BOSTON — Wade Boggs has many fond memories of the 1986 Boston Red Sox season, but one painful memory stands out as well.
The Red Sox were in New York to play the Yankees on June 17, 1986, when Boggs received the worst call of his life. His mother, Sue, had been killed in a car crash in Tampa Bay.
Boggs took time off to grieve, but when he returned to Boston, he was touched by the incredible support that fans and his teammates gave him.
“All of a sudden, June 17 crops up, and then we have to deal with that. And I dealt with that in my own nature,” Boggs said Wednesday at Fenway Park, shortly before a ceremony to honor the 1986 American League champion Red Sox team. “The guys were very supportive when I came back.
“It was the darkest day in my life. It was something — we had to get back to business as usual. I had to eventually put my mother to rest, but we had unfinished business. I came back and walked into the dugout on that Sunday, and (manager John McNamara)Â goes, ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ I said ‘I’m ready to play,’ and he says, ‘Go home.’
“But then Monday night (June 23) was a different story. I played, got a 10-minute ovation, and that resonates so much with me right now. I looked at the umpire, and I said, ‘Are we going to start the game?’ And he says, ‘No, I’m enjoying this.’
“The fans were so supportive, so wonderful. It just was a piece of the puzzle that fit in in 1986.”
Boggs was among Boston’s best players during that memorable season. He led the American League in batting average (.357), on-base percentage (.453) and walks (105).
His No. 26 will be retired Thursday night at Fenway before the Red Sox play the Colorado Rockies.
Thumbnail photo via Gregory Fisher/USA TODAY Sports Images
