Wade Boggs: Hall of Fame 2005

The Hall's latest hit

With the determination that got him 3,010 hits and so many .300 seasons, Wade Boggs nails his Hall of Fame speech.

By MARC TOPKIN
Published August 1, 2005

	[Times photo: Dirk Shadd]
	Tears of Joy: Debbie Boggs cries while listening to the introduction of her husband, former Devil Ray Wade Boggs, shortly before his speech at the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
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COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. - Sitting in Room 240 of the Otesaga Resort Hotel on Sunday morning, Wade Boggs heard the sportscasters joking about whether he'd make it even two minutes into his Hall of Fame induction speech before he started crying.

He had decided weeks ago to move a passage about his late mother to the end of the speech to avoid an emotional breakdown that could prevent him from finishing. But the anxiety and angst had been building since he arrived from Tampa on Wednesday, and he was genuinely concerned that his raw emotions would spoil his grandest moment.

So Boggs did what he did so often during his stellar 18-year major-league career - he stepped up to the challenge and the skeptics and summoned the same focus and determination that earned him a place among baseball's 260 legends.

"I just looked in the mirror this morning and said, "Come on, you've got one last at-bat,"' Boggs said. "Let's go. Game on."

The result, naturally, was a hit.

"To tell you the truth, I don't know how I did it," Boggs said. "I think my mother was speaking through me to get me through everything I had to say. I thought I did okay. I was just glad I didn't break down. That was going to be the hard part because once I started, I knew I wasn't going to be able to finish. And I wanted to get through it and finish it."

Boggs went chronologically through a career that started in earnest on the youth fields of Tampa and saw him spend six years in the minors, star for the Red Sox, Yankees and Devil Rays and end with him ranked among the game's top hitters - and he did it in a relatively concise 13 minutes.

"Actually I thought I was up there forever, to tell you the truth," he said.

Boggs' voice cracked when he mentioned his wife, Debbie; he choked up when he acknowledged his father, Win, who was seated under a nearby tent; and there were tears running down his cheeks when he spoke of his mother, Sue, who was killed in a 1986 traffic accident.

"There's one person that's not here today," he said. "She should be, but she's here in spirit."

Still, he got it done.

"He was very, very nervous," Debbie said. "He ad-libbed a lot, but he held it together."

"It surprised the hell out of me," Win said. "I didn't think he'd get through it."

Unlike fellow inductee Ryne Sandberg, who used his speech to blast the current players for their lack of respect of the game, Boggs took a somewhat traditional approach, though he did start with one of his well-known voice impressions, quoting a well-known sports announcer: "Like Keith Jackson said, "Whoa, Nellie!"'

Boggs' most inspiring comments came toward the end when he said: "I am living proof that dreams come true. In life, so many things are taken for granted, but one thing I can honestly say is that I took every day, enjoyed the game of putting on that uniform and playing the great game of baseball."

He also offered a message for youth: "Life is about obstacles. Endeavors in life are not to be overlooked. Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but how we react to what happens. Not by what life brings us, but the attitude we bring to life.

"A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results."

Boggs' most significant achievement was joining the 3,000-hit club. And he did in dramatic fashion on Aug. 7, 1999, after coming home to finish his career with the Devil Rays, by hitting a home run. But he was known for his ability to hit for average (winning five American League batting titles) and to get on base (leading the league in on-base percentage six times).

The bronze plaque that was formally unveiled at Sunday's ceremony, before an estimated 28,000, and later hung in the Hall of Fame gallery noted that he was the "only 20th century player with seven straight 200-hit seasons," that he "reached base safely in 80 percent of games played," and that he "began career with 10 consecutive seasons hitting above .300."

Boggs, 47, is the first player from the Tampa Bay area to make it to the Hall, joining Tampa native Al Lopez, who was elected in 1977 primarily for his success as a manager. Around 150 friends and relatives made the trip from Florida, many wearing special Boggs Hall of Fame T-shirts and a few old teammates with Plant High hats.

He made an effort to thank at least some people from each stage along the way, starting with Walter Woolf, his first coach at Tampa's Bayshore Little League, and his Plant High coach, David Fyfe.

He called the Red Sox scout who signed him, George Digby, "a visionary, one of the greatest scouts because he believed in me, a little scrawny kid from Tampa, Florida. He saw something that a lot of other people passed up on."

He thanked Red Sox officials and coaches who worked with him, from his first minor-league team in Elmira, N.Y., to his 11 seasons in Boston, as he worked tirelessly to get better, specifically Johnny Pesky, who hit him hundreds of grounders, and Bill Fischer, who threw him hours of batting practice.

Boggs made special mention of fellow Tampa resident George Steinbrenner, thanking him for providing the opportunity to win a World Series ring with the Yankees. And he was equally appreciative of Devil Rays managing general partner Vince Naimoli, who was seated among Boggs' invited guests, thanking Naimoli for giving him the chance to come home and play. "That was a special time for me," Boggs said.

Boggs made only brief mention of the myriad superstitions he was known for, such as eating chicken before every game or doing things at precisely the same time every day, but the theme was represented, too - the hitter with the .328 career average started his speech at 3:28.

"My train ride began in 1976 in Elmira with many stops along the way," he said. "But today, that train has pulled into Cooperstown, N.Y., and I found a new family here at the Hall of Fame."

[Last modified August 1, 2005, 01:09:07]