Top 10 Boston Red Sox of All-Time

Name the top 10 Boston Red Sox players of all time.

By wins above replacement, according to baseball-reference.com

Only includes stats accrued playing with the Red Sox

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Last updated: September 25, 2023

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First submitted	May 2, 2016
Times taken	9,948
Average score	60.0%
Rating	4.03

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WAR	Years	Position	Player
121.8	1939–1942, 1946–1960	OF	Ted Williams
96.5	1961–1983	OF	Carl Yastrzemski
80.8	1984–1996	P	Roger Clemens
71.9	1982–1992	3B	Wade Boggs
66.7	1901–1909	P	Cy Young
66.6	1972–1990	OF	Dwight Evans
55.8	1907–1915	OF	Tris Speaker
53.5	1998–2004	P	Pedro Martinez
52.7	2003–2016	DH	David Ortiz
51.9	2006–2019	2B	Dustin Pedroia

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32 Comments

Level 45

Aug 16, 2016

Mandatory "Absolutely nothing!" comment

Level 56

Aug 16, 2016

SING IT AGAIN YALL

Level 72

Aug 16, 2016

David Ortiz's first season with the Sox was 2003.

Level ∞

Oct 3, 2016

Fixed

Level 65

Oct 4, 2016

Im guessing your counting the bambino as a traitor?

Level 40

Jun 6, 2017

His WAR must not have been high enough

Level 90

Aug 2, 2018

His wins above replacement are too embarrassing to calculate.

Level ∞

Oct 6, 2022

He still manages to be #16 on the Red Sox all-time list just from the few years he played there.

Level 89

Aug 8, 2017

Why isn't Buckner on this list? Oh, wait, he was one of the top 10 all time NY Mets.

Level 90

Jul 4, 2018

Even more famous than Tom Seaver to Red Sox fans.

Level 47

Oct 30, 2018

haha

Level 85

Feb 15, 2020

Anybody who thinks Bill Buckner lost the '86 World Series for the Red Sox didn't watch Game 6. That's just a stupid narrative that the sports media has run with that reflects complete ignorance/dishonesty about how that game went down. By the time that ball went under Buckner's glove, every Red Sox fan on earth already knew Boston had blown another shot at a World Series championship.

Level 67

Mar 12, 2018

I was certain Jim Rice was the 72-90 OF. Nope, 74-89.

Level 73

Oct 23, 2018

Same here!

Level 76

Oct 24, 2018

I was just surprised Rice wasn't on here. But look at the years: Jim Rice played in left field, taking over from Carl Yastrzemski, who took over from Ted Williams. All that with the Green Monster as the backdrop. Solace for a near-century without a championship.

Level 90

Jul 4, 2018

Pudge isn't catching?

Level 55

Oct 24, 2018

Ten is a pretty elite group...some of the other possibles (maybe not Top 10, it's subjective) of note were Johnny Pesky, Tris Speaker, Carlton Fisk, Luis Tiant, Dom DiMaggio, Joe Cronin, Vern Stephens, Nomar Garciaparra, Jimmy Collins, Jim Rice, etc...

Level 87

Oct 24, 2018

Would have done much worse if the other recently-featured Red Sox quiz hadn't put some of these players fresh in my mind (Cy Young, for example).

Level 66

Oct 24, 2018

Either this WAR stat wasn't a thing when I used to follow baseball, or it at least hadn't caught on as much as it evidently has now. Can someone help clarify things for me a bit? When I looked it up online, I find that 6+ is considered to be an MVP-level player. So how in the heck are these players 50 and above?

Level 74

Oct 24, 2018

Career WAR is cumulative. The levels you found were for comparing WAR over a single season.

Level 87

Oct 24, 2018

https://www.fangraphs.com/library/misc/war/

It's a much-debated statistic that tries to capture in one number a player's overall value.

Level 67

Oct 25, 2018

It's a little (or a lot) complicated, but it's designed to be the best single measure of a player's worth. +6 WAR means that player (let's say a shortstop) will bring his team six more wins over the course of a season than a replacement (average) shortstop would. So the higher your WAR, the more value to your team because you will create more wins than an average player would if he was in your place.

I'm honestly not sure exactly how it's calculated, but I know that's what it represents.

Level ∞

Oct 6, 2022

A typical MVP season is more like 10 WAR, not 6.

Sometimes casual fans don't like WAR because they don't understand the value of walking, base-running, defense, and positional scarcity.

Level 82

Oct 24, 2018

I believe that Pedroia passed Doerr in WAR.

Level 87

Oct 24, 2018

This is correct. Baseball Reference lists his career WAR as 52.1, and he's only ever played for the Sox.

Actually, it was already true last year, as Pedroia had a negative WAR in 2018.

Level ∞

Oct 26, 2018

Fixed. My guess is that baseball reference tweaked their WAR calculations causing this to change.

Level 72

Oct 11, 2022

Crazy that he has almost as much WAR as Ortiz and played here for the same number of years. I know he never had Ortiz's leadership or postseason heroics, but still. I certainly hope they retire his number.

Level 55

Apr 24, 2019

Just a note: Jimmie Foxx had some good years with the Sox. In 7 seasons, hit .320, slugged .605, had high HR & RBI totals...not saying he should necessarily be on the list but definitely impressive credentials!

Level 85

Feb 15, 2020

1901-09 - Pitcher. At first, I assumed I had no shot at this. Then I decided to try to think of any old-time pitchers who may have been great enough to win the Cy Young award once that award started being given out. Couldn't come up with anything except players I knew played for other teams. (e.g. Christy Mathewson)

The light finally came on with :19 left. D'Oh!!

Level 85

Feb 15, 2020

Roger Clemens*

David Ortiz*

Level ∞

Oct 6, 2022

Drug testing is more of an IQ test than anything else nowadays. You have to know when and how to do it without getting caught. And most of them do, in some form.

The "steroid era" was different than today because it was like the Wild West. The testing rules had yet to be formalized, so a player couldn't point to a string of negative tests to prove his innocence. And then a witch hunt ensued.

It's getting old. Really old.

But I recognize I'm in the minority here.

Level 68

May 9, 2023

Steroids will still tamper the 90s. Although it is an era most fans wish to forget, the decade was filled with countless of memorable players and events in any baseball fan's childhood.