To date, only one person has received this honor who has not met these criteria; Johnny Pesky, whose number 6 was retired in 2008, was recognized for more than 60 years of nearly uninterrupted time with the franchise as a player, a manager, coach, and instructor.

There is also one player who meets these criteria but whose number is absent from the façade in right field: former third baseman Wade Boggs.

Boggs so impressed the Red Sox organization during his rookie season in 1982 that they shipped third baseman Carney Lansford, who had won the American League batting title in 1981, to the Athletics after the season. He then proceeded to win batting titles in four of the next five seasons, amassing a team-record 240 hits in 1985. That year also marked the first of twelve consecutive All-Star selections for the Red Sox third baseman.

In franchise history, Boggs is third in career wins against replacement (WAR) behind only Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski and ninth in defensive WAR. His batting average is second behind Williams, his on-base percentage is third, and his OBP is ninth. More than two-thirds of his career 3,010 hits came with Boston. His average OPS+ with the Sox was 142, sixth in franchise history, and only once in 11 seasons with Boston (his last) was his OPS+ below 100.

Boggs went on to play another seven seasons, split between the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. After calling it a career after the 1999 season, he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2005 on his first ballot with 91.9% of all eligible voters selecting him for induction.

So why has one of the most prolific players in franchise not received the honor that only seven other players in team history have received? The team did honor Boggs in 2004 with induction into the Red Sox Hall of Fame and, for a time, no player wore his number 26 between 2005 and 2011. He has also made appearances for the team as recently as when the Red Sox invited all living former members of the team to take the field in honor of Fenway Park’s 100th anniversary in 2012.

According to Boggs, the team has told him explicitly that because he did not finish his career in Boston, he is ineligible. It is true that, at one point, the Red Sox also required a player to finish his career with the Red Sox for his number to be considered for retirement, but that rule was relaxed once Carlton Fisk, who finished his career with the White Sox, was elected to the Hall in 2000.

Some would believe that the Red Sox and Boggs did not part on good terms and that the relationship was further soured when he choose to accept a contract offer from the Yankees, a division rival. Others, including former teammates, would argue that he was more concerned with his personal statistics and less so with the success of the team, though he vehemently denies these allegations. In addition, his extramarital affair with Margo Adams and the resulting palimony suit  brought a lot of negative attention to him and the Red Sox.

All that said, there is no denying that Boggs is one of the best players ever to wear a Red Sox uniform and, had he spent his last seven seasons in Boston and put up the same numbers, his number would have unquestionably been retired the same year that he was inducted into Cooperstown. It’s time to let bygones be bygones; Red Sox ownership, one that has done so much to mend fences with former players, should make it their mission this year, as the Red Sox bask in the afterglow of a world championship, to give Boggs the one final honor he deserves that is long overdue.

Born on 27 September 1919, the same day that legendary player Babe Ruth hit his last home run for the Sox, Pesky amassed an eye-popping 205 hits, tops in the majors, and batted .331, second only to teammate Ted Williams, as a rookie in 1942; his efforts were enough to place him third in voting for the American League MVP.  Pesky returned three years later in 1946 along with Williams and Dom DiMaggio to help his team finish first in the American League with a record of 104-50. His time away from the diamond had not diminished his skills; he led the league with a league-leading 208 hits and batted .335 that season, the third best average in the American League, to finish fourth in the MVP vote.

He again led the league with 207 hits the following year and finished his Red Sox career with 1277 hits, a .313 average, and an OBP of .393.  In 1995, he was named an inaugural member of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame.  Pesky, who as a coach mentored other prolific Red Sox hitters like Wade Boggs and Nomar Garciaparra, also had the distinction of having his number retired by the Red Sox in 2008 and a Fenway Park feature, the Pesky Pole, officially named after him.

While his brother Joe is remembered for a 56-game hitting streak that remains unbroken since 1941, DiMaggio holds a record of his own – a 34-game streak set in 1949 – that still stands as the water mark for Boston. In his career, he batted .298 and finished with 1046 runs scored, 87 home runs, 618 RBI, and an OBP of .383; his best season came in 1950, when he batted .328 and led the league in triples (15), stolen bases (11), and runs scored (131). That same year, on 30 June, he and Joe both homered in the same game playing against each other, only the fourth pair of brothers to accomplish the feat, in a 10-2 win for Boston over New York in the second game of a doubleheader at Fenway Park. In 1946, after returning from active duty, he made his one World Series appearance following Boston’s first pennant in 28 seasons, and batted 7-for-27 with two runs scored and three RBI, including a two-run double that tied the score in the top of the eighth inning of Game Seven of the series. DiMaggio was also part of the inagural class enshrined in the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1995, where he again joined his teammates Williams, Pesky, and Doerr.

The move came as a surprise for most familiar with Boston’s long-standing policy for awarding this honor. Until yesterday, numbers have only been retired by the Red Sox if a player spends at least ten seasons in Boston and is then elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. (Media outlets continue to state that a third criterion – a player had to finish his playing career with Boston – needed to be met. However, this was dropped to allow Fisk to have his number retired even though he spent the second half of his career in Chicago with the White Sox. A quick check of the official policy at redsox.com confirms this.) Team president Larry Lucchino, in acknowledging that an exception was being made in this instance, stated:

We inherited a set a rules that applied to this question of retiring numbers and we have looked at that and considered that to be useful but as guidelines rather than firm rules… Johnny Pesky’s career cries out as exceptional and its length of term and the versatility of his contributions – on the field, off the field, in the dugout, etc. – are such that we considered Johnny a worthy exception to the rules that were set down before.[1]

As a rookie in 1942, the 22-year-old shortstop amassed an eye-popping 205 hits, tops in the majors, and batted .331, second only to teammate Ted Williams; his efforts were enough to place him third in voting for the American League MVP. After putting his career on hold and serving in the Navy for three years during World War II, Pesky returned in 1946 along with fellow veterans Williams and Dom DiMaggio to help his team finish first in the American League with a record of 104-50. His time away from the diamond had not diminished his abilities; he led the league with 208 hits and batted .335 that season, the third best average in the American League, to finish fourth in the MVP vote. In eight seasons with Boston, he batted .313 and amassed 1227 hits.

Since the end of his playing career in 1954, he has served in several capacities for the club, including stints as manager, broadcaster, coach, and scout. These days, he continues to serve as a special instructor and as an unofficial club ambassador, well-regarded today by fans young and old. He also has the distinction of having a Fenway Park feature, the right field foul pole, affectionately named “the Pesky Pole” in his honor.

Regarding the announcement, a clearly-humbled Pesky said:

I’m very flattered about the whole thing because I didn’t think I was in the Ted Williams or Bobby Doerr class. I played with some good guys and I’m quite flattered by this announcement and I’m really going to enjoy it.[2]

[1], [2] Sox to retire Pesky’s number Friday. Boston.com, 23 September 2008.

With regards to the number of All-Stars named from Boston in a given season, the 1946 squad includes eight All-Stars: Williams, Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, Boo Ferriss, Mickey Harris, Johnny Pesky, Hal Wagner, and Rudy York. Three times, the Red Sox sent seven players: 1977, 1978, and 2002. Twice, they sent six players: 1949 and 2007. Only ten times has the requisite single representative been named from Boston, most recently as 2001 when perennial All-Star outfielder Manny Ramirez was sent to Safeco Field in Seattle to represent the Red Sox in his first season with the club.

In Red Sox history, only two other players have hit home runs in their first professional at-bat. On 22 April 1946, Eddie Pellagrini, a 28-year-old rookie shortstop and Boston College alumnus, comes in during the fifth inning to replace an injured Johnny Pesky and then goes deep in the seventh inning to break a 4-4 deadlock as the Red Sox win 5-4 over the Senators. On 19 May 1962 versus the Los Angeles Angels, catcher Bob Tillman also sends one out of Fenway Park in the fourth inning but Boston loses 6-5 in ten innings. Officially, the freshman had appeared as a pinch-hitter four days earlier in Baltimore in the ninth inning and then led off the bottom of the second that day but, in both instances, Tillman had drawn a walk, meaning that he had no official at-bats to that point.

So, in no particular order, are five candidates for consideration:

1. Don Zimmer

Younger Red Sox fans might remember him more as the old guy who Pedro Martinez tossed to the side in the midst of an on-field melee at Fenway Park during the 2003 ALCS, but “Zim” led Boston over four years at the helm, taking over for Darrell Johnson after the latter was fired midway through a disasterous 1976 campaign. In 715 games as manager, he won 411 contests and finished with better than 90 wins in every season between 1977 and 1979 before being dumped unceremoniously seven games before the end of the 1980 campaign. He also served 2-1/2 seasons under Johnson as Boston’s third base coach and returned for one season in 1992 as Butch Hobson’s bench coach. Older fans often remember him as the manager who watched the Red Sox blow a 14-1/2 game lead in July of 1978, and then witnessed Bucky Freakin’ Dent hit a home run in a one-game playoff at Fenway to lose the AL East crown that same season, but that team also managed to win 99 games, the fourth-most wins ever in a season in franchise history. He was, in the words of Johnny Pesky: “…an innovator, a student of the game, and an excellent day-to-day manager.”[1]

2. Earl Wilson

Wilson owns the distinction of being the first African-American pitcher in Red Sox team history, breaking the color barrier by hurling a scoreless one-inning relief appearance in late July of 1959; three days later, he made his first ever start. He also threw a no-hitter at Fenway Park in June of 1962, helping his own cause with a home run, and becoming the first black major league pitcher to throw an American League no-hitter. In seven seasons with Boston, Wilson won 56 games for clubs that finished at or near the bottom of the league standings. After a trade to Detroit midway through the 1966 campaign, Wilson’s career took off as he further blossomed and won another 64 games with the Tigers. Wilson was also regarded as one of baseball’s greatest power-hitting pitchers, hitting 35 home runs during his career and all but two of them while in the game as a pitcher. He even hit two in one game with the Red Sox in 1965.

3. Dutch Leonard

Leonard pitched for six seasons in Boston between 1913 and 1918, posting 90 wins and a 2.14 ERA with 769 strikeouts in that span. He also won both of his World Series starts, once in 1915 and another in 1916, as the Red Sox won back-to-back world championships. He may be best remembered, however, for posting an amazing 0.96 ERA in 1914, the modern baseball record, while going 19-5 in 36 starts. He also threw two no-hitters in his Red Sox career, once in August of 1916 and again two years later in June of 1918. Unfortunately, due to shipbuilding and millitary obligations, he missed most of the 1918 season, losing out on the opportunity to be part of a third world championship.

4. Bill Lee

“Spaceman” made a name for himself more due to his unique personality but few people remember that he was actually a great pitcher during the mid-1970s, winning 17 games in three straight seasons between 1973 and 1975. After beginning his career in the bullpen, Lee was made a permanent fixture of the rotation in 1973 and responded with 16 wins in 33 starts and an overall 17-11 record with a 2.75 ERA, enough to earn him his only All-Star appearance. After posting a 17-15 record the following season, he went 17-9 in 1975 during Boston’s pennant-winning season. 16 of those wins came between May and August to help the Red Sox distance themselves from their division rivals; he also enjoyed a stretch of eight straight appearances between early July and mid-August that included seven starts without a loss, including four straight complete game victories, and compiled a 6-0 record with a 3.14 ERA during that span. He would finish his Boston career with 94 wins and a 3.64 ERA to his credit, along with enough off-the-wall comments made during his career to create a Fenway Park legend.

5. Mike Greenwell

“Gator” became a Fenway Park fixture in 1987 and spent ten seasons with the club, averaging .303 at the plate while hitting 133 home runs with the only team he ever knew. An All-Star twice, he provided a solid and reliable presence in the team’s lineup during his tenure, perhaps best demonstrated with the fact that he averaged a strikeout only once every 3-1/2 games and posted a .368 career on-base percentage, twice recording an OBP of .400 or better. Greenwell finished fourth in his rookie season for American League Rookie of the Year honors and finished second a year later in the MVP race to Jose Canseco. In most years, he was the team’s everyday left fielder, following in the hallowed footsteps of legends like Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, and Jim Rice, and managed a respectable .982 fielding percentage playing in front of the wall at Fenway Park. He is also one of just 18 Red Sox players to hit for the cycle and hit an inside-the-park grand slam against the Yankees at home in September of 1990.

[1] Pesky, J. and Pepe, P. Few and Chosen: Defining Red Sox Greatness Across the Eras. 2004, Triumph Books, Chicago, IL. 170 pp.

No, I became a fan of the Yankees that day because the organization proved that they are a class act. As Boston players, coaches, trainers, and even the team masseuse came out of the dugout one by one to collect their World Series rings and then raise a championship pennant for the first time since the start of the 1919 season, New York players, coaches, and even general manager Brian Cashman, Theo Epstein’s counterpart and George Steinbrenner’s whipping boy, either sat on the bench or stood on the top step in the opposing team’s dugout and respectfully watched the entire ceremony.

New York manager Joe Torre, for whom I’ve always held the highest regard, respectfully applauded his counterpart, Terry Francona, when the Boston skipper’s turn came to accept his ring, and Francona would later note that the simple gesture gave him a lump in his throat. Then, the loudest applause from the Yankees, and undoubtedly from the crowd on hand, came when 85-year-old Johnny Pesky, a fixture in the Boston organization for over sixty years, came out to be given his long-awaited piece of history. Torre was quick to tip his cap, having been a friend of “Mr. Red Sox” since he was a player with the St. Louis Cardinals and Pesky was managing the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Then later, as customary pre-game introductions were made for the home opener, the 33,702 Fenway fanatics in attendance, who had booed nearly every member of New York as usual, greeted closer Mariano Rivera with some of the loudest cheers ever given to an opposing player in a Yankees uniform. Of course, these cheers were in part because the usually-dependable Rivera, who has 336 career saves to his credit, had blown his last four save opportunities with the Red Sox, including two in the post-season series last fall that allowed Boston to climb all the way back from a 3-0 series deficit to win the American League pennant before moving on to the World Series. Rivera could have taken a page from recently-departed Sox pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim and given the crowd a one-fingered salute, but he instead broke into a huge grin, chuckled, and graciously acknowledged the crowd’s appreciation for his “services” with a tip of his cap.

It would have been simple enough for the Yankees to remain in the visitor’s clubhouse and pass the time as they waited until it was necessary to show up for the pre-game introductions. With 26 world championships to their credit, it would be easy to argue that Boston has a long way to go to match the success that New York has had for nearly a century of play. Still then to watch your biggest rival celebrate a championship that might have been theirs had Dave Roberts not stolen second base in the ninth inning of Game Four in the ALCS might not sit well with most teams. Just last season, baseball was replaced by base-brawl between these two clubs when Boston’s Jason Varitek and New York’s Alex Rodriguez, who came within a few million dollars of becoming a Red Sox player himself, exchanged words and then punches, turning an afternoon at the ballpark into a wild spectacle.

No one from the Red Sox organization instructed the Yankees to show up and no one would have expected them to make an appearance; from a Boston fan’s perspective, it would probably have been dismissed or, to the misguided delight of some, seen as a sign of petty jealousy. Instead, New York put aside any trivial differences from the past, checked their collective ego at the door, and demonstrated something is hard to find these days: sportsmanship. Winning championships is old hand for New York but, to be a true champion, it was only proper for them to recognize when someone else achieved that success.

My favorite T-shirt will be ready for all of those visits to Fenway and, when the Yankees are in town, I’ll still loudly boo each player’s name as it is read by the announcer because it’s part of the ritual that’s been handed down from generation to generation. I’ve been a fan of the Boston Red Sox through thick and thin and this loyalty will never die; most of all, I’d like to see them win a few more championships at the expense of those boys from the Bronx. However, with everything that we’ve experienced as we’ve soaked in that long-awaited title over the past six months, we should remember what the New York ball club did for us on Opening Day. That straightforward, thoughtful act by their bitter rivals did not go unnoticed by those wearing a Boston uniform and, with a bit of luck, it was not lost on the fans as well.

So Sunday afternoon, as I watched Gary Sheffield weakly swing at strike three from Scott Williamson to end a three-game sweep at Yankee Stadium, I had to stop myself from clapping and cheering too loudly in my living room, less I wake up my sleeping son on the other end of the house. Boston has just managed to take six out of a possible seven games in ten days from New York and, while fans of Boston were trying their best to stay grounded and remind themselves that championships are won in October, Yankee fans were jeering their beloved nine. Peering into the enemy dugout, the pinstriped hosts looked as if they had just been to a funeral. Meanwhile, the visitors casually filed onto the field to congratulate each other and fans wondered if they were not feeling as elated as the rest of New England.

Something just did not feel right, though. Granted, as it has already been established, it’s only April and the Sox have plenty of games left to play before the season ends. However, that was not what bothered me. Had the Yankees, with eight All-Stars in the starting lineup for Sunday, been unable to beat a Red Sox team that was missing Nomar Garciaparra and Trot Nixon? Were they not able to get into the mind of Pedro Martinez, who had single-handedly (with some help from Grady Little) given Game Seven of last year’s American League Championship series back to the Yankees? What happens when our team is finally together as it was put together on paper in the off-season; what will happen then when these two collide later this season?

No one should feel sorry for the New York Yankees with the 26 world championships and the $183 million payroll. No sympathy cards must be mailed to George Steinbrenner. No flowers need to be delivered to Joe Torre or Brian Cashman’s office. No Get Well cards must be sent to Derek Jeter or Alex Rodriguez. If the Yankees have proven one thing over the years, it is their resilient nature and the ability to bounce back from troubled times. No one truly believes that the Yankees are done; it’s only April, remember?

Yet, what if this is the season that the Yankees finally come apart at the seams? What if they are doomed to a .500 season, or worse? What if the team doesn’t improve much from its abysmal .217 batting average, 53 points less than opponents are batting against them? Have teams from the AL East finally figured out how to pitch around these guys? Have they lost the ability to produce runs when needed, one at a time? Will the jeers from the minions at Yankee Stadium continue into May, then June, and perhaps all the way into September?

As a Red Sox fan, my first priority is to see that the Red Sox win the World Series. My only contribution to this effort is my unyielding support through thick and thin and perhaps the purchase of some tickets every season. However, what I would love nothing more is to see that, on the way, they stomp on New York to earn that title. I don’t mean win 15-of-19 games during the regular season and finish 20 games in front of them; I want another classic ALCS showdown.

I want to see a series between them that ends with the Red Sox streaming onto the field, jumping on each other’s backs, spraying champagne on reporters, and blowing smoke from nice juicy cigars. I want to see the ghost of Ted Williams in a corner of the clubhouse standing there with a knowing smirk. I want to see Johnny Pesky cry tears of joy. I want to see a dejected Yankee squad slowly file back to the clubhouse, hanging their heads, and wiping a few tears from their eyes.

Truthfully, at this point, I and the rest of the Boston faithful just want to see the Red Sox win their first championship in 86 years, and it doesn’t matter to me what teams they must push aside to get there. What would give me the most satisfaction, however, is to know that we went through New York to do it. Having been in their shadows for so long – 86 years, to be exact – nothing would be sweeter than to finish what was started in 2003, when the Red Sox came so very close to making this wish come true.