The 1995 Red Sox Appreciation Thread

[Hank Scorpio]

I found this poster going through a box of stuff from when I was a kid.

This was the first year I followed the Sox hardcore, and when I really started to understand the game a lot more. The news that we signed Jose Canseco is what hooked me.

I also think the team set a record for most players ever used in one season. It was something around 55 players that appeared on the 25 man roster.

It was Tim Wakefield’s first year on the Red Sox and he came out of nowhere to start out 14-1. I think he threw a 10 inning shutout in there somewhere.

John Valentin and Mo Vaughn both had MVP worthy seasons, with Mo beating out Joey Belle for the award.

And Zane Smith gave me my first taste of Red Sox heartbreak when he gave up an extra inning walk-off home run to Tony Peña of all people. Man, I hated the Indians in the mid-late-90s… the 1999 ALDS was so satisfying.

 

[Captaincoop]

I went to a bunch of games at Fenway that season, and against my wishes, I feel like renowned meatball artist Zane Smith started every one.

Other than that, that was one of the most fun Sox seasons in my lifetime. Particularly watching the incredible Tim Wakefield emergence that summer.

 

[tims4wins]

It was also my first year following them closely. I turned 14 that summer. Memories of Erik Hansen and Stan Belinda as huge contributors. I even went to the game 3 playoff loss. Wakefield got bombed. He had fizzled out by then.

 

[Ale Xander]

That team had serious MoMentum

one of my favorites to this day and that’s saying something when there are 4 rings later

 

[scottyno]

Whenever I look back at the mid to late 90s Sox I get reminded how insanely underrated John Valentin was. He never even made an all star team despite being a really really good player for 6 years.

 

[Max Power]

Since every thread needs to include it... Why did Bloom trade Renfroe for JBJ anyway?!

The game has changed so much since then. The pitching staff with their 4.2 ERA and 1.4 WHIP was actually above average. They sure didn't seem like it back then... or with the benefit of hindsight.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

I enjoyed the hell out of this team. It was Duquette’s first year and he was so much bolder than former GM Lou Gorman. Coming off the strike he signed Kevin Appier, John Wetteland and Sammy Sosa to deals. When they were negated, he started a plan B and was picking up anyone he could.

Wakefield, Troy OLeary, Lee Tinsley, anyone who had a pulse.Some of them would okay well for a while, some would for slightly less than that and others were flashes in the pan. But they all seemed to contribute.

He was the first Sox front office person who I felt knew WTF he was doing. Duquette was a true breath of fresh air.

Due to the strike and three seasons of brutal baseball, it took awhile for Boston to fall back in love with the Sox. This was a good thing because it was easy to get tickets. $10 bleacher seats bought 20 mins to starting pitch? No problem.

I saw Wakefield keep the A’s hitless through seven plus one hot July night that way. That was a fun team at a fun time in my life.

 

[Captaincoop]

I saved all my tickets from that era and have 1995 bleacher tickets among them - face value $6.

Was that also the year the Kingdome was falling apart and so we got to see an unscheduled Sox-Mariners doubleheader at Fenway with all seats general admission? I went to those games and saw that prime Mariners team from right behind the dugout. It was like 200 degrees out that day...

 

[RG33]

Whenever I look back at the mid to late 90s Sox I get reminded how insanely underrated John Valentin was. He never even made an all star team despite being a really really good player for 6 years.

He was a really good player and I definitely agree he is underrated based on what has happened the last 20 years.

10 years with the Red Sox
———————————————
.281 121 HRs 558 RBI .360 OBP .821 OPS 110 OPS+ 32 WAR (991 Games)

.291 150 HRs 659 RBI .355 OBP .812 OPS 116 OPS+ 33 WAR (1227 Games)

The first line is Valentin in 10 years with the Red Sox.

The second line is Bogaerts in 10 years with the Red Sox.

 

[pedro1918]

That team had serious MoMentum

Until they didn't. I love Mo, but .067 OPS in the playoffs. If I recall correctly, Canseco was basically as bad.

Please refresh my memory, and of course it probably wouldn't have mattered in the end, but why exactly did the Indians (best win % - .694) play the Red Sox (2nd -.597) and the Mariners (4th - .545) play the Yankees (3rd - .549)? And the Mariners had home field advantage?

 

[Rovin Romine]

Wakefield's emergence was a completely unexpected thrill-ride.

At the time I was enjoying a post-college year of mild debauchery in Allston.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAiMDvJNzSE

 

[lexrageorge]

My memories of that season were skewed a bit by their being swept in the playoffs:

- Facing Dennis Martinez in the opener. The same Dennis Martinez who used to dazzle the Sox batters in the 1970's.
- Rick Aguilera slipping on the wet mound during his warmup tosses and then coming up gimpy prior to giving up the tying HR to Albert Belle.
- Worse was the fact that Aguilera could not finish the 9th, forcing Kennedy to put in Mike Maddux. Which eventually led to -
- Zane Smith - ugh
- 36 y/o Orel Hershiser befuddling the Sox batters in Game 2.
- Tim Wakefield, who had been unhittable most of that season, showing signs of regression during the stretch run. Wakefield subsequently got shelled in Game 3.
- Game 3 also featured another Sox nemesis, Charles Nagy and his ground ball outs.
- Vaughn and Canseco going a combined 0-27. I am convinced to this day that something looked not quite right with Vaughn's swing that series, and was probably hiding an injury.

 

[Petagine in a Bottle]

Thai explains why the Sox had home field advantage and played the Indians, the best team in the league. Pretty ridiculous.

https://www.cleveland.com/tribe/2015/10/heres_why_1995_cleveland_india.html

 

[scottyno]

He was a really good player and I definitely agree he is underrated based on what has happened the last 20 years.

10 years with the Red Sox
———————————————
.281 121 HRs 558 RBI .360 OBP .821 OPS 110 OPS+ 32 WAR (991 Games)

.291 150 HRs 659 RBI .355 OBP .812 OPS 116 OPS+ 33 WAR (1227 Games)

The first line is Valentin in 10 years with the Red Sox.

The second line is Bogaerts in 10 years with the Red Sox.

And that includes 2000 and 2001 where he played a total of 30 games. Obviously he isn't a HOFer because he did nothing outside of those years, but his WAR 7 and Jaws would have him a borderline top 50 SS of all time.

edit: And in the middle of that they made him change positions despite being a very good defensive shortstop, or his WAR would have been even higher

 

[RG33]

That team also served as the launching point for Reggie Jefferson, professional hitter, over the next 4-5 years. He OPS’d at .868 for the Sox over 5 years with 1996 and 1997 being fantasticly productive years for him at the plate. He was out of the league at age 30 though because he couldn’t hit Lefties. He was probably 20 year too early — would have been a great platoon guy in today’s game as he crushed RHs.

 

[jon abbey]

He was a really good player and I definitely agree he is underrated based on what has happened the last 20 years.

10 years with the Red Sox
———————————————
.281 121 HRs 558 RBI .360 OBP .821 OPS 110 OPS+ 32 WAR (991 Games)

.291 150 HRs 659 RBI .355 OBP .812 OPS 116 OPS+ 33 WAR (1227 Games)

The first line is Valentin in 10 years with the Red Sox.

The second line is Bogaerts in 10 years with the Red Sox.

This is amazing, thanks for posting this. I lived through that era (as a Yankee fan obv) but would not have guessed this in a million years.

 

[Cesar Crespo]

I was going to come in making the argument Albert Belle got jobbed but John Valentin put up an 8.3 WAR that year. Tim Nearing was also solid, at 4.2. Vaughn was at 4.3.

Belle was pretty much better than Mo in every way though. Edgar Martinez was also ridiculous that year but DH.

John Valentin got jobbed. What was the justification for Mo Vaughn winning the award that year over Albert Belle? I knew the writers hated Belle.

 

[Deweys New Stance]

I mean…

 

[Sausage in Section 17]

Whenever I look back at the mid to late 90s Sox I get reminded how insanely underrated John Valentin was. He never even made an all star team despite being a really really good player for 6 years.

The time I always go back to with Valentin was when he was struggling with patellar tendonitis, and had been on the DL or only occasionally available for a good chunk of the schedule. This was in 2000. Then, Will McDonough called him out in the Globe, saying that patellar tendonitis was "nothing", and heavily implying that Valentin had quit on the team. Then, Valentin came back a few weeks later, and ended up out for the season with a ruptured patellar tendon. he came back the next year, but was never the same player, and he was out of the league 2 years later. I still haven't forgiven McDonough for that. What a dick.

 

[tims4wins]

That team also served as the launching point for Reggie Jefferson, professional hitter, over the next 4-5 years. He OPS’d at .868 for the Sox over 5 years with 1996 and 1997 being fantasticly productive years for him at the plate. He was out of the league at age 30 though because he couldn’t hit Lefties. He was probably 20 year too early — would have been a great platoon guy in today’s game as he crushed RHs.

Reggie was awesome. I remember a homer he hit to dead center off the back wall. The ball was just on a straight line. There was no trajectory. A laser.

Edit: his 1996 was ridiculous. .347 average / 593 SLG and a 981 OPS. He rarely walked but man could he hit

 

[SemperFidelisSox]

I remember Mo Vaughn on a horse the night they clinched the AL East.

 

[Rovin Romine]

How about this for pitching debuts:

Wakefield's first year with the Sox: August 13, 1995: 14-1, 1.65 ERA.

Pedro's first year with the Sox: August 13, 1998: 15-4, 2.91 ERA.

Sky was the limit with wake for the first half of that intoxicating season.

 

[ifmanis5]

This was a fun team. Bit of an Idiots prequal in retrospect. I may still hold some Frank Rodriguez stock.

 

[Cesar Crespo]

Sox top 10 prospects in 1995

1. Nomar Garciaparra, ss Baseball America 22
2. Frank Rodriguez, rhp BA 36
3. Trot Nixon, of BA 46
4. Jeff Suppan, rhp BA 50
5. Jose Malave, of BA 94
6. Rafael Orellano, lhp
7. Luis Ortiz, 3b
8. Steve Rodriguez, 2b
9. Donnie Sadler, ss
10. Glenn Murray, of

5 top 100 prospects, 4 in the top 50.
Nomar, Trot and Suppan went on to have good careers.

 

[Ale Xander]

Until they didn't. I love Mo, but .067 OPS in the playoffs. If I recall correctly, Canseco was basically as bad.

Please refresh my memory, and of course it probably wouldn't have mattered in the end, but why exactly did the Indians (best win % - .694) play the Red Sox (2nd -.597) and the Mariners (4th - .545) play the Yankees (3rd - .549)? And the Mariners had home field advantage?

I think it was set in stone before season that AL Central winner would play the East Winner.

And the Mariners won their division so they had home field.

It was dumb

 

[Papo The Snow Tiger]

A division title after three straight sub .500 years and a strike. Fun times.

 

[Mr. Stinky Esq.]

Sox top 10 prospects in 1995

1. Nomar Garciaparra, ss Baseball America 22
2. Frank Rodriguez, rhp BA 36
3. Trot Nixon, of BA 46
4. Jeff Suppan, rhp BA 50
5. Jose Malave, of BA 94
6. Rafael Orellano, lhp
7. Luis Ortiz, 3b
8. Steve Rodriguez, 2b
9. Donnie Sadler, ss
10. Glenn Murray, of

5 top 100 prospects, 4 in the top 50.
Nomar, Trot and Suppan went on to have good careers.

best Suppan memory: View: https://youtu.be/u83_7cC0fLQ

 

[PC Drunken Friar]

I think it was set in stone before season that AL Central winner would play the East Winner.

And the Mariners won their division so they had home field.

It was dumb

And the WC couldn't play a team in its own division. So, the AL East and AL West had homefield, and the Sox couldn't play the Yankees.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

I was going to come in making the argument Albert Belle got jobbed but John Valentin put up an 8.3 WAR that year. Tim Nearing was also solid, at 4.2. Vaughn was at 4.3.

Belle was pretty much better than Mo in every way though. Edgar Martinez was also ridiculous that year but DH.

John Valentin got jobbed. What was the justification for Mo Vaughn winning the award that year over Albert Belle? I knew the writers hated Belle.

I think it was simply that the writers liked Mo and didn't like Belle. I'm sure there were some old fashioned "intangibles" arguments too, as Belle had a strong supporting cast which some writers might have dinged him for (the "was he even the MVP of his own team?" canard). The lineup was good enough that Mo would have arguably been the fourth best hitter on that team: Belle (177 OPS+), Thome (157 OPS+) and Manny (147 OPS+) all clocked in ahead of Mo's 144 OPS+. Voters were probably also simple-minded enough to think that Vaughn driving in exactly the same number of runs with fewer hits/HRs meant he had better clutch timing or something.

As far as Valentin goes, there are cases like his in most MVP votes prior to 10-15 years ago. Voters weren't that sophisticated.

 

[thehitcat]

Reggie was awesome. I remember a homer he hit to dead center off the back wall. The ball was just on a straight line. There was no trajectory. A laser.

Edit: his 1996 was ridiculous. .347 average / 593 SLG and a 981 OPS. He rarely walked but man could he hit

My namesake, the Hit Cat himself! I was living in Brookline a couple years out of college and hadn't yet started at Putnam. My buddy and I went to a ton of games in 1995 usually after they started and got great seats from the scalpers for basically nothing most of the summer. Also Troy O'Leary was a ton of fun to watch at the plate that season as he broke in with the Sox.

 

[brandonchristensen]

best Suppan memory: View: https://youtu.be/u83_7cC0fLQ

Was going to say, it's cool that three of those guys helped the Sox win a World Series.

 

[curly2]

If you think the postseason schedule and the MVP voting were dumb, there was something much dumber that year: The postseason TV.

MLB's TV games that year were called "Baseball Night in America" and would have regional games to try to maximize ratings. They kept up the same thing in the Division Series, scheduling games at the same time. Living in Connecticut but closer to Yankees territory, I got the Yankee games and (in the pre-internet days) had to listen the Sox on radio. After one game would end, they would join the other, so I was "lucky" enough to see Tony Pena's walkoff.

TV insanity aside, 1995 was a very fun team and definitely the perfect medicine to wash the taste of the strike out of fans' mouths.

 

[Ale Xander]

best Suppan memory: View: https://youtu.be/u83_7cC0fLQ

Ortiz comes through in the clutch!

 

[Larry Gardner]

Whenever I look back at the mid to late 90s Sox I get reminded how insanely underrated John Valentin was. He never even made an all star team despite being a really really good player for 6 years.

He's still and may be for a long, long time, the answer to "Who is the only player in MLB history to have turned an unassisted triple play, have a 3-HR game, and hit for the cycle?"

 

[lexrageorge]

The concept of the team with the better record getting home field is a more recent invention in baseball than it was in other sports. The 1975 Red Sox won 95 games compared to Oakland's 98 and the Cincinnati's 108, but yet had home field for the World Series, and only had to travel to Oakland for a single game (2-3 format). And the Reds technically did not have home field over the 92 win Pirates, but again benefited from the 2-3 format in the same way.

The TV format for the playoffs was a disaster, and MLB ended that experiment fairly quickly.

 

[jose melendez]

I found this poster going through a box of stuff from when I was a kid.

This was the first year I followed the Sox hardcore, and when I really started to understand the game a lot more. The news that we signed Jose Canseco is what hooked me.

I also think the team set a record for most players ever used in one season. It was something around 55 players that appeared on the 25 man roster.

It was Tim Wakefield’s first year on the Red Sox and he came out of nowhere to start out 14-1. I think he threw a 10 inning shutout in there somewhere.

John Valentin and Mo Vaughn both had MVP worthy seasons, with Mo beating out Joey Belle for the award.

And Zane Smith gave me my first taste of Red Sox heartbreak when he gave up an extra inning walk-off home run to Tony Peña of all people. Man, I hated the Indians in the mid-late-90s… the 1999 ALDS was so satisfying.

View attachment 54426

I had that poster in my college dorm room. I worked at Fenway that summer--the only year I worked there. It was kind of a magical team. Nothing expected, won the division, I think wire to wire-- had an awesome game 1 of ALDS that they lost, and then petered out. The Wakefield magic was extraordinary.

 

[LoLsapien]

Somewhere I've got a "poster" of Tim Wakefield that was taken from the Boston Globe (which ran a series of full page photos of certain Red Sox that year) "laminated" with packaging tape that my buddy Steve gave me for my bday in 1995. I guess I was 13. I was instantly smitten with Wake. And yeah, he started off 14-1 looking like the heist of the century before cooling waaaaaayyyyy off in the second half. 1995 was a fantastic season, one of my faves of all time. Thank you for starting this thread!

 

[Petagine in a Bottle]

Such a fun team with so many random “that guy played for the Sox?” appearances from Willie McGee, Luis Alicea, Matt Stairs, Chris Donnels, Stan Belinda, Erik Hanson, Mark Whiten, Aguilera, etc…Duquette really did a masterful job putting that team together after the strike.

 

[RedSoxFan]

If you think the postseason schedule and the MVP voting were dumb, there was something much dumber that year: The postseason TV.

MLB's TV games that year were called "Baseball Night in America" and would have regional games to try to maximize ratings. They kept up the same thing in the Division Series, scheduling games at the same time. Living in Connecticut but closer to Yankees territory, I got the Yankee games and (in the pre-internet days) had to listen the Sox on radio. After one game would end, they would join the other, so I was "lucky" enough to see Tony Pena's walkoff.

TV insanity aside, 1995 was a very fun team and definitely the perfect medicine to wash the taste of the strike out of fans' mouths.

I remember the Red Sox playing out west (maybe Seattle?) during one of those BNIA windows and we weren't able to see it cause all of the west coast BNIA games started at 11:00 eastern! Insanity.

But aside from that ridiculous TV arrangement it was a fun year. Tickets were cheap and I got to attend a few games. One such game was early in the season where they destroyed the White Sox. Knew it was going to be a special year cause the White Sox were coming off what would have been back-to-back division titles, and they were also the villains in two different movies that came out the year prior.

 

[BuellMiller]

I always wondered if anything would have changed that year or the next few if Aaron sele would have not gotten hurt after 6 starts. Sss, but started off 3-1 with a 3.06 era. Although his peripherals weren’t great (4.59 fip). And if the injury affected the rest of his Red Sox time (5+ eras in 96 and 97 before being traded for Buford and Leyritz) or if that’s just what he really was as a pitcher.

 

[Petagine in a Bottle]

IIRC, Hanson had an injury that year where he couldn’t throw curveballs, or something? So he was basically just throwing fastballs and change ups….and was pretty dominant. Signed with Toronto and was never that good again, but itwas a great year (2.8 WAR- although paled in comparison to Wake’s 5.0). Valentin had an 8 fWAR season, which is nuts. Naehring and Lee Tinsley were pretty darn good too.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

I believe Hanson was an All-Star that year. He was nails. Clemens, Hanson and Wakefield was a good top three that year.

Spring of 95 was bananas with all the signings and trades made after the lockout.

 

[Bergs]

Tim Naehring was going to be really good before injuries derailed him. He was also a super nice guy. He owes me tickets, but he works for the MFY last I checked.

 

[Doug Beerabelli]

That was a fun year. I was in my third year at BC Law School, and was co-teaching an environmental law class to undergrads that spring. My co teacher and I decided we’d correct final exams while watching a game in the bleachers, which was a) quite affordable, and b) uncrowded enough you could spread out and correct exams. I recall seeing a couple of our students at the game, but also that it was free backpack night, and at some point a couple college aged guys were acting like idiots, and then got showered with backpacks for their transgressions.

The other memory was not so great. A friend scored tix to game three of the ALCS, and upon arrival, we had trouble finding parking. Our driver dropped us off, but didn’t arrive until the third inning. By that time Thome had hit the 3 run dinger, and the rout was on. Why was he late? He got hit by another car in the front corner of his car, and has to deal with that. Only good news was the car was drivable back to Connecticut. What a miserable overall night.

 

[Didot Fromager]

How about this for pitching debuts:

Wakefield's first year with the Sox: August 13, 1995: 14-1, 1.65 ERA.

Pedro's first year with the Sox: August 13, 1998: 15-4, 2.91 ERA.

Sky was the limit with wake for the first half of that intoxicating season.

Don't forget Vaughn Eshelman! In early May he was brilliant. Six shutout innings against the Yankees in a 8-0 win, then seven shutout innings against the Tigers in a 12-1 win, and then two more pretty good starts. Great start for a rookie, yes? Then Wake starts his 14-1 streak and Eshelman falls off the table with an era > 6.00 of the rest of the year. Almost like the Sox weren't allowed to have two good young pitchers at the same time.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

Don't forget Vaughn Eshelman! In early May he was brilliant. Six shutout innings against the Yankees in a 8-0 win, then seven shutout innings against the Tigers in a 12-1 win, and then two more pretty good starts. Great start for a rookie, yes? Then Wake starts his 14-1 streak and Eshelman falls off the table with an era > 6.00 of the rest of the year. Almost like the Sox weren't allowed to have two good young pitchers at the same time.

I remember Eshelman, and I was completely convinced he was the real deal and was going to be a Cy Young caliber pitcher.

This was also the season when Dwayne Hosey came up late in the season and was an absolute menace to the opposition for about six weeks or so.

 

[tims4wins]

I remember Eshelman, and I was completely convinced he was the real deal and was going to be a Cy Young caliber pitcher.

This was also the season when Dwayne Hosey came up late in the season and was an absolute menace to the opposition for about six weeks or so.

14 year old me was convinced Hosey was a future all star

 

[Whoop-La White]

A fun team to watch. In contrast to the singles-and-doubles teams of the late 80s and the anemic Hobson teams, this lineup actually had some thump. Duquette brought in both Canseco and Mark Whiten, but the latter ended up looking completely lost in 117 PAs before being dealt to the Phillies.
What made the lineup deep was a bunch of other guys getting second chances: O’Leary (former Brewer); Jefferson (former Cleveland & Seattle); and rando 28-year-old minor leaguer Dwayne Hosey (not to be confused with Wayne Housie) showing up in September and raking. He was given the Opening Day CF job the next season but couldn’t stick.

 

[Ralphwiggum]

This was the spring of my first year of law school at BU and I lived on Park Drive, like a 10 minute walk from Fenway. Coming off of the strike season, bleacher seats were 50% off for like the first month of the season, and another 50% off if you bought them day of the game. I think face was something like 8 bucks so my roommate and I went to pretty much every home game while they were running that promotion for like 2 bucks each. For students with no money this was the deal of the century.

My other memory was missing a playoff game to take my then girlfriend, who turned out to be my wife, who is not my ex-wife, on a date. So that sucked.

 

[jose melendez]

A fun team to watch. In contrast to the singles-and-doubles teams of the late 80s and the anemic Hobson teams, this lineup actually had some thump. Duquette brought in both Canseco and Mark Whiten, but the latter ended up looking completely lost in 117 PAs before being dealt to the Phillies.
What made the lineup deep was a bunch of other guys getting second chances: O’Leary (former Brewer); Jefferson (former Cleveland & Seattle); and rando 28-year-old minor leaguer Dwayne Hosey (not to be confused with Wayne Housie) showing up in September and raking. He was given the Opening Day CF job the next season but couldn’t stick.

Whitten for Cooper was the ultimate, each side knows their dealing shit, but thinks they're getting something great.