4 players you forgot were on recent Red Sox World Series winning teams
It takes a team to win a World Series Championship, that much has always been clear.
Sometimes the players you sign in the offseason are the ones that carry you there, sometimes it's the ones that you acquire at the deadline, and sometimes it's just the ones that are already there. In the Boston Red Sox case -- more often than not, that is -- it's a little sprinkling of both.
When looking back at their four titles in the 21st century, the Red Sox have had a collection of players from each year. Some that you may remember, some that you may not. This story is not one of players who regressed with a World Series hangover, or ones who left/were traded after that season or even during that season (i.e. Nomar Garciaparra or Jon Lester).
Instead, these are players who were on the team, but were forgotten for one reason or another. Whether that is that they were known for their time with another team, that they were not far enough into their career to be remembered to be on that roster or that they played minor roles in that years' run.
2004 Red Sox -- Ellis Burks (DH)
When you think of the 2004 Red Sox, one of three things usually pop into people's heads.
1. Joe Buck's famous "back to Foulke" call
2. Joe Buck's in-famous game-tying call in game 4 of the ALCS of the Dave Roberts steal of second base, and subsequent scoring on an single by Bill Mueller
3. The sound of players hooting and hollering on the Yankee Stadium grass after they won the pennant despite being down 3-0 in the series.
Still gives me chills listening to all of those, just as someone who follows baseball.
What a lot of people don't remember though, is that Burks was still on this Red Sox team. In fact, it was the final year of his career. While his best season came in 1996 where he hit over .340, and played in over 150 games, he still gets credit for being on the team and still gets a World Series ring out of it - despite only playing 11 games, and mustering all of one home run.
Presumably, Burks wanted to come back to the team thata he made his debut with back in 1987 for one more ride and hope to bring pride to the city where he had some of the best years of his career in the late 1980s, early 1990s. It was an unfortunate end to such a storied career, but it opened the door for an even better designated hitter for Boston - David Ortiz.
Despite playing only 11 games though, Burks does still get credit for being on the team, and was honored on Opening Day in 2005 with a ring.
Honorable Mentions: Kevin Youkilis, Byung-Hyun Kim
2007 Red Sox -- Brandon Moss (OF)
Looking back on the 2007 season, you probably first think of the Red Sox defeating the Rockies (a team that barely squeaked into the playoffs) in four games, and think of this picture:
When you look at the team though, it's easy to remember that this was the rookie season for phenoms like Jacoby Ellsbury, and Dustin Pedroia, and Youkilis was coming into his prime while pitchers like Curt Schilling and outfielder Manny Ramirez were both slowly coming out of theirs.
One person, a small amount of people remember from this season, however, is Brandon Moss - another outfielder making his rookie debut after coming through Boston's minor league system via the 8th round of the draft in 2002.
Moss played only 15 games during his first season, but he did hit .280 and slashed .280/.379/.440. He hit two doubles, and a triple.
One year later, however, Moss part of the Red Sox and Pirates aspect of the three-way deal that sent Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Jason Bay to Boston.
Honorable Mentions: Eric Gagne, Julio Lugo (rest in peace), Wily Mo Pena
2013 Red Sox -- Joel Hanrahan (RHP)
Back in 2013, this Red Sox team was un.stop.able. They never lost more than two games in a row, they were spirited, and had the ENTIRE city, not to mention the entire STATE behind them - especially after the events on April 15, 2013.
There were memorable characters in Mike Napoli, Jonny Gomes, Shane Victorino. Xander Bogaerts was a mere rookie, and Will Middlebrooks was getting more playing time by the day. Yes, there were unique endings to games 3 and 4 in St. Louis, as game 3 ended on an obstruction call and game 4 on a pickoff by Koji Uehara (both World Series firsts), but one person you almost never hear anyone bringing up from 2013 is Joel Hanrahan.
Going into the season, he was supposed to be their closer, but that plan was quickly squashed when Hanrahan had to undergo forearm surgery - ending his season, and his career as Hanrahan would never pitch again at the big league-level.
In 2013, he made just nine appearances collecting an 0-1 record, a 9.82 ERA, and five to four strikeout-to-walk ratio. He also had four saves before his career-ending injury.
Honorable Mentions: Quintin Berry, Mike Carp, John McDonald
2018 Red Sox --Tzu-Wei Lin
Back in 2018, there were almost too many players to count as they had depth at almost every position. A very close number two to Lin is Tony Renda, who had a Moonlight Graham-like season. He was credited with playing in one game, but he never played the field and only came in as a pinch-runner and wound-up scoring.
Talk about nothing to write home about. Now the next closest person to that roster was Lin. Lin had a few stints with the big club back in 2018, but he actually played the most games of his entire major league career in 2018.
He played in 37 games, and hit .246 along with his only career home run, and a career-high six RBI. When he hit his home run, Lin became just the third Taiwanese-born player to hit a home run.
Lin was ultimately left off of the postseason roster, but still being on the roster period in that season gave him the credit of being "on the roster of a World Series winning team."
Honorable Mentions: Drew Pomeranz, Brandon Phillips, Sam Travis