Wade Boggs: Hall of Fame 2005

Adams: The paramour last seen in 'Penthouse'

By EMILY NIPPS
Published July 28, 2005

Seventeen years ago Margo Adams, a 32-year-old woman from Costa Mesa, Calif., filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Wade Boggs. The former mortgage broker claimed Boggs reneged on his promise to repay her for the time and wages she lost while traveling on the road with him during their four-year affair.

The June 1988 filing prompted a flurry of daily news updates, tabloid photos, late-night talk-show jokes and public taunting that seemed to continue well after Boggs settled the lawsuit in December 1989.

It wasn't just the lawsuit that fueled public interest in the affair, which Boggs admitted to soon after the story broke.

Adams appeared on the Phil Donahue Show and described compromising photographs Boggs took of his teammates. She and her lawyer sought depositions from other Red Sox players, which triggered fighting among them.

She posed for Penthouse and did a tell-all interview in the 1989 April and May issues, describing details about their affair and inflammatory remarks she claimed Boggs made about his teammates.

"It's very obvious what (Adams) is trying to do," Boggs told the Times after the Penthouse article was published. "She is trying to ruin my life."

After a key portion of the lawsuit (a reported $11.5-million was sought in punitive damages) was thrown out, leaving $500,000 in actual damages intact, Boggs and Adams settled out of court. A gag order kept them from disclosing the amount.

Boggs went on to surpass 3,000 career hits, win a World Series title and move on with his marriage intact. Adams, whose image was once made into face masks worn by Kansas City Royals fans, seemed to disappear.

Now 49, Adams still lives in California, according to public records.

[Last modified July 28, 2005, 01:10:15]