E27: Wade Boggs: Contact Hitting and Chicken; Plus The Longest Game and 2026 MLB Update

You can measure Wade Boggs with numbers, but you can’t really understand him without the stories. We start by checking the current MLB landscape with our friend Edwin Noland, moving division by division and hitting the surprises, the contenders, and the little controversies that make a long season feel alive. Then we pivot hard into baseball history and trivia with one of the most fascinating profiles we’ve done: Boggs as both a Hall of Fame hitter and a walking collection of routines, rules, and legends. 

We talk through his path from a military-family childhood to becoming the centerpiece of elite Red Sox hitting in the 1980s, built on plate discipline, line drives, and getting on base. We trace the contract fallout that pushed him to the Yankees, the championship payoff in 1996, and the late-career homecoming with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, where he joined the 3,000-hit club in the most unexpected way. Along the way, we dig into why his game still matters in modern conversations about contact hitters, on-base percentage, and consistency as a superpower. 

And then there’s the mythos: the chicken ritual, the 7:17 timing, the symbols in the batter’s box, the TV cameos, and the legendary “how many beers could a human possibly drink on a flight” tale. We also pay off our opening trivia with the unbelievable true story behind the longest professional baseball game ever played and Boggs’ place in it. Subscribe, share the show with a baseball fan who loves weird history, and leave us a review with your favorite Wade Boggs legend or your own game day superstition.

Email us at fungosandfastballs@gmail.com

Transcript

Welcome And Tennis Chaos

Speaker 0:00

Hello, listener, and welcome to Fungos and Fastballs. We got a really good episode today, as uh we have our bi-weekly visit with friend of the show, Edwin Noland, as we look at what's going on at today's league. Then we go back to look at the career and the mythos of Wade Boggs. Brooke, you know why baseball is the greatest sport on earth? I do not. Because it's not tennis. Listeners, our producer, Brooke, almost killed me with an errant tennis ball to the eye yesterday, and only through the magic of natural good looks and CGI do you not see a scar. It was not my fault. Luckily, I survived to make today's episode. Luckily, yes. Both eyes still in the head.

Trivia Tease Longest Pro Game

Speaker 0:52

Well, why don't we start today's episode with our trivia question? And it involves today's subject, Wade Boggs. So Boggs in 1981 played in the longest game in professional baseball history. How many innings was that game? Now this was a minor league game, but how many innings was that longest professional baseball game? And uh stay tuned till the end for the answer.

Edwin Nolan Checks MLB Standings

Speaker 1:19

And now I'd like to welcome back our good friend and baseball aficionado, Edwin Nolan, for our run through of the current season and the history that's being made now. Hey, Edwin, thanks for joining us. Hey, happy June. You excited we're in summer baseball? Yeah. I can finally start paying attention a little bit more to where these teams are in the standings. Well, we usually go around the horn through every division in the league, and Brooke's gonna keep us honest with her timer of Bell. Thank you, Brooke. And hopefully we won't hear too much from you. But let's start with me and the American League East Go. The Yankees have narrowed the gap with the division leading Rays, one and a half games up. The Yanks have a Cy Young candidate and an MVP candidate. And now, no, I'm not talking about Gerrit Cole and Aaron Judge. We have Cam Schlittler and Ben Rice of all people in those discussions. Schlitter leads the AL with an ERA of 1.50. Ben Rice leads both leagues in OPS. The Rays welcomed 38-year-old reliever Craig Kimbrell after the Mets designated him for assignment, only to have him land on the I.L. after one appearance. And though the Blue Jays' rotation struggles with injury, it's a wide open American league, and even nine games back in the division, they are currently in the third wild card spot if the season ended today. Edwin. Yeah, it's gonna swing us over to the AL Central, which don't look now, but the boys from the South side are second in the division. That's right. Your White Sox are only two games back and only 10 games away for more wins than they had in all of 2024. Can you believe that? Do you believe in miracles? They do in Chicago. And it's the guys on the south side that are making all the buzz. Then in Cleveland are the only two teams above 500. Meanwhile, Bobby Witt, he's making web gems almost every night, but the rest of Kansas City, unable to perform. Meanwhile, Cleveland. They're consistent all around, and they're like the only adults in the room. Or actually, we're gonna stay with me with the AL West. I'll I'll talk a little bit about them. The Mariners are now a top as the only team above 500 after steamrolling, sweeping the A's and flipping uh one-two in the AL West. So the Astros quietly surging kind of in the middle towards the back of the pack. They're seven and three in the last ten games. Meanwhile, those athletics that we were talking about earlier a few weeks ago, they were in the front, but now lost that to the Mariners as they've gone three and seven in the last ten games. Jerry? Yeah, poor athletics. I love their young team. Nick Kurtz, man. What a he's gonna be a stud. Over to the NL East. Atlanta

National League Races And Odd Suspensions

Speaker 4:19

continues to be the best team in the MLB at 40 and 20. And beware, Ronald Acuna Jr. is heating up five home runs in the past four games. Though nine games back, your Washington Nationals are two games over 500. Uh, some exciting young players. 23-year-old outfielder James Wood. I loved him in the movie Videodrone And I really like 25-year-old shortstop CJ Abrams. Abrams, he's battling batting 294 with 12 homers. My World Series pick, the Phillies are right behind, swept the Padres, lost the last series to the Dodgers, Mets and Marlins competing for the baseman. And now I'm doing the NL Central. I'm sure to go long with this one. Uh the Brewers have gotten some separation. Four and a half games up in the division. I don't want to repeat myself from two weeks ago, but Jacob Misiorowski, I mean, come on. I mean, what a May continues to kill with those 100 mile an hour pitches. 57 in one game, 39 more in the last game against the Astros. Can his body keep this up? I didn't think anyone would grab the Cy Young way from Paul Skenes, but he and Christopher Sanchez of the Phillies are going to make this really interesting. Also regarding the Brewer, is there any more of a non-story about pitcher Abner Uribe getting a one-game uh suspension for his WWE rot chop? Uh, not the most classy celebration, but he got suspended for a come on. An excited young kid, please. Uh the Cubs once the class of division, I told you I was gonna go over, have now dropped to five games back with pitching injuries with Matthew Boyd, reliever Hunter Harvey. But hey, all five games are still, all five teams are still with winning records. I'm keeping my eyes on the Cardinals, just an exciting young team. That's gonna swing us over to the NL West, where the Dodgers are slightly pulling away from the rest of the pack. Padres were keeping up with them for a little bit there, but they are pulling away the D-backs or kind of neck and neck right there with the Padres, making second place interesting. Hopefully, one of those teams can kind of keep pace with the Dodgers so they don't run away with the division here in you know late summer. But uh it's always fun. They've got some really exciting teams here with the Dodgers, Padres, Diamondbacks, even the Giants are good for a few fun games, but Tatis with the Padres is always electric, and Shohei Otani is must-watch baseball. So you know, fun division, hopefully the Dodgers don't just run away with it. Yeah, Tatis finally got his first homer. Yeah, he's he's super fun to watch, and I can't believe the crotch chop either. That's you know, at first the celebration was going well. Okay, that's fine, but then when he turned and went with the with the uh Degeneration X crotch chop, can't can't be doing that. Yeah, you think he should have gotten suspended. I think, you know, or just you know, take some money out of his bank account. Well, thank you, Edwin. I thought we did a great job as always, keeping people up to date. Thanks for joining us. Yeah, thank you guys for that.

Wade Boggs Early Career And Hitting

Speaker 7:25

Hello and welcome to Fungos and Fastballs, the podcast of baseball history and trivia. I'm your host, Jerry Dynes. Let's jump into today's episode. Well, as I said, today we cover a player who is one of the greatest contact hitters of his era, Wade Boggs. Now, Boggs certainly had a deserved Hall of Fame career, but there are so many wild stories, superstitions, and legends surrounding the man, it is hard to separate that man from the myth. Uh, this is the tenth Hall of Famer we've covered. Brooke, you still with me? Uh I'm still here. 271 more to go. I know, plus managers, owners, and ups. Uh well, be we we before we get to those wacky stories, let's jump into Boggs' life and career first. So Boggs was born to a military family in Omaha, Nebraska, the birthplace of another Hall of Famer, great Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson. Boggs' father was a Marine in World War II, his he flew for the Air Force in Korea, and his mom piloted mail plane. Now, moving around a lot, uh, the family eventually settled in Tampa, Florida, and when Wade was 11, that's where he went to high school, and as we'll see, this is where he would finish his major league career. Now, listener, Jerry will tell you multiple times, I would say Wayne Boggs. I was trying to say Wade, but it it came out as Wayne. But I learned that Wade Boggs' brother's name is Wayne, and his other brother's name is Wynne. So I can't imagine getting yelled at in that household how his mom must have confused those names up. A lot of W names. I'm not I'm not sure whether you were saying Wade, and it sounded like Wayne. It's like so many professional baseball players, uh Boggs played multiple sports, actually got a scholarship from South Carolina uh as a kicker, but he was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 1976, and he decided to sign with the club for a then grand amount of $7,500. After six seasons of moving up the minors from 1A to 2A to finally triple A ball, he made his big league debut in 1982 with the Sox, immediately battled 349 in his rookie year. He debuted at first base, played about 49 games there, but then in his rookie year would settle into third base, and that's where he would stay and uh become the player he would be. His rookie baseball card by Topps actually wasn't printed until the next year because they weren't expecting him to play that year. Aaron Ross Powell Yeah, Topps wasn't ready for him. No, they were not. Boggs was an excellent third baseman. He approved over the course of his career, very solid presence. Only won two gold gloves later in his career in the mid-90s. But he was competing at the time with players like Gary Gaetti on the Twins, George Brett on the Royals, Robin Ventura on the White Sox. Uh, but it was at the plate that Boggs really excelled. He drew more walks than strikeouts every season. Uh his career on base percentage was a 415, so getting on the plate four out of every 10 at bats, very low strikeout rates. In fact, his career strikeout percentage 8.1%. That's in the top 200 volt players of all time. Already, even in his career, the stories start. Supposedly none other than Red Sox legend Ted Williams once saw a photo of Wade when he was 18 months old, yes, 18 months, and said, quote, that kid's got a hell of a stance, everything's perfect, he ought to become a great hitter. And I'm not sure if it's another tall tale, but Box's father claimed at 19 months that Box picked up a bat, held it naturally, and hit a successful uh pitch. 19 months, huh? Was he doing trigonometry too? Sounds like my mom who used to, you know, the the age I used to read complex uh books got younger and younger. I think she's at three months now. Time gone on time went on, yeah. The encyclopedia. Well, he was never a power hitter. In 11 season at Boston, he only hit more than 10 home runs once in 1987 when he hit 24. But he was an outstanding contact hitter, you know, a batter that put the ball into play, rarely struck out. Boggs won six American League batting titles, which went yearly to the highest batting average, five in a row beginning in 1983, a year after his debut. He had seven consecutive seasons of over 200 hits, and through the 80s with Boston, he never hit lower than 325. But he never won the MVP. In fact, he really never fit finished higher than fourth in the voting, typically lower. Even in that 1987 uh season, when he had a bit of a power surge, hit 24 homers, his OPS was 1,049, and he was ninth place in MVP voting. He actually holds the record at Fenway Park for hitting an astonishing 369 batting average, because that was his home park at the time. Yeah, over his whole career, yeah. Yep. He was just a solid, consistent player throughout, very similar to his counterpart in the National League, Tony Gwynn for the Padres, also debuting in the league in 1982. We profiled him in episode 15. Like Gwyn in so many batters before and after, Boggs attributed a big jump in his hitting to reading Ted Williams' famous book, The Science of Hitting. Jim Rice, the his captain of the Red Sox, who hit with power and accepted outs as part of driving in a run and he had maximum aggression, so not a contact hitter, more a power hitter. He said Boggs was ahead of his time and he focused always on getting on base. Boggs would work the count and he hit line drives, or he'd even he'd take a walk because he had such good focus on the pitches coming to him. Yeah, just this analytics idea of just you're right, getting on base. Well, despite being a Red Sox fave, after the 92 season where Boggs had a down year, Boston did not give him a long-term contract. Apparently, Red Sox owner Jean Yawkey had promised him a seven-year, $37 million contract. When she passed away in 1992, the new Sox management did not follow through on that offer, didn't give him a long-term deal, and he became a free agent. During the spring training in 91, I read that Boggs fell out of a pickup truck, and his wife was driving and she accidentally almost ran him over. He didn't suffer any injuries, but he's quoted as saying, Am I alive? I wonder how long he held that over her his her head, just like someone's holding a tennis incident over his wife's head. Wasn't my fault. Well, I don't know if there's any coincidence, but that was a couple of years after uh Boggs admitted to having that affair with Margot Adams for four years. Yeah, women they do hold their grudges. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, maybe it wasn't quite accidental, but we're not accusing. No, no, no. Um, she's a better woman than I would have gone forwards and backwards. Yeah, Brooke would have just kept going, exactly.

Yankees Years And 3,000th Hit

Speaker 14:48

Well, Boggs went from the Sox to the hated rival New York Yankees in 1993, signing a three-year contract worth $11 million. After that down year that he had with the Boston Red Sox, Boggs hit over 300 for the first four years of his Yankee career. Also won two gold gloves, you know, there with the Yankees for his improved defense. He would wind up staying with the Yankees until 1997, and it was there he would get his World Series ring, which was the 1996 wing win over the Atlanta Braves. Yeah, in the pivotal game four, Boggs came to bat in the tenth inning against Braves pitcher Steve Avery. Bases loaded, and Boggs said, I took six straight pitches without moving my bat. And the results, he walked in a decisive run. Yeah. Now Boggs had made the World Series with Boston in 86, but the team lost it in brilliant fashion at that time to the New York Mets. It was game six. Mookie. A little more sign. Every episode has Seinfeld in some way. With the Yankees, though, he helped win that championship, famously celebrated by riding on the back of a New York Police Department horse, though apparently he was afraid of horses. Trevor Burrus, Jr. I I have the photo on Instagram. And if you notice, he actually has a beard. And back then, as you know, George Steinbrenner clean-faced Yankees is one of the rules. Yeah. Well, I think you'll cover some superstition soon. Well, after five years with the Yankees, Boggs went home to Tampa Bay, spending his last two years with the Venevil Rays in the first two years of that franchise. Now in Tampa, he would collect his 3,000th hit, only one of 33 batters in that 3,000 hit club. And again, though not a home run hitter, his 3,000th hit was a home run. Trevor Burrus, Jr. He was the first MLB player to do that, although not the last. Yeah, trivia. In addition to Boggs, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez is the are the two other players to have their 3,000th hit a home run. No surprise, it's the two of them how competitive they were. Well, he would retire in 1999 after a knee injury because he was a local player to Tampa Bay and such a big name player in the early days of their franchise. Boggs' number 12 is actually retired by Tampa Bay despite two seasons. He's also in the Rays Hall of Fame. In Tropicana Field, the home of the Rays, there are two yellow seats among all the blue seats commemorating the landing spots of the first franchise homer hit by Boggs and Boggs' 3000th hit in 1999.

The Superstitions That Defined Boggs

Speaker 17:45

Well, it's hard to think of Boggs without all the stories that surround him. He's typically included on lists of the most superstitious athletes. In fact, on Boggs' Hall of Fame plaque, it actually says, quote, legendary for his superstitions. Now, some of his actions may have been the regularity of growing up in a military family, but others are clearly hoping for a little luck. Boggs once quoted as saying, quote, I always said I'd rather be lucky than good, and that was one of the reasons why I had so many superstitions. I wanted luck on my side. I never thought I was that good, but I always wanted to be lucky. So this is why he'd take batting practice every day at exactly 5.17 p.m. for uh night games, run sprints at 7.17 p.m. He would take exactly 150 ground balls before each game. In Toronto, he was warming up and the scoreboard, the clock where the clock was, he went out and it was 7.16. And so he was waiting for 7.17. And the person running the scoreboard actually held the clock up at 7.16 and then waited a minute and bypassed it to make it 7.18. And and he was asked, Well, how'd you do that night? And he said, I don't think I got a hit that night. And he said the next night they tried to do it again, but this time when it was 716, Bog said, because this this superstition is so strong, he literally counted off 60 seconds. So he got out there on time. Until that's 717. Exactly. I'm like, my gosh, that's that's intensity. Well, every time coming up to bat in the batter's box, he would always draw the Hebrew letter chai, meaning life. Even more interesting, Boggs wasn't Jewish. I believe that he felt routines removed distractions. So maybe I need to start drawing stuff on the tennis court before I serve. Yeah. Because we got to serve at all. I got a lot of distractions with you people. Well, he requested that Fenway Park announcer Sherman Feller not say his uniform number, 26 at the Sox, uh, when introducing uh Boss, because he had a hitting slump finish the day Feller forgot to announce his number. And of course, how can we go over Boss without talking about his nickname, Chicken Man? Uh, comes from the habit of eating chicken before every game. He started this in 1983, the year of his first batting title, and would eat chicken before every game since. Eventually he'll even authored a book of chicken recipes called Foul Tips F-O-W-L. He he did say if it was a an earlier game, he'd have eggs, because you know, chicken and eggs. In 1985, sitting down for his meal, his wife had no chicken. She made pork chops that night. And that game, he went 0 for 4, two errors, got hit by Cal Rypkin on an overthrow. So that was the end of pork chops ever again on game nights. And there's also a story he tells that in Milwaukee, a radio station went to his favorite restaurant that he would always eat before a game and bought out all their chicken. Like just ordered all the chicken off the menu. So when he went in, the waitress said, I'm sorry, we're out of chicken, and he didn't know what to do. He had to actually get up and go to a different restaurant. But he said he did he he found the humor in it. He thought that was pretty funny. Well, Boggs in his Hall of Fame induction speech said, Believe me, I have a few superstitions, and they work.

TV Cameos And The Beer Myth

Speaker 21:23

In addition to that, he appeared on television shows. He was on The Simpsons, he was on Psych, a great episode of Cheers where the bar patrons harass him because they think he's an imposter. That Cheers episode is so funny. Well, apparently his teammates dared or bet him for that episode when he as on Cheers to bring back actresses Kirstie Allie's underwear to spring training. Jeez, men, right, Brooke? I mean, what are we back to bull for antics? Yeah, boys will be boys. Well, good for Kirsty. Boggs was unsuccessful in his quest. And perhaps the most famous legend is that reported cross country flight where he dragged. Anywhere from 50 to 73 beers on the flight. Perhaps saying the total of that whole day was over 100 beers. The numbers vary. The tail seems to grow with every telling. They always say he played a game the next day. Now, drinking about 10 gallons of any liquid seems physiologically impossible for the stomach to take, but then you add the alcohol factor. Even the most hardy liver is going to raise the blood alcohol content to really lethal uh levels. But Boggs, for his part, seemed to just revel in that myth. He tells different people different numbers, even appeared on that great, one of my favorite Always Sunny in Philadelphia episodes where the gang tries to duplicate his achievement on a flight. That is a great episode.

Fishing Hunting And Hall Of Fame Legacy

Speaker 22:45

After his retirement, he truly enjoyed fishing, being from Florida. He's an avid angler. Not sure the difference between an angler and a fisherman, but I do know he's into big, big fish. And he actually had or still might have the largest bluefish on record, largest catch at 21 pounds. He's quoted also as saying, when I retired, I needed to find something to replace the adrenaline rush that he got when he stepped into the batter's box. And he found that in hunting big game, which I don't know, my my Wade Boggs level just went down a little bit for killing Simba. Poor Simba. I can't do it. I can't do it. Well, looking back at his career, I'm not going to say Wade Boggs was underrated by any standpoint. He was a 12-time All-Star, a first ballot Hall of Famer with 91.9% of the vote. But he's not mentioned defensively as a third baseman in the same breath breath as George Brett or Mike Schmidt, nor really should he be. He's not really even on the Mount Rushmore of contact hitters with Tony Gwynn, Ishiro, Ted Williams. Bleacher Report top 40 placed him about number 20. But, you know, was this because he was with his time at the Red Sox before they, you know, were uh champions? Was it all the stories and superstitions that overshadowed him? Was it the bad press he got from that public affair? I think it's difficult to say. But Bonds' stats, his consistency, definitely proves he should be included in a very interesting discussion of the best contact hitters. Yeah, Brooke, we haven't had a ranking episode yet, you know, of best catchers or you know, best contact hitters. I sense one in the future. I think we have a couple of them in the notebook, the digital notebook. And now I know what a contact hitter is, so I can actually start getting that episode. You can prepare, right? And before we get to the trivia question, an extra trivia alert. Wade Boggs' son is named Brett after George Brett. George Brett. George Brett's his godfather. George Brett is his godfather. There you go. More trivia than than you

Trivia Answer The 33 Inning Game

Speaker 25:00

could need. But let's give you more. The answer to that trivia question: how many innings is the longest uh professional baseball game in history? The answer? 33 innings. Now, this was back in 1981 at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Uh the game started at 8 25 p.m., stopped at 4 08 the next day, and then the plan was to return after a rest uh later on Easter Sunday morning. But for fear of injury from that long game the night before, they delayed the final tie-breaking 33rd inning to June 23rd when the Red Wings came back in town. So 32 innings overnight, and then one inning, gosh, what is that, a month later? Boggs at the time was playing for the Pawtucket Red Sox, which was then a triple A affiliate of the Red Sox. Now, several Red Sox players have played for Pawtucket at various times. Jim Rice, Carlton Fisk, Roger Clemens, Fred Lynn. Uh Pawtucket was playing that day against the Rochester Red Wings. Now, Rochester's still around. They're currently a triple A affiliate of the Nationals. They were a farm team of the Orioles back then, and playing for Rochester that day, opposite Wade Boggs, was another Hall of Famer, Cal Rypkin Jr. Now, as I mentioned, the game lasted 33 innings. That's eight hours and 25 minutes. A total of 882 pitches were thrown. And at the end, Paw Tucket won three to two, and Boggs went four for twelve with a double in an RBI. Not bad. 33% batting average. Three to two, all those innings? That's all the score was? Yeah, after 33 innings. Oh man, I would have thrown up a mercy flag. Brooke, I think they ran out of double bubble that game. Yeah, I don't think so. And and sunflower seeds. That's right. Now, believe it or not, until researching that joke, I never realized that double bubble was spelled D-U-B-B-L-E, like bubble. Jeez. Wow, I think that reserves a trivia alert. I did not realize that either. I think because the label's so small, I can't read that font. I know. I should see it on the container. Yeah. Those fans got their money's worth. It reminds me when we saw the Yanks Indians divisional playoff in 2017. We told our youngest son, whose birthday it was, to wait until after the game to open his birthday presents. He was so upset because the game went 13 innings. We got back late. Great game. Yanks lost but won the series, but it was a great game. Good times. Not for him. I remembered that vividly.

Closing Thanks And Subscribe

Speaker 27:38

Well, that wraps up another episode. As always, I want to thank my producer, Brooke. You're welcome. And shout out especially to our son Justin, who assured me he'd be listening. You can finally open those birthday presents. Graduation presents now. Congrats on the graduation, dude. Well, we're always happy you're listening and hope you'll keep listening. Don't forget to subscribe on YouTube. Folks can watch us there, Brooke. Or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Heading back to the locker room, this is Jerry Dines and Fungos and Fastballs.