You know it’s a slow week in sports when this describes your morning:

1) You get out of bed, turn on NESN SportsDesk, and see that college hockey is headlining.  BU will play the Newton College Iggles in the final of the Beanpot.  Woo-Freaking-Hoo. 

2) You then flip to The Weather Channel, half driven by morbid curiosity, and half driven by the fact that the morning anchorwoman is a bit of a MILF.  You see that the current temperature is lower than Big Papi’s career triples total.  You then start to cry, and throw another pair of boxers in the microwave.

Well, not to fear.  I have some flashback material for you old-timers, and some hopefully interesting reading for you youngsters.  With the Red Sox getting a couple of new faces in their starting middle-infield, I figured I’d take a look back at the top 5 Red Sox players at both second base and shortstop. 

Today, we’ll cover second baseman.  Why is it that they get so little respect, compared to their cousins at SS?  The positions are very similar, yet the SS is usually portrayed as the guy who is banging the cute cheerleaders in high-school, while the 2B gets to settle for the acne-encrusted majorettes?  Why is Derek Jeter dubbed “The Tom Brady of the Yankees”, whilst Mark Grudzielanek is never dubbed “The Rex Grossman of the Royals”?
 
I’ll tell you this: the Sox have not had a very storied group of second basemen in their history.  In fact, I was originally going to do the Top 10 at each spot, but realism slapped me in the face when I realized I was about to add a guy with a career OPS of .606.  Let’s get started:

5) Jerry Remy 

The 5^th guy on the list is the most recent.  I’ll skip the “Where Are They Now” section for Jerry, but the younger fans may not realize that “Remdawg” was once a fiery sparkplug second baseman in the tumultuous late 70’s.  Traded to the Sox before 1978, Remy made the All-Star team for a championship-calibre Sox lineup, providing excellent defense, baserunning, and fundamentals.  Sure, these days he might occasionally be mistaken for the third Mario Brother, but I implore you to watch some footage of this guy running down the first-base line in his prime.  You wouldn’t believe it. 
Note: I was very torn between Remy and Marty Barrett for this 5^th spot.  Marty was a bit more of a bat, but Remy gets the edge with his glove and wheels.

4) Mike Andrews

Mike is now known as the guy who organized the Red Sox fantasy camp, where Bill the Tax Lawyer From The Cape gets to pay $5,000 to fly down to Florida for a week and hit softballs off Bob Stanley.  However, in his playing days, Andrews was a key figure in an Impossible Dream.
Mike was a 23-year-old rookie when the Sox made their cindarella run to the pennant in 1967.  He was the Red Sox starting second baseman for 4 straight seasons, and made the All-Star Team in 1969.  In an era where pitchers ruled with an iron fist, Mike finished with a career OBP of .353.
Always known as one of the more admirable characters on the diamond, Mike has continued that trend, currently serving as chairman of the infamous Jimmy Fund charitable organization. 

3) Pete Runnels

Pete was a big Texan, a left-handed hitter who actually played 2 more games at 1B in his career, but played primarily 2B while in Boston.  Although one might assume he was a butcher at 2B, this wasn’t really the case, Runnels (who actually broke in as a SS with Washington) was solid with the glove.
Pete seemed to love Fenway Park; as soon as he was acquired, his offense went from “sub-par” to ”excellent”.  In 5 seasons with Boston, Pete enjoyed the following OPS+ totals: 130, 128, 113, 116, 130.  This included 2 batting titles and 3 All-Star games.

2) Billy Goodman

   

Before the Sox acquired Pete Runnels, they had his exact clone: Billy Goodman.  Billy had just about everything in common with Pete: a big guy in 2B terms, lefty singles hitter, not much power or speed, versatile with the glove.  Billy gets the edge for playing more games for Boston, but #2 and #3 on this list are extremely close.
Billy’s career peaked in 1950, when we won a batting title with a .354, and finished 2nd in MVP voting, to Phil Rizzuto (cough..cough…overrated…cough…cough..undeserving of the Hall of Fame..cough..cough).  Ugh, excuse me.  Damn that nagging winter phlegm. 
Goodman made 2 All-Star appearances, and finished with an even .300 career batting average.

1) Bobby Doerr

Surprise!  I know, the suspense must have been torture.  Yes, Bobby Doerr is the best Red Sox second baseman of all-time, and he wins that honor in a landslide.
Doerr played all 1,865 games of his career for the Red Sox, and amazingly, he played every inning of his career at 2B.  One of the four legendary “Teammates” which also included Ted Williams, Dom Dimaggio, and Johnny Pesky, Doerr was a standout second baseman on both sides of the ball, with a prowess at the plate as well as defensively.
Doerr was the best second baseman in the league for roughly 10 straight years, making 9 All-Star teams and finishing with a  career slugging % of .461. 
Despite retiring at the early age of 33 while still in playing shape, Doerr was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986, and his #1 is retired in right field at Fenway.

It is a strange coincidence that the Top 5 happen to go in perfect sequential order, in relation to when they played.  Marty Barrett would make the trend continue at #6, and one could argue for Jody Reed at #7 (although he would have to settle it in a steel cage with Denny Doyle and Bill Regan).

In 2007, Dustin Pedroia is the most likely starter at 2B, with Alex Cora as a darkhorse.  Pedroia, as a hitter, projects as being somewhat similar to the guys at #2 and #3 of this list (although right-handed): a singles hitter, moderate gap power, great contact potential, decent plate discipline, but not much else.  He’s not fast, he’s not a particularly great defender…but he can use the stick. 

In other words: if everything goes right, he should fit right in.

Next: SS! 

 

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