Boston Red Sox most controversial figures: Carl Everett

Controversy followed former Red Sox outfielder Carl Everett.

For the next article in this series about the most controversial figures in Boston Red Sox history, we finally come to someone who was solely a player. After looking at an owner (Tom Yawkey), a former player/GM/part-owner (Haywood Sullivan), and a former player/manager/GM (Pinky Higgins), we’ll now focus on a man who only spent two seasons in Boston playing for the Red Sox, but what a tumultuous two seasons they were.

For anyone who remembers the 2000-2001 Red Sox, the first word that probably springs to mind is “unlikable.” That’s certainly the first word I think of when I remember those teams. They had a lot of talent (Pedro Martinez, Trot Nixon, Jason Varitek, Tim Wakefield, Nomar Garciaparra, and Derek Lowe) who formed the core of the eventual 2004 team that changed everything for the franchise.

However, those 2000-2001 squads also had a lot of unlikable guys as well and Carl Everett is at the top of that list when I think back on those years. I went to a lot of games at Fenway Park in those years; tickets were still relatively cheap because the Red Sox were bad and the team was still in the midst of their decades-long World Series drought. It hadn’t yet become fashionable to be “seen” at the ballpark and regular fans hadn’t yet been priced out.

The vibe in the stands during those years, though, was one of frustration and in the case of some players like Everett, outright dislike. Everett came to the Red Sox in the winter of 1999 in a trade from the Houston Astros. What made him frustrating to watch was that he was actually a very good player who also happened to be quite literally a complete nutjob.

First, if we look at what Everett did solely on the field with the Red Sox in his two seasons, you’ll see that he was very good.

2000: .300 BA, 34 HR, 108 RBI, 149 H, 82 R, 52 BB, .373 OBP, .959 OPS (137 games)
2001: .257 BA, 14 HR, 58 RBI, 105 H, 61 R, 27 BB, .323 OBP, .761 OPS (102 games)

Everett was hurt for part of 2001, but his 34 home runs in 2000 remain his career high and he was a big contributor to that team. He was also well liked by Red Sox fans, at least initially, before his bizarre and disturbing behavior began to rear its ugly head.

It started in a July 2000 game against the New York Mets, Everett got into an argument with home plate umpire Ron Kulpa when the latter took issue with Everett’s foot crossing the batter’s box line close to home plate. An argument erupted and Everett, who always had a short temper, head-butted Kulpa during the debate. That resulted in a ten game suspension but Everett was only getting started.

He had many bizarre beliefs he freely shared including that dinosaurs never existed and that the moon landings were faked. This led Boston Globe sportswriter Dan Shaughnessy to call him “Jurassic Carl.”

This in turn led Everett to dub Shaughnessy the pejorative “Curly Haired Boyfriend” (or CHB) of then-Red Sox beat writer Gordon Edes. The CHB name has become an evergreen way for Red Sox fans to refer to Shaughnessy and while most fans probably disagreed with Everett’s other beliefs, his disdain for Shaughnessy is one they were (and still are) probably all united in with Carl.

Going further, Everett clashed with teammates and opposing players, as well as managers (again, his own and other teams’). It all got to be too much of a headache for the Red Sox and, despite his prodigious production at the plate, they traded him to the Texas Rangers after the 2001 season for Darren Oliver.

After his tenure with the Red Sox, Everett continued to spout off on a variety of subjects including the fact that he had homosexual teammates in the past (perhaps even on the Red Sox) and that he thought it was “wrong” as well as downplaying the steroid scandal that was starting to rock baseball. There were also stories of he and his wife abusing their children (before his time in Boston) and a troubling report of Everett threatening his wife with a gun (after his Boston tenure).

While he was productive at the plate during his two seasons in Boston, he was also a headcase and a volatile personality who lashed out both verbally and physically. Carl Everett was certainly a troubled man before, during, and after his time in Boston, but no Red Sox fan who was around in 2000 and 2001 can help but remember outright insanity he brought to the team which somehow fit the vibe of those seasons.

Those 2000 and 2001 Red Sox teams were a talented but dysfunctional mess and no player quite embodied that better than Carl Everett. Every game he played was a chance to see either a big hit or some eruption of his temper and while the Red Sox have had plenty of colorful characters play for them before and since his time with team, when thinking of the most controversial players he’s always the one near or at the top of any list.