The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #71 Wade Boggs

Hitting the list at #71 is Boston on-base machine Wade Boggs. Boggs was one of the most feared hitters in baseball in the 1980s, leading the league in times on base for eight consecutive seasons and intentional walks for six consecutive seasons. His .328 career batting average is the 2nd highest of anyone debuting since 1941 and his .415 career on-base % is the 7th best of anyone debuting since 1951. He joins Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, and Stan Musial as the only players in Major League Baseball history with 3,000 hits, a .415 on-base %, and 575 doubles. Boggs joins Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Ted Williams, and Stan Musial as the only players in history to lead the league in on-base percentage six times and batting average five times. Cementing his status as one of the most difficult outs the league has ever seen, Boggs is one of only four players in history to have more than 1,400 walks with fewer than 750 strikeouts.

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Hi (hopefully) awesome reader! I welcome your comments. However, please be aware that I make all of my arguments using facts, statistics, and logic. Unfortunately, the average comment on a top-100 list goes something like this:

"UR StooPid. (Insert player) is trash. I've watched (pick a sport) for (pick a number of years) and (pick a player) is better than everyone. UR DUMB. HAHA6969."

–Some Jabroni

As cognitively stimulating as this species of comment is, it ends up being a missed opportunity to share a nuanced perspective. I reply to all comments that show even the most basic levels of thought and humility. The people who make the comments like the example above are under the assumption that the three seconds of thought that popped into their brains after reading the list is more than the 1000s of hours that I put into creating and maintaining the lists. I would be happy to defend any placement, or make an adjustment if one is warranted. If you are a jabroni, like the one above, then your comment will die in the lonely void of the unpublished comments section.

For everyone else, I look forward to your comments!

P.S. The theme of this site and the top-100 lists is that athletes from previous generations have historically been grossly overrated by sports publications in a way that is statistically improbable. Click on the "About" dropdown menu to see just how badly the average top-100 list disproportionately favors athletes from older generations when leagues were smaller, race quotas existed, and globalization wasn't a thing. Also, please consider reading "The History" section of the sport you are commenting on.

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