Lewis is perhaps best remembered for a forgotten feature of Fenway Park known as “Duffy’s Cliff,” which was a ten-foot-high mound that formed an incline in front of the left field wall, better known today as the Green Monster. It extended from the left field foul pole over to the left field flag pole and permitted standing-room crowds, who commonly stood within a few feet inside the boundaries of fair territory during the early days of the 20th century, to see over each other’s heads during play.

During his tenure with the Red Sox, Lewis mastered the incline to the point that sports cartoons of the time depicted the celebrated flycatcher as a mountain climber making catches amid sheep and snowcaps. The mound was significantly lowered in 1934 as part of Tom Yawkey’s extensive Fenway Park renovation project and was eventually eliminated completely when the entire field was dug up and replaced following the 2004 season.

As for the man himself, beyond the value of his glove, Lewis batted .289 over eight seasons with the Red Sox with an OPS+ of 117 and he holds the frachise record for career sacrifice hits with 219.  Arguably, his best season with Boston at the plate happened in 1912, when he scored 85 runs, batted in 109 runs, and led the American League with 31 sacrifice hits.

Among his career accomplishments, which included being the only player to compete on all four Red Sox World Series teams between 1912 and 1918, he still stands today as the club leader in stolen bases with 300, 33 more than teammate and fellow flycatcher Tris Speaker, and triples with 130, 24 more than Speaker. He also remains in the top ten for games played (1647), at-bats (6270), plate appearances (7330), runs scored (988), hits (1707), total bases (2303), base on balls (826), singles (1301), times on base (2587), hit by pitch (54), and sacrifice hits (180). Despite hitting only 30 home runs in his time with Boston and 75 total in his career, he was also the first player to lead off both ends of a doubleheader with home runs, a feat matched only by Rickey Henderson 80 years later.

Hooper was also a top-notch defensive player, spending most of his career playing right field, and joined Speaker (center field) and Duffy Lewis (left field) in creating Boston’s “Million Dollar Outfield,” also known as the “Golden Outfield,” between 1910 and 1915. Besides being part of the greatest defensive outfields in the game’s history, all three were integral for Boston’s championship teams in 1912 and 1915. In the first series, Hooper batted .290 with two doubles and a triple, while Speaker batted .300 with a double and two triples while Lewis batted just .188 but hit three doubles and scored four runs. The second and final time they played (Speaker would be sent Cleveland following the season over a contract dispute), Hooper batted .350 with two home runs, while Lewis batted an astonishing .444 with a double, a home run, and five RBI and Speaker hit .294 with two runs scored. Hooper would finish his career with five solid years in Chicago, batting .302 with 45 home runs and another 75 stolen bases for the White Sox, and later joined Speaker in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971 upon election by the Veterans Committee.

If Ellsbury eventually wants to claim the franchise record for career stolen bases, it may take him a few more years. Former outfielder Harry Hooper, the only starter to play on all four World Series championship teams between 1912 and 1918, stole 300 in his 12 seasons in a Red Sox uniform, putting him first place all-time with the club. Hooper’s teammate for two of those championships, Tris Speaker, sits in second place with 267 over nine seasons, and another former Boston outfielder, Carl Yastrzemski, stole 168 over 23 seasons. Only 12 former players have managed 100 or more steals with the traditionally slow-footed club and most of the top base-stealers set their marks prior to World War II; since that time, Boston has relied more on the strength of its bats rather than its speed on the base paths.