Not to be confused with the “best” or “greatest” player.
With the latter half of the off-season continuing to drag at a snail’s pace, I want to start a conversation with the fine folks of the OTM community—a conversation that, perhaps, is long overdue.
Who, exactly, is the coolest player who ever played for the Boston Red Sox?
Inspiration for this topic came while I was listening to the most recent edition of the Monsters of Sox podcast. Our pals Dan and Bryan were discussing the coolness of one of the three new Hall of Fame inductees: Ichiro, an undoubtedly cool baseball player.
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I don’t think I’ve come across a baseball fan who didn’t like Ichiro…well, besides the one person who didn’t vote in favor of his enshrinement into Cooperstown. I struggle to even think of what that person would even be like. Who the hell doesn’t think Ichiro is the man? Who thought to themselves “Eh, I’m all set” after seeing his electrifying play? Who hasn’t done his iconic batting stance when playing wiffle ball? No one I know, that’s for sure.
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Dan and Bryan’s conversation soon led to points about the coolest non-Red Sox players ever—a topic that probably deserves its own blog post. From there, they briefly thought about who our coolest player ever has been. Since it’s a good question—and since I’m desperate for something to write about at this point of the winter—I wanted to explore that topic further.
From the jump, I want to make something clear: this is not an inquiry into who the best or who the greatest Red Sox player is. As awesome of a player as Ichiro was, and as cut-and-dry as his HOF candidacy was, I wouldn’t put him in my all-time first-team outfield in spite of his coolness. We’re talking charisma here, not stats—although, a strong output certainly doesn’t hurt.
I think the obvious answer here is David Ortiz. Of course, his contributions to the team have gone down as legend here in Boston, but I think most people across the general fandom of baseball would agree that number 34 is cool as hell. The fact that he himself is cool under pressure, the fact that he’s got a big personality—shit, the fact that his nickname is Big Papi—all of that blends together to make one cool character. Ortiz is also simply hilarious, and that’s endearing.
It’s the easy option here, but that just might be because it’s the right one. Maybe we don’t have to overthink this.
With that said: let’s overthink this a bit. David Ortiz being the definitive icon of the Red Sox’s rise to new heights over the past two decades and change is undeniable, but is this question really that easy to answer? There are a few more contenders I want to highlight before I open it up to you folks.
Is it Ortiz’s partner in the heart of the lineup in the mid-2000’s, Manny Ramirez? His affinity to clobber the ball along with his hijinks in the field have led to countless memories. Sure, him cutting Johnny Damon’s relay throw off in the outfield led to plenty of headaches across Red Sox Nation at the time, but the phrase “Manny Being Manny” became a part of his brand—a brand that I’m sure many neutrals think is cool after all these years. You don’t see many guys like Manny anymore. Bonus points for him being on the cover of the best baseball video game ever.
Plus: his reaction to his walk-off homer in Game 2 of the 2007 ALDS might’ve been the coolest reaction in the club’s long history.
A pair of late, great players are sneaky candidates for this. The first: Tim Wakefield, the face of the knuckleball—an inherently cool pitch. The other is Rickey Henderson. This one’s kind of cheating considering he was only in Boston for a cup of coffee at the end of his career, but Rickey might be the single coolest baseball player ever, full stop.
All of that said, I still think Papi is the leader in the clubhouse. I’d say he’s certainly the most pivotal player in Red Sox history, considering what followed after he was brought into the folks, and I think he just might be our coolest player ever as well.
But I want to open it up to you fine folks! If you agree that Papi is our coolest player ever, or if you have a different person in mind, sound off below. I’m sure I’m missing a few names.