by Bob Swanson

Created on: July 15, 2008

The Boston Red Sox are one of the oldest, most historic teams in the history of baseball. They have had some of the most historic and truly great players to ever grace a baseball field. The Red Sox have had their share of not just good players, but great. The following players with the exception of Jackie Robinson have all had their numbers retired by the Boston Red Sox, acknowledging them as the best players in Red Sox history.

The first player doesn't take much thought, and no it is not Babe Ruth. The greatest player in Red Sox history is none other than Ted Williams. He is arguably the greatest hitter to ever play the game. Ted was a lifetime .344 hitter. This ranks 7th all time, not just in Red Sox history, but also in baseball history. Ted also had power as he launched 521 home runs during his career. A stat that is truly amazing is he had 2019 walks in his career. What's the big deal? He only struck out 709 times. Ted Williams had 1310 more walks than strikeouts. The most he ever struck out in one year was in his 1939 rookie season when he went down 64 times.

Ted Williams was a statistic machine. He won the MVP twice and the American League Triple Crown not once, but twice. Ted won the American League batting title 6 times and the home run title 4 times. He is also the last player to hit .400 over the coarse of an entire major league season. Ted Williams is by far the greatest player to wear a Red Sox jersey.

Next is a guy who received 95 percent of the voting on the Hall of Fame ballot, which is the 7th highest all time. His name is Carl Yastrzemski. Carl was a lifetime .285 hitter while driving 452 balls out of the ballpark. He also won the Triple Crown once and an MVP award. Not only could he hit but also he was excellent defensively being awarded a Gold Glove 7 times. He had a streak of 167 consecutive games without committing an error. It is near impossible to stay so good defensively as long as he did. 167 consecutive is like going an entire season without making an error and then 2 more the next season.

Now we move on to number 27. You may know him as the guy who pushed his 12th inning, World Series Game 6 winning home run fair at Fenway Park. He is referred to as the hero of the greatest World Series game ever played. Thought of him yet? If you guessed Carlton Fisk then you are right. He was a 7-time All-Star and was the first unanimous winner of the American League Rookie of the Year award. Fisk was a lifetime .269 hitter and hit 376 home runs.

Up now is #1. He played his entire 14-year career with the Red Sox. His statistics are not eye popping but he was a great player. I'm talking about Bobby Doerr. He hit .288 in his career and hit 223 home runs. He did however drive in 1247 runs, which is a respectable number. Bobby also scored over 1,000 runs and had 2042 hits.

Finally is Joe Cronin. He was a 12-time All-Star, 6 of which were as a player. He was a lifetime .301 hitter and hit 170 home runs. Despite the low home run total he had 2285 hits and drove in 1424 runs. Joe also scored 1233 runs in his 20-year career. Joe also saw success as the manager of the Red Sox. He also holds the record with 1071 wins as manager in team history.

There you have it. Those are not only Red Sox great, but MLB great. The players mentioned are some of the greatest to ever play, regardless of statistics. Each player had an amazing career and will forever have a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Each player was great and should command the respect from every other player to play the game. They are all truly great players.

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