Wade Boggs: Hall of Fame 2005

Speech gets an accidental edit

Wade Boggs reveals that stuck pages caused him to skip one at his induction.

By MARC TOPKIN
Published August 2, 2005

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. - Wade Boggs left a page out of history.

The morning after delivering a Hall of Fame induction speech that was otherwise considered a hit, Boggs revealed there was a classic error: He inadvertently skipped an entire page of his prepared text.

"When I was turning the pages I left a whole page out," Boggs said Monday morning. "I've got to apologize. All my traveling secretaries and PR people and my trainers and strength coaches and everyone like this. ... All the teammates I ever played with.

"Evidently it got stuck together. And when I turned the page, I said something feels different because when I practiced, practiced, practiced it would flow a little bit better. Hopefully I can make up for it and thank everybody. I felt so bad when I got back to the room."

Boggs' 13-minute speech was considered a success, primarily because he got through it without a highly anticipated emotional breakdown.

But now it may be remembered as much for what he didn't say and grouped with other memorable induction day performances, such as Bill Mazeroski's steady flow of tears, Carlton Fisk's endless thanks and Ozzie Smith's colorful metaphors.

Otherwise, Boggs said the morning after his greatest achievement was a good one. He received his latest prize, his gold Hall of Fame ring, at Sunday night's members-only dinner, and he woke up Monday after his first good night's sleep in a while with what he said was a special feeling.

"It was different, really different," he said. "I slept with the ring on. When I went down to the lobby this morning, Johnny Bench was sitting there and he goes, "You got your ring on?' And I said, "Yeah, I may never take it off."'

Boggs made his final appearance of induction weekend Monday morning, speaking with fellow inductee Ryne Sandberg to a Legends Series crowd. He was to fly back to Tampa later, then resume life as an officially inducted member of the Hall of Fame.

"(Monday) is a tremendous relief," Boggs said. "(Sunday) was pretty agonizing, and the dinner (Sunday) night was even more agonizing. I'm telling you, now I know why we're rookies. They bust the chops, but it was fun. Getting the right, that's what it's all about."

[Last modified August 2, 2005, 05:02:55]