The Boston Red Sox enter the season with three young outfielders, all age 26 or younger, who could comprise one of baseball’s most talented position groups for years to come.
Sound familiar?
We’re talking, of course, about the “Killer B’s”: Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts. But Red Sox fans of a past generation will tell you this trio of homegrown talents bears a striking resemblance to Boston’s original super outfield: Jim Rice, Fred Lynn and Dwight Evans.
That group burst onto the scene in 1975 — Rice and Lynn both Rookie of the Year candidates, Evans a 23-year-old fifth-round pick coming into his own — and helped lead the Red Sox on a magical run to the World Series. Fast forward 42 years later, where Rice, Lynn and Evans can’t help but see themselves reincarnated in Boston’s 2017 outfield.
“As a group, Jimmy and Dwight, myself, we’ve been looking forward to something like this for a while now,” Lynn told ESPN.com’s Scott Lauber. “… “I don’t know that there’s a better young outfield in all of baseball right now.”
Benintendi fueled the hype train Monday by launching a three-run homer in the Red Sox’s Opening Day win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. In fact, Evans believes this current group has even greater potential than he and the “Gold Dust Twins” flashed in 1975.
“These kids are tremendous. Best outfield we’ve had in a long time,” Evans told Lauber. “I never like to compare because these guys might be better than us. It’s even more rewarding when you know they came out of your system.”
Rice and Evans played an incredible 16 seasons together, while the full trio was intact for six seasons before Lynn joined the California Angels in 1981. That kind of continuity is hard to find in the modern era of large contracts and free agency, but the elder statesmen would love to see their successors stick together.
“I think everyone sees that these guys can be together for a long time,” Evans said. “Can they go elsewhere and make more money? Probably. But they’ll never have as much fun as playing in Fenway together.”
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
