Remembering the stars of yesterday as we wait for Red Sox to sign stars of tomorrow

As we sit on our hands (just like the Red Sox) and wait for our favorite baseball team to bring in or develop the the stars of tomorrow (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, anybody? Sorry, no updates there. At this point, we’ll take anyone not named Cooper Criswell, I guess…), it seems like a good time to remember the stars of yesterday.

On Monday, Trot Nixon, Dustin Pedroia and Jonathan Papelbon were announced as the inductees for the 2024 Red Sox Hall of Fame. Longtime team front office executive Elaine Steward was selected as the non-uniform inductee. 

Additionally, the 21-person selection committee named Billy Rohr’s one-hitter against the Yankees on April 14, 1967 as the “Memorable Red Sox Moment.” (I’m guessing nothing from 2019 until today will be receiving such a designation in the future…)

Nixon, Pedroia and Papelbon were all great and memorable Red Sox in their own unique ways. 

Dirt Dog Trot

There have been better hitters, there have been better defenders, but there’s no one else who epitomized the “Dirt Dog” spirit of the early 2000s Red Sox like Trot Nixon. He was a Fenway Park right fielder’s right fielder, for sure. 

Nixon is up there as one of the all-time fan favorites in Sox history. He put together a few good seasons at the plate from 2000 to 2005, but never anything worthy of league-wide recognition. Yet he’s the perfect candidate and entirely deserving of this honor.

Trot had a flair for the dramatic during those postseason runs, too. I asked my childhood buddy Matt for his top Nixon memories and the first he recalled was his bases-clearing two-run double in the third inning to help put the deciding Game 4 of the 2004 World Series in St. Louis out of reach. It was a powerful swing that *nearly* cleared the Busch Stadium fences out in right (fitting).

Then there was his walk-off homer to win Game 3 of the 2003 ALDS against the Oakland A’s at the 11th hour (…in the 11th inning). It wasn’t a cheapie, either — dead center over the wall to the left of the former “Stop & Shop" garage in center. 

Then in that year’s ALCS against the Yankees, he slugged a two-run upper-deck blast at Yankee Stadium to put the Sox up 9-6 in the top of the ninth inning to win Game 6 (which definitively ended the series with a Red Sox victory and everybody lived happily ever after and certainly didn’t have to witness a certain current subpar Yankees manager crush all our spirits one game later…).

In 2000, he hit a two-run bomb off old friend Roger Clemens to beat the Bronx Bombers with two outs in the top of the ninth at Yankee Stadium.

Those were the days, huh? Nixon had some solid power and production from 2001 to ’03, hitting .279 and launching 79 of his 137 career homers while driving in 269 of his lifetime 555 RBIs in 434 games (he averaged 141 games per season) during that three-year stretch.

Defensively, Trot was a career .983 fielder who committed just 33 errors across 1,040 games (that’s about one every 32 games). Again, was he the greatest defensive right fielder in Red Sox history? No, but I think he’s certainly among the better ones.

Pedey deserved better

Dustin Pedroia deserved a better ending — both on and off the field. 

Hang on, let me grab my soapbox…

Pedroia was a next generation “Dirt Dog,” taking the baton from Nixon in 2006 when he made his major league debut (the two were teammates briefly in ’06). Unlike Nixon, though, Pedroia can stake his claim as one of the best defensive second basemen in Red Sox history.

He won four Gold Gloves — a first for a Red Sox infielder at any position. He was the American League Rookie of the Year in 2007. And of course, there was his MVP season in 2008 — the 11th time in franchise history a Red Sox had won the AL’s top honor and the first since Mo Vaughn in 1995. 

Pedroia became the first Red Sox second baseman to win a Silver Slugger that year and took home the club’s first Gold Glove at the position since Doug Griffin did so in 1972. And he made only six errors in 157 games that season to boot.

We took him for granted at the end — at least I did. I remember after my first seasons covering the team in the mid-2010s thinking that I should have paid more attention to Pedroia. It was a treat to watch him man the right side of the infield, even simple ground balls. He was a reminder that, hey, defense can be just as fun as hitting a home run, too. 

And he certainly didn’t lack for confidence, either.

Pedroia told John Tomase at NBC Sports Boston in a 2021 article, “When you play second base and you play second like me, you hang on until the last possible second to get the ball because, you watched it: if there's a slim chance at a double play, there's one guy on planet earth who could turn it. And you're talking to him.”

Then one day, he was gone — betrayed by his failing knees (and a dirty slide by Manny Machado…).

A man who should be remembered as nothing less than an all-time great Red Sox saw his reputation somewhat tarnished among some in the fanbase following a few “incidents” throughout his career.

There was the Bobby Valentine-Kevin Youkilis drama— Pedroia defended Youk after Bobby V. called out his effort, publicly calling out his manager by saying “that’s not how we go about our stuff here.” I can’t say I blame him or anybody else for comments critical of Bobby V.’s Red Sox debacle… 

Then there was the Machado fiasco in 2017. You know the story. Pedroia got spiked by Machado sliding into second, which began the downfall of his career. Then two days later, Matt Barnes throws at Machado and gets ejected. During the aftermath, Pedroia is seen mouthing “it’s not me. I know that, you know that” to Machado. And frankly, he was right. I get that it’s against the “unwritten rules of baseball” and you should have your teammates’ backs more often than not, but the incident certainly felt overblown.

And finally, Pedroia caught flak for his reported involvement in (he was said to be applauding during) the David Price/Dennis Eckersley team plane incident in 2017. That was an ugly incident for which there is no defense, certainly not by me for Price or anyone who was involved. A prime example of the soft modern-day athlete. Don’t like being criticized? Play better. Anyway, Pedroia also publicly backed Price and called him one of his “favorite teammates ever.”

No matter yours feelings on those incidents, I don’t think any one of them should have risen to the level of putting an asterisk beside the brilliant career of a Red Sox legend like Pedroia. 

Pap being Pap 

And then there’s Pap. The individual single-most synonymous with “I’m Shipping Up To Boston” and the owner of one of the coolest closer entrances in the sport. Jonathan Papelbon was an intimidating presence of his era — I’m sure his pre-pitch staredowns are burned into your brains as they are mine. 

But it wasn’t all bravado — he backed it up on the mound.

Pap is the franchise’s all-time saves leader with 219 in his 396 career appearances (all but three out of the bullpen) with Boston. His essence is perhaps best remembered for his celebration on the mound hoisting up Jason Varitek after clinching the 2007 World Series in Denver. Or perhaps celebrating in his underwear after clinching the AL East title or his his kilt-wearing, post-World Series duck boat attire. Frenetic energy, passion, pure joy. That was Pap.

I didn’t cover Pap’s Red Sox teams (instead, my lifelong love of baseball was in the process of being forged by them at the time) nor do I know him personally, so it made for a bit of an interesting scene after one game in recent years (I don’t remember which one exactly, but I want to say it was a clincher during the 2021 postseason) when I walked by a — let’s just say well-spirited — Papelbon alone outside the entrance to the team clubhouse after the game and he embraced me with a celebratory bro hug. (I had never spoken a word to him before, and it’s not like I was a reporter of much recognition…). 

But again, that’s just Pap.

In the final years of his playing career, Papelbon was perhaps most known for his public spat in the dugout with then Nationals teammate Bryce Harper. Pap has since said he’s on good terms with Harper now and apologized in a team meeting for not confronting Harper behind closed doors instead.

While there was a downside to Papelbon’s unpredictable wild side, that energy definitely played a key role in making him one of the most memorable closers of the modern era. Certainly the best in Red Sox history.

For a kid growing up, Papelbon’s whole act was nothing short of cool. I proudly owned a Papelbon t-shirt as a teenager (that I remember for some reason trying to iron one day at a hotel in Bar Harbor and the lettering just… melted. I miss that shirt…). He defined the personality of the late 2000s Red Sox. The closer position naturally comes with pomp and drama, and it was fun to watch someone like Papelbon who embraced that role perfectly — on and off the diamond.

So, here’s to three great Red Sox. Each is deserving of their place among the immortals in Red Sox lore. We were certainly spoiled to watch them all.