Former Red Sox third baseman and Hall of Famer announces cancer diagnosis
Hall of Famer Wade Boggs announced he is battling prostate cancer. He made the announcement on social media on Saturday.
“I’ve never been a goal-oriented person, but with the strength and support of my family and my faith in God, I’m going to ring that damn bell,” Boggs wrote on X, referring to the ritual cancer patients have when their treatment is finished.
The 66-year-old played for the Red Sox from 1982-92 before leaving Boston to play five seasons with the Yankees and two with the Rays.
He finished his career with 3,010 hits and was a 12-time All-Star with five batting titles. Boggs hit .327 in his career, 39th all-time. Boggs is still currently scheduled to be at Fenway Park on Sept. 21 to be inducted into the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame.
Key Boggs’ career accomplishments
Boggs won five career batting titles, one in 1983 and then three in a row from 1985-88, all with the Red Sox. The left-handed hitter batted .361 in 1983, .368 in 1985, .357 in 1986, .363 in 1987, and .366 in 1988.
Boggs owns a career batting average of .369 at Fenway Park, which is the best in history. Ted Williams ranks second all-time with a .361 batting average.
He recorded four consecutive seasons with at least 200 hits and 100 walks.
Boggs 3000th career hit came as a member of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He was the first player to record his 3000th hit as a homer, reaching the feat on Aug. 7, 1999. In addition, he also hit Tampa Bay’s first home run in franchise history.
Wade Boggs was the king of pregame rituals
Boggs earned the nickname “Chicken Man” due to his pregame meal ritual during his big league career.
Boggs would eat the same meal before every single game. He would sit down to a plate of fried chicken and then go out and play. He would eat all kinds of chicken—grilled chicken, beer-can chicken, Italian chicken, or his wife’s popular fried chicken.
Boggs began eating chicken in 1983, the year he won his first batting title. Every time he ate chicken before a game, the hits just kept coming, and the ritual turned into a superstition.
The former batting champion picked up the habit in 1983 when a friend of his in Tampa Bay suggested he write a cookbook with his favorite chicken recipes from his mother, grandmother, and wife.
"A buddy of mine that owned a restaurant here in Tampa, Brad Gray, said, 'Hey, why don't you write a chicken cookbook with your grandmother's and mother's and wife's recipes and we'll go in and sell it,'" Boggs said to MLB.com in 2021. He ate the chicken for the book, but then he started to get hits, and the ritual stuck throughout his career.
