Red Sox: Top five most underrated players in team history

In addition to the all time greats who have played for the Red Sox are many players who were great but underrated. Here are five of the best.

Any team that’s been around for as long as the Boston Red Sox has had plenty of great players pass through, players who have become legends and franchise icons. Many of them transcended the team and became all time greats who ended up in Cooperstown. The names are known by Sox fans old and young alike and will be forever.

Beyond those greats is a sub-tier of players who were excellent in their own right; perhaps not good enough to merit induction into the Hall of Fame, but still worthy of praise and remembrance. However, being around for as long as the Red Sox have, there’s yet another sub-classification within this tier of players: those who were really good but are underrated.

The passage of time tends to diminish the talents and contributions of these underrated, underappreciated players, but fans with a deep appreciation of Red Sox history fondly remember these players. This article will is an appreciation of five of the best and most underrated players in franchise history.

(If you feel like some deserving players have been left off, don’t worry…there will be a second part of this article in the future!)

In no particular order, let’s begin.

Trot Nixon

The quintessential “Dirt Dog” of the late 1990s/early 2000s Red Sox, Trot Nixon was the team’s longtime right fielder, spending the first ten years of his twelve-year career with the Red Sox. First coming up in 1996, Nixon became a regular in 1998 and was an integral part of the Red Sox teams that made it to the ALCS in 1999 and 2003 and won the World Series in 2004.

During his ten seasons in Boston between 1996 and 2006, Nixon hit .301 with 133 home runs and 523 RBI. His best seasons were 2001 (.280 BA, 27 HR, 88 RBI), 2002 (.256 BA, 24 HR, 94 RBI), and 2003 (.306 BA, 28 HR, 87 RBI).

He was just as solid in the postseason, especially in the 2004 World Series run when he hit .271 with one home run and eight RBI across the ALDS, ALCS, and World Series.

He was also a tough and hard-nosed player, giving 100% all the time when he was on the field and playing through a variety of aches and pains and injuries. He appeared in 120 or more games between 1999 and 2003 and again in 2005 and 2006 (he missed all but 48 games in 2004 due to a herniated disc). He was a solid defensive outfielder with a career .983 fielding percentage and only committed 33 errors throughout his career.

After leaving the Red Sox following the 2006 season, Nixon spent one season each with the Cleveland Indians and New York Mets before wrapping up his career. He’s still remembered fondly by fans who saw him play and doesn’t get his due as a core piece of those great Red Sox teams of the late 1990s and early 2000s, and especially as a member of the 2004 team that changed the team’s fortunes forever.

Dom DiMaggio

The youngest of the three DiMaggio brothers who all made it to the major leagues, Dom DiMaggio was obviously overshadowed by his older brother Joe who starred for the rival New York Yankees and was one of the greatest players in the history of the game. With that being said, Dom (nicknamed “The Little Professor” due to his eyeglasses and small size) carved out an excellent career in his own right.

Spending his entire career with the Red Sox, Dom was the team’s center fielder from 1940 to 1953 (missing the entire 1943-1945 seasons having been in the military during WWII). Serving as the team’s leadoff hitter, he compiled career numbers of a .298 batting average, 87 home runs, 618 RBI, 1680 hits, 1046 runs scored, 750 walks 308 doubles, and 57 triples (including a league-leading 11 in 1950). His 34-game hitting streak in 1949 is still the franchise record.

DiMaggio was also an excellent fielder, making seven All-Star teams and finishing with a .978 fielding percentage and 89 errors. He racked up 3859 putouts in 4095 chances and recorded 32 double plays over his career.

Long considered one of the most underrated players of his era, DiMaggio was also lifelong friends with Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, and Johnny Pesky and was immortalized in a statue of the four which is outside of Fenway Park.

Marty Barrett

Marty Barrett is one of my favorite players on this list, one who I remember watching as a kid and liking a lot back then. Having re-watched the 1986 ALCS (which I’ve written about) and 1986 World Series (article forthcoming), I’ve gained an even deeper appreciation for how good he was and how criminally underrated he remains among Red Sox fans.

Barrett made my list of top ten Red Sox players from the 1980s, but he merits inclusion on this list as well. He played the first nine seasons of his ten-year career with the Red Sox between 1982 and 1990 (finishing up with a 12 game stint with the San Diego Padres in 1991). He was an excellent defensive second baseman who finished his career with a .986 fielding percentage and only 63 errors.

At the plate, he was a great contact hitter; think of him as a right-handed analogue to Wade Boggs, though obviously not hitting for as high an average. He alternated with Boggs in the leadoff or two spot in the order and while his career numbers of a .244 average with 17 home runs and 311 RBI don’t scream greatness, they are deceiving.

First, Barrett only struck out 206 times in his entire Red Sox career, striking out 50 times in 1985 but never more than 38 times the remainder of his career. His career average is brought down by his rookie year (when he hit .056) and his final, injury-plagued season in Boston when he hit .226. During his best years of 1985 to 1988, he hit .266, .286, .293, and .283, respectively.

His best season was 1986 when he hit .286 with 4 home runs, 60 RBI, 179 hits, 94 runs scored, 65 walks, and 15 stolen bases. He was fantastic that postseason, hitting .367 with 5 RBI and two walks (and only two strikeouts!) while playing in all seven games of the 1986 ALCS en route to winning the ALCS MVP award.

Barrett was even better in the 1986 World Series, hitting .433 with 4 RBI, 5 walks, and again only two strikeouts (while putting up a .514 OBP and 1.014 OPS) and was a serious contender for World Series MVP (along with teammate Bruce Hurst) before the Red Sox lost the series in seven heartbreaking games.

Marty Barrett was one of the best second baseman in the league during the 1980s and deserves to be remembered as such.

Jim Lonborg

Nicknamed “Gentleman Jim,” Jim Lonborg was a fierce competitor and a solid pitcher who, for one season, was the best in the American League. In a career that spanned 1965 to 1979, Lonborg spent the first seven years of his career with the Red Sox and was a driving force on the 1967 pennant-winning Impossible Dream team.

Compiling a 68-65 record during his Red Sox career to go along with a 3.94 ERA and 784 strikeouts, Lonborg seemed to come into his own in 1967. After improving from 9-17 in 1965 to 10-10 in 1966, he had a season for the ages in 1967 going 22-9 with a 3.16 ERA and 246 strikeouts (in 39 starts). He led the AL in strikeouts and wins, was an All Star, and won the AL Cy Young award.

After almost single-handedly pitching the Red Sox to the pennant, he was even better in the World Series, going 2-1 with a 2.63 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 24.0 innings pitched. He won Games Two and Five with his only loss in the series coming in Game Seven against the great Bob Gibson. Lonborg looked primed to continue his upward trajectory, but he injured his knee in a skiing accident in the winter of 1967 and was never the same.

After the 1971 season the Red Sox traded Lonborg to the Milwaukee Brewers where he spent the 1972 season before finishing his career after six seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies. After retiring in 1979, he went to Tufts Dental School and was a practicing dentist in Massachusetts until he retired in 2017.