The Boston Red Sox Killer B's: Baseball's Best Outfield

Copyright © 2019 by Jim Prime and Bill Nowlin

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Tom Lau

Cover photo credit Getty Images

ISBN: 978-1-68358-338-7

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-68358-339-4

Printed in the United States of America

I dedicate this book to the 400-plus members of the Bluenose Bosox Brotherhood, an eclectic and informed group of Red Sox fans that recognizes no borders except foul lines, baselines, and outfield fences.

—Jim Prime

Dedicated to Red Sox fans worldwide. This has been quite a run, these past 15 years, hasn’t it?

—Bill Nowlin

Contents

Foreword by Fred Lynn

Introduction

Andrew Benintendi, Left Field

Jackie Bradley Jr., Center Field

Mookie Betts, Right Field

Brock Holt, Utility Player (and Honorary Killer B)

The Killer B’s as a Team

Epilogue

Afterword by Bob Costas

Thanks and Acknowledgments

Endnotes

Foreword by Fred Lynn

For much of the 1970s, the Boston Red Sox trio of Jim Rice, Fred Lynn, and Dwight Evans comprised the best outfield in baseball. Many Red Sox historians and longtime fans also consider it the best outfield in Red Sox history. Center fielder Fred Lynn, former collegiate star at the University of Southern California, was the anchor of that outfield. The stylish left-hander exploded onto the major-league scene in 1975 along with fellow Gold Dust Twin Jim Rice.

He had a smooth, sweet swing and a presence in the outfield that reminded many of the great DiMaggio—Dom or Joe, take your pick. In his debut season, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Lynn captured Rookie-of-the Year honors, was named American League MVP, and won a Gold Glove for his play in center field. He won three more Gold Gloves during his time in Boston and led the American League in batting in 1979 with a .333 average. Lynn was named to the American League All-Star team every season from 1975 to 1980. For the Sox, he batted .308 with 124 homers before moving on to the California Angels.

Who better to critique the current Red Sox outfield of Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Mookie Betts than this legend, one of the most popular players ever to perform at Fenway? In this foreword and throughout the book, Lynn provides insights into his own Red Sox experience and offers a position-by-position commentary on the offensive and defensive strengths of his own classic outfield—and how they match up with the young challengers known as the Killer B’s.

We call it the Big Stage, playing in New York, Philly, LA, and Boston. Some guys can play on the Big Stage and some can’t. The Red Sox outfield of Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Mookie Betts belong on the Big Stage.

There are similarities between the Jim Rice-Fred Lynn-Dwight Evans outfield of the 1970s and the Killer B’s. We all arrived in the major leagues within a few years of each other and quickly became cohesive units. Like Jackie Jr., my counterpart in center field, I’d come from the college ranks. In fact, we are both USC alumni—for me, that stands for the University of Southern California; for him, the University of South Carolina. In left field, Benintendi is a compact, left-handed version of Jimmie. He’s smaller, shorter, but he’s got little Popeye arms, too. He’s got some sock and he’s got a short, compact swing—and he can go the other way pretty well. And in right field, both Dewey and Mookie can track down everything and get the ball back to the infield in a hurry. Both outfields had great confidence in their abilities and knew they could play in the majors from day one.

All three of the Killer B’s are well-grounded. They come from good families that will make sure they stay that way. It looks like they do things together away from the ballpark, which is really nice to see. Two of them were college players and all three have handled the media extremely well. When I played, the Boston media used to be tough, but the Red Sox have now won four World Series in this century, one of which these three guys helped make happen so the pressure is now off. The pressure now is to repeat, but that’s not the same thing as the pressure to win the first time. I mean, that’s totally different.

Our games in the ’70s were life and death every day. When we played the Yankees, there’d be 50 reporters in the locker room, either in New York or in Boston. You couldn’t even get in there, there were so many. In Boston, I learned you speak when you’re spoken to by the media and that’s it. Don’t volunteer anything. The middle ’70s in Boston were some pretty tough times for the city. The pressure was ratcheted up. It was intense, like the cities themselves. Busing was a huge issue at that time and it was a rougher town, with places like the Combat Zone. It was a little sketchy going into that neighborhood. Nowadays that area almost looks like Disneyland to me compared to what it was then. Different times.

These guys don’t feel the same kind of pressures today. They shouldn’t, anyway. They’ve done it. They’ve won. Everybody’s looking to knock them off now. People have to go through them to win the title.

Defensively, the biggest commonality about these guys is that all three can play center field. It gives them great flexibility, and to be honest it’s a big advantage. If one center fielder goes down and can’t play, they can fill it with a guy from either flank. That’s a luxury we didn’t have when we played together. I could play center, but with Jimmie and Dwight, that wasn’t going to happen.

These three all have speed and that’s why they can all play center. If you’re going to compare the two outfields, that’s where they are ahead of us: speed across the entire outfield. A pitcher’s best friend is a fast outfield, so the Red Sox pitchers must love these guys. It certainly helps them at Fenway, but it really helps them on the road where you get more symmetrical ballparks and speed is definitely in play.

As far as their overall defensive ability is concerned, oh boy! You’ve got two Gold Glovers in Betts and Bradley, and Benny was in the running for one in 2018 as well, so that speaks volumes. Jimmie, Dewey, and I played really well as a unit. We moved like we were playing zone defense in football. We moved as a unit—1, 2, and 3. We all knew where each other was going to be, we all knew the responsibilities, and that’s why we never ran into each other. We never fouled up, and I’m assuming these guys have that same kind of communication.

It’s a little bit different from when we played because there were no analytics involved back then. Basically, I was in charge of positioning the guys because I had the best view. Say we’re playing against Wade Boggs and I’m going to play in left-center and move Jimmie toward the line, I’ve got to bring Dwight over with me. If I move 20 feet, I’ve got to move Dwight 20 feet in order to cover that gap. So basically, we’re daring him to hit the ball down the right-field line, which he doesn’t want to do. So, you try to position yourself where he’s going to hit the ball and if he stings one, we’re going to get it. Try to make him do something he doesn’t want to do.

That’s what’s happening with the shift today. Guys don’t want to hit against the shift and they keep hitting balls hard, right to where the defensive guys are. As a center fielder, it was my job to figure out what was going on. A lot of times, we’d just play straightaway but if not, if I got to right-center, I pull Jimmie over with me and if I’m going to left-center, I pull Dwight with me. But we’d always talk about those things. Or I’d just whistle and they’d move. We just didn’t leave those gaping holes somewhere like major-league teams do now. Today, the analytics say the guy’s not going to hit it there. Well, my analytics are my eyes and sometimes I can see that the hitter’s locked in and my pitcher doesn’t have it that day. How do you figure all that out using a chart? There is some space for me with those kinds of numbers and I would look at them, but they’d never be etched in stone for me. And I doubt if they are for the B’s either. There’s so much information that these guys are given, I don’t know how much of that they’re using. Are they using their own senses? I think it’s probably a combination. You don’t become a Gold Glove-caliber outfielder just by using what clubs are giving you out of a book. That’s just not how it works.

I think these guys are pretty heady and I think they watch what the heck is going on. They’d have to because some of the plays they make—like Benny on that little sinking liner in Houston, he got a great jump on it and he committed to it. If he misses it, game’s over. If he catches it, game’s over. That’s the kind of commitment you want. They’re not afraid to take chances. It’s educated guessing, and they all get such a good jump. But when I see that kind of stuff, I know that it’s already been thought out. The ball’s hit—you go! You’ve got to assume the ball’s being hit to you on every pitch and that’s how you make those kinds of plays. Because if you don’t, you’re a glove behind and the ball bounces and goes by you and two runs score and the game’s over.

When I explain outfield defense to people, I call it a want-to position. You have to want to do it because it requires a lot of mental energy, especially the way I did it. So I’m in center and I’m literally moving. My feet are moving on every pitch. I already see where Pudge [catcher Carlton Fisk] is setting up and if he’s setting up inside and the guy throws it there, I’m already moving that way. So now the ball’s hit and I’m gone and again it’s my footwork. I don’t cross over. My feet open up because of those things I just described. I open up and I’m off. A lot of times before the guy has made his full swing, I’m already gone, anticipating where it’s going to go. In center you can see where the ball’s being pitched and you can lean that way, so I’m moving on every pitch. That takes energy, a lot of energy. I see guys today and when the pitch is thrown they’re just static, they’re not moving. See, that’s too long to wait. You’re not going to get the jump. When you play center, you’ve got tons of ground to cover so, as I say, that’s the want-to part.

When you play in the outfield together you form a bond. You pull for one another. A few years ago at the Red Sox Winter Weekend, we had a little symposium: the Killer B’s vs Jimmie, Dewey, and me. People were asking all kinds of questions, but I pulled Benny, Mookie, and Jackie off to the side to talk. I just wanted to see where they were coming from and I don’t talk to many outfielders that think like me, about the want-to part of being an outfielder—but these guys did. I said, OK, that’s pretty cool. That’s really refreshing to hear. These guys want to play defense and it shows. It really does.

I’ve always been a big proponent of the defense wins championships philosophy. Sure, you have to hit and you have to score runs, but you don’t have to score as many if you don’t give up as many. These guys can all throw well, too, just like my three guys. Like us, they seldom miss the cutoff guys or throw to the wrong base and we all had something on it because we could all throw. I think we have that edge on them as a group as far as arm strength goes, but there’s nothing they can’t do defensively. As a group, the only edge I’m giving them is speed. That’s it—but that’s a big one. If I was in spring training with them, I’d needle them about that too. I’d say, If I had your speed, I’d catch every ball. The ball would never hit the ground. You just never want to let them feel they’re doing everything perfectly.

If you’re going to compare these guys fairly with us, they’re still lacking in hitting. That’s where we have them so far. Hitting for average and for power. It’s still early in their careers, but Jimmie, Dwight, and I displayed those attributes very quickly. I hope it’s going to happen for them soon. Obviously, Mookie has had phenomenal back-to-back seasons at the plate. He’s a disciplined guy and he’s unique among today’s hitters in the way he approaches hitting. We always used to say: Do what you do that got you here. Don’t change unless there’s a crisis. Going into the 2019 season, Jackie has decided to make a significant swing change and an adjustment in his approach at the plate. Sometimes it’s a mental thing. These guys have all the physical tools, but the really good hitters are mentally higher up. They’ve figured things out and they just keep on going. Jackie has decided he needs an adjustment and that’s part of the process. Benintendi has also experienced some highs and lows offensively. When you go through the tough times, your guard goes up and you get a little tougher mentally and it’s not a bad thing sometimes, believe it or not. The important thing is that these guys have done it as a group.

Potentially, these guys could do some damage offensively, there’s no question about it—and they’ve all hit well when it counted, in the postseason. They’ve already won the World Series, which we never did, so that’s a big plus for their side.

My biggest hope is that these three guys will be able to stay together as a group. That would be fun to watch. I know most fans would love to see that happen. The thing that I hear most from Red Sox fans is that they were sorry I wasn’t able to stay in Boston with the other guys. Well, I feel the same way. You get spoiled playing with good players; believe me, it’s true. Sometimes you go somewhere else and the players aren’t as good and you go, OK, I have to adjust. And then your role expands and you do more than you were doing before. You were doing a lot before but now you’re doing even more and all of a sudden people are saying, Gee, he looks like he’s slowed down. Nope, didn’t slow down; just covering more ground.

In an ideal world it would be nice to keep this group intact: Benintendi, Bradley, and Betts. They’re still young guys but I’m sure they know how fortunate they are to be part of this special team. For the next generation of Red Sox fans, this is the only outfield they will look back at with nostalgia. Just as we were for a previous generation. It would be great to be able to watch them as they progress. If you asked them, I think they’d say the same thing. In any case, enjoy them, because outfields like this don’t come around too often.

—Fred Lynn, Carlsbad, California, February 14, 2019

Photo by Natalie Lynn

Introduction

Seldom has being a Red Sox fan felt so good. The dark days are gone. Where pessimism was once rampant, optimism abounds. Cynicism is on the run. The Fellowship of the Miserable has been disbanded, or at least repurposed. Since its 86-year-old championship drought ended in 2004, the team has taken us on a roller coaster ride of highs and lows during which we’ve now won four World Series in this young century. Fans old enough to remember back a few decades, before Papi and Schilling and Epstein, are ecstatic. Many thought they’d never see this reversal of fortune. Truth be told, that 2004 title was so sweet that it might have sustained many of us for another 86 years. Younger fans, accustomed to winning, now expect more. The good news is that they have a good chance to have those expectations met.

The current Red Sox lineup is loaded with youthful talent at virtually every position, and nowhere is that truer than in the outfield.

The Boston Red Sox have been blessed with a lot of great outfielders over the years. Tris Speaker played center field like none before or since. Left fielder Ted Williams was probably the best hitter in the history of the game. Harry Hooper was a superb right fielder and remains the only Red Sox player to win four World Series rings with the team.

Fred Lynn, Jim Rice, Reggie Smith, Jim Piersall, Dewey Evans, Tony Conigliaro. The list goes on and on and we can all put together our own personal all-time outfield if we cherry-pick from different teams and different eras. But what about the greatest Red Sox outfield that ever played together at the same time? Or the greatest outfield in the game today?

Choosing the best Red Sox outfield of all time is challenging for a number of reasons. For one thing, it’s always difficult to assess players from the early part of the last century. Oh sure, there’s a lot of anecdotal evidence and some impressive statistics, but without actually seeing them in action, we are limited in what we know. The other challenge in selecting an all-time outfield is choosing players who are outstanding both offensively and defensively.

Williams was arguably the best-hitting player of all time, but does he deserve to be mentioned among the best left fielders when you factor in his glove work? Carl Yastrzemski was a fantastic hitter and a great fielder. He knew how to play balls hit off the wall and did all the little things that add up to big things. You have to strike a balance and determine what having a Gold Glove outfielder really means to a team. Or what having a .300 hitter with 25 homers means if his defense is mediocre. Good field, no hit. Good hit, no field. The old-timers used to say that for certain positions it didn’t really matter what you batted if your defense was solid. Catchers often fit into that category and so did the second basemen and shortstops, the essential strength up the middle guys. In the 1970s, shortstop Mark Belanger of the Baltimore Orioles regularly batted in the low .220s and never exceeded five homers in a season—but he won eight Gold Gloves and was considered a star. Even today, catchers who know how to call a game, have great defensive skills, and showcase a strong arm to second can bat .250 and enjoy a successful major-league career.

Expectations for outfielders are much higher. Like quarterbacks in football and power forwards in basketball, they are the glamour boys of baseball. The Willie Mayses, Hank Aarons, Mickey Mantles, Duke Sniders, and Joe DiMaggios are expected to do it all, both at the plate and in the field.

So which was the greatest Red Sox outfield unit of all time? The cover of the April 11, 1970 issue of The Sporting News features a beautiful cover shot of Yaz, Reggie Smith, and Tony Conigliaro, accompanied by the caption, Is This Baseball’s Greatest Outfield? Perhaps at that exact moment in time they were the best. It’s especially tough for fans to be objective. When the Red Sox broke the 86-year curse in 2004, the outfield consisted of Manny Ramirez in left, Johnny Damon in center, and either Gabe Kapler or Trot Nixon in right. Manny batted .308 with 43 homers and 130 RBIs but played left field like he was trying to find his way out of a corn maze. Damon batted .304 with 20 homers and 94 RBIs, but the bearded caveman’s arm was so weak that when he later left to join the Yankees, Sox fans claimed that he looks like Jesus, acts like Judas, and throws like Mary. Kapler and Nixon both did capable jobs in right field but would never be mistaken for Dewey Evans. But for brand-new fans and