Happy Birthday Wade Boggs

Wade Boggs turns 53 today!  We thought it was only fitting to wish one of our favorite third basemen a Happy Birthday.

How can we forget back in 1996, when Wade Boggs jumped up on an NYPD horse and rode around Yankee Stadium in celebration of that World Series victory over the Atlanta Braves.  Quite the moment.  It was the only championship for Wade Boggs, but one of the more memorable ones in history.

Today is Mr. Boggs 53rd birthday.  He has been retired for over a decade now and been in the Baseball Hall of Fame for 6 years.  What a career he had.

Boggs of course spent most of his baseball years in Boston playing third base for the Red Sox.  It was there that he made a name for himself as one of the best hitters in the game.  He won the Silver Slugger Award 8 times while playing in Boston.  He only hit below .349 once between 1982 and 1988, and that was .325. From1983 to 1989, Boggs had 7 consecutive seasons with 200 or more hits, which was an American League record only recently passed by Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki.  Boggs made it to the World Series with the Sox in '86, but came up short against the New York Mets.

In 1993 he would join the rival New York Yankees, who were pretty laughable at that point in time.  He would only have to wait 3 more years to return to the World Series, which the Yankees would win.  He played one more season with the Yankees, and while he was there he added two Gold Glove Awards to his wall of achievements, along with 4 more Silver Slugger Awards.

After leaving the Yankees he would play his final 2 seasons with the newly founded Tampa Bay Rays, or back then The "Devil" Rays.   That is where Boggs hit his 3,000th career hit, a milestone only few have reached.  It's the only team to retire his number, which they did back in 2000.

Boggs will not only be remembered as one of the best to play the game, but also for being very superstitious.  He would eat chicken before each game, take exactly 100 ground balls at practice and would draw the Hebrew word "Chai" in the batter's box before each at bat.  Boggs of course is not Jewish.  So happy birthday Wade!  Lets hope for many more!