Wade Boggs a juicer?

lsutigers1973

One of my favorite players of the 80's. Wonder if he was clean in 1987?

HR TOTALS:
1982 - 5
1983 - 5
1984 - 6
1985 - 8
1986 - 8
1987 - 24
1988 - 5
1989 - 3
1990 - 6
1991 - 8
1992 - 7
1993 - 2
1994 - 11
1995 - 5
1996 - 2
1997 - 4
1998 - 7
1999 - 2

firstbase23

I really don't think Boggs was a juicer. If I remember correctly a lot of guys hit extra home runs that year. Maybe the balls were juiced??

Matt

metsfan

He said at one time, that he could hit homeruns if he wanted, usually didn't try. He probably tried to hit some homers that year.

TomGshotput

If they worked so well in 1987 and there was no testing why would he have stopped?

And why did you choose to ignore what happened to the rest of the league in 1987?

baseballfan

i think guys like boggs, gwynn and ichiro, pure hitters, can hit HR's when ever they want, if they want.

maybe he just took advantage of pesky's pole that season

perkdog

<< <i>He said at one time, that he could hit homeruns if he wanted, usually didn't try. He probably tried to hit some homers that year. >>




That has been said many times, I dont think the Sox wanted him trying for them too often. His job was to hit .300+ and get on base with a "Boggsy off the wall"

lsutigers1973

<< <i>If I remember correctly a lot of guys hit extra home runs that year. Maybe the balls were juiced?? >>



That was the rumor, that the balls were juiced. However, that kills my point so I chose to ignore it.

VitoCo1972

That was a funny season and I remember being a Red Sox fan that year. Both Dawson and McGwire hit 49 HR's that year (didn't even look that up). That was more than anyone had hit in 10+ years (since George Foster if memory serves). I want to say Boggs hit a lot of those homers at home. I seem to remember watching the balls that he usually hit for doubles off the monster carrying over it more than usual. I'm in the 'baseballs were wound tighter' camp.

calaban7

<< <i>That was a funny season and I remember being a Red Sox fan that year. Both Dawson and McGwire hit 49 HR's that year (didn't even look that up). That was more than anyone had hit in 10+ years (since George Foster if memory serves). I want to say Boggs hit a lot of those homers at home. I seem to remember watching the balls that he usually hit for doubles off the monster carrying over it more than usual. I'm in the 'baseballs were wound tighter' camp. >>



Hi Mike , I checked and Wade hit 10 HR's at home while batting .411 and 14 HR's away while batting only.312.

In 1986 and 1987 , I believe the ball was juiced, not the players.

The only things that Wade was juiced on was chicken and "other" women. I think he went to the same school as Tiger or something. The didn't call him the "Love Machine" for nothing.---- Sonny

jlbsquared

<< <i>The only things that Wade was juiced on was chicken and "other" women >>



and Miller Lite...

awesome wade boggs story

Mickey71

I watched Wade compete in a home run derby at the Hall of Fame game in Cooperstown, NY around 1988. He easily won. He was hitting balls all over the place. In BP he could hit HR's at will. Ichiro can hit tons of HR's too. I know that this sounds crazy, but I heard from a former coach and player of Wade that he would drink like 3 cases of beer on flights. They said they had watched him drink like 100 beers. They were very serious.

DeutscherGeist

This one has been discussed a lot. 1987 was a crazy homerun year. It made very good hitters do some even more amazing things.
McGwire and Dawson hitting 49 HRs, Mattingly hitting 10 homers in 8 games, Boggs slamming 24 homeruns while having a robust batting average, etc.

I heard that Boggs wanted to make a point one year to show that he can indeed hit homeruns, but it was more important and productive to have a high on base percentage.

WinPitcher

1987 they had a juiced ball.


Steve

VintageCardLover

in 87, a lot of folks hit more homeruns. boggs could have hit a lot more if he wanted to, but not really his style, im sure is avg. would have suffered greatly.

greencrow

Happy birthday Wade!

bigmarty58

If you ever saw Boggs hitting ball after ball out taking batting practice before the game, it would not surprise you. I agree with baseballfan, guys like Ichiro, Gwynn and Jeter all could pop the ball.

Estil

Maybe he got tired of being ridiculed and not getting any chicks "who dig the long ball" and wanted to show that he CAN hit taters if he really wants...even if for just one season.

And I must say for a guy who was the textbook definition of a NON power hitter he had a surprisingly high number of doubles (578; 20th on the all-time list) and extra base hits (757). Plus he clinched Cooperstown (3000th hit) with a homer; one of only two players to do so (Derek Jeter is the other). Even more bizarrely, he played for three teams and the one who hung up his shirt is the team he spent the least amount of time with. And wasn't that so cute when he won a championship in 1996 with the Yankees (traitor, huh? ) he rode on an NYPD horse but only after making the officer promise him not to let the horse buck him off (he apparently was really freaked out by horses)?

Justacommeman

1987 was also the year that Alan Trammel hit 28 homers with 105 RBI and batted .343 AND finished second in the MVP voting. All career highs. Boggs hit 24 homers and batted .363 and finished 9th that year in the MVP!Balls are still flying from that season. The ball was juiced, not Wade.

MJ