Of course, it was Ramirez’s supplementary actions rather than his on-field performance that warranted such crowd skepticism. But is it possible that Ramirez was the best right-handed hitter in the history of the franchise?
Ramirez hit 274 home runs and drove in 868 runs during his seven-plus seasons in Boston. From his first season in Boston in 2001 until his last season in 2008, he was an All-Star every year and finished in the top 10 in MVP voting five times.
Ramirez also won six Silver Slugger awards with the Red Sox, in addition to winning a batting title in 2002. Ramirez hit over .300 five times with the club, and never finished with an average below .292.
In addition, the slugging leftfielder finished first in on base percentage three times and either first or second in OPS five times during his illustrious Red Sox career that included two World Series titles and a World Series MVP award.
With many Red Sox greats, including Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and Wade Boggs, all being left-handed, who could possibly hold the title of best right-handed hitter in the team’s storied history?
NESN’s own Jim Rice was an eight-time All-Star from 1974-1989 with the Red Sox. He won the 1978 MVP award, and led the league in home runs three times.
Rice belted 382 home runs, drove in 1451 runs and had 2452 hits in his 16 seasons with the Red Sox, all tops among team’s right-handed hitters.
Perhaps Dwight Evans could also be considered, finishing right behind Rice in most offensive categories.
Evans was a three-time All-Star, two-time Silver Slugger award winner and had 2373 hits to go along with 379 home runs in his 19 seasons with the Red Sox.
Jimmie Foxx spent parts of seven seasons with the Red Sox, and was a six-time All-Star in that span. His best season came in 1938 when he won the MVP award after finishing first in batting average (.349) and RBIs (175), and second in home runs (50).
Foxx hit 222 home runs, drove in 788 runs and hit .320 in his Red Sox career despite only 3934 plate appearances with the team –far less than Evans and Rice, and 748 less than Ramirez.
Nomar Garciaparra, who won back-to-back batting titles in 1999 and 200, and hit .323 in his Boston career, appeared on his way to etching his name in baseball history before tailing off a bit and eventually departing at the trade deadline in 2004.
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June 18: Does Red Sox Nation miss Manny Ramirez?
