What will you remember when recalling the career of Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia?
Some will point to the three World Series titles while others will think about the fact he won the American League MVP one year after claiming Rookie of the Year honors. Scatter in Pedroia's four MLB All-Star appearances and four Gold Gloves and his resume is littered with on-field accomplishments. After all, he influenced the most successful period in Red Sox history.
The 37-year-old Pedroia, though, is hopeful Red Sox fans will remember him for something different.
"I just hope I set the right example for their kids, or anyone," Pedroia told reporters Monday after officially announcing his retirement. "I just hope I played the game the right way and they can look back on my career and say 'Man, he did everything he could for his team.' That's it. That's what I care about. And I hope I did that.
"That's all that when I started playing, is play every game as hard as I can, play to win and that's it," Pedroia continued. "I didn't play for anything else other than winning and winning with (my) teammates. That's the reason why I played team sports. One of my greatest liners was 'I like playing team sports, it's the best when you win with them.' If I didn't like doing that, I would have just been the best tennis player in the world or played an individual sport. But team sports is definitely the reason why you play. And I hope that they remember me as doing all I can to set the right example."
Pedroia himself noted how he was most proud of the "environment and culture" the Red Sox established during his tenure.
Pedroia played 1,512 career games with the Red Sox, though just nine of them came during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. He did not play during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, and ultimately underwent a career-ending partial knee replacement in December. Unfortunately, his career took a different trajectory, one filled with injuries, after a career-altering slide by Manny Machado in April 2017.
Monday marks the end to an impeccable career for Pedroia, who spent all 15 of his MLB seasons in Boston, but he gave Red Sox fans plenty to remember during that time.
