With 12 straight All-Star appearances, Boggs is second only to Brooks Robinson in number of consecutive appearances as a third baseman. (Mike Schmidt and George Brett also made 12 appearances, but Brett's final appearance was as a first baseman and neither man's appearances were consecutive).
A left-handed hitter, Boggs won a total of five batting titles starting in 1983, after batting .349 as a rookie the previous season. From 1982 to 1988, Boggs only hit below .349 once, hitting .325 in his off season. During that same time frame, from 1983 to 1989, Boggs rattled off seven consecutive seasons in which he collected 200 or more hits. Although he would not win another batting title after 1988, he almost annually appeared in the league leaders in hitting. Although Gwynn is better remembered today, players who saw both men play in the 1980s said Boggs had the better batting eye and that while it was possible to get Gwynn to swing at a bad pitch, Boggs never did.
In 1992, Boggs slumped to .259--one of only three times in his career that he failed to reach .300--and at the end of the season left the Boston Red Sox, with whom he had spent his entire career, to sign with the New York Yankees. Boggs rebounded with four straight .300-plus seasons and even collected two gold gloves for his defense--his fielding statistics were close to the league average most of his career--but by 1997 he was no longer a full-time player. Boggs signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for the final two seasons of his career, where he collected his 3,000th hit. Boggs retired in 1999 after sustaining a knee injury, leaving with a career batting average of .328 and 3,010 hits.
Boggs was known for his superstitions as much as his hitting. He ate chicken before every game, woke up at the same time every day, took exactly 150 ground balls in practice, took batting practice at 5:17 and ran sprints at 7:17. His route to and from his position in the field beat a path to the home dugout, and he drew the Hebrew word "Chai" (meaning "life") in the batter's box before each at-bat.
Ironically, given his deserved reputation as a singles hitter with limited power, he was the first (and so far only) member of the 3,000-hit club to reach 3,000 with a home run.
Boggs will be eligible for induction into the United States Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.
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