Five Memorable Red Sox Villains That Stand Test Of Time
Throughout the history of the Boston Red Sox, there are opponents that ended up being a thorn in the side of the team for one reason or another.
Red Sox fans learned to loath these players and passed their dislike for them on to generation after generation until they became villains imprinted into the minds of the Fenway Faithful.
Turns out, a lot of these villains wore the same costume, which was covered in pinstripes. Here are five memorable Red Sox villains that truly stand the test of time:
Bucky Dent
Dent lives in Red Sox lore for all the wrong reasons. The light-hitting shortstop — he never hit more than eight home runs in a single season — was never known for his power, except in Boston.
He earned a new middle name in October of 1978 with the Red Sox and Yankees squaring off in a one-game playoff to determine the winner of the American League East. Boston held a 2-0 advantage going into the seventh inning, but Dent, who was the Yankees’ No. 9 hitter, lifted a three-run home run over the Green Monster. New York held on for a 5-4 victory, ending Boston’s season and sparking the Yankees to a second consecutive run to a World Series title.
Aaron Boone
Another Yankee infielder who tormented Red Sox fans with one swing of his bat. Red Sox fans probably knew nothing of Boone prior to him being dealt to the Yankees from the Cincinnati Reds prior to the 2003 Major League Baseball trade deadline. But Boone ended up being the face of that year’s American League Championship Series.
Boone wasn’t even good enough to start Game 7 of the series against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. But Joe Torre sent Boone to the plate as a pinch-hitter to begin the bottom of the 11th inning and he belted a solo home run off Tim Wakefield to send the Yankees to the World Series and add another epic loss to Boston’s storied history of them.
That was Boone’s final at-bat in a Yankees uniform against the Red Sox as he didn’t play in 2005 after tearing his ACL in a pick-up basketball game. He’s still someone that can get under the skin of the Red Sox now as New York’s manager, a position Boone has held since 2018.
Alex Rodriguez
You can also partly thank Boone for Rodriguez making it on this list. The three-time AL MVP nearly became a member of the Red Sox after the 2003 season, but the Yankees went out and acquired him from the Texas Rangers to fill Boone’s spot at third base.
Once in pinstripes, Rodriguez became detestable to Red Sox fans. He fueled an on-field brawl during a series between the archrivals in July of 2004. After Bronson Arroyo hit Rodriguez with an off-speed pitch on the elbow, he jawed with beloved catcher Jason Varitek. Varitek ended up shoving his mitt into Rodriguez’s face as the benches cleared.
That already made Rodriguez public enemy No. 1 in Boston at that time. And then he had another incident with Arroyo in the bottom of the eighth inning in Game 6 of the ALCS. On a dribbler down the first-base line, Rodriguez smacked the ball out of Arroyo’s glove. Umpires first ruled Rodriguez safe, but after convening, they called Rodriguez out as he stood on second base perplexed, with both his hands on top of his helmet. That turned into a fond memory for Red Sox fans.
Manny Machado
Machado is the only player on this list to not play for the Yankees. The six-time All-Star made his mark on the Red Sox due to an incident with Dustin Pedroia in April of 2017. Machado, who at the time was a member of the Baltimore Orioles, slid into Pedroia’s knee at second base, causing a serious injury for the Red Sox fan favorite.
Pedroia never fully recovered after the injury and endured multiple surgeries. He played just nine games combined over his final two seasons.
The Red Sox got a measure of revenge in 2018 when Chris Sale struck out Machado swinging to close out the World Series at Dodger Stadium.
Babe Ruth
Ruth played six seasons for the Red Sox but then was traded to the Yankees, supposedly to finance then-Red Sox owner Harry Frazee’s production of “No, No, Nanette.”
Ruth gained his baseball fame and legend in pinstripes, setting the home run record with 714 round-trippers. The trade set off the infamous Curse of the Bambino, which lasted 86 years. And while Ruth really didn’t do anything wrong, all the heartbreak that followed will make sure Ruth is never endeared by Red Sox fans.
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