fans knew where I was coming from.
One more thing before we get into this next group of players: as I said in the first article, the intention here is to look at A) formerly great players who B) had their best years elsewhere before coming to the Red Sox. I got a lot of comments from readers who completely missed the point and gave me suggestions like Bob Stanley (who played his entire career in Boston) and Carl Crawford (who was a free agent bust still in his prime when he got to the Sox).
Remember, in order to qualify for this list, these players need to be former greats who were old and had little to nothing left once they put on a Red Sox uniform. With that out of the way, as always and in no particular order, let’s begin.