That Time Wade Boggs Pitched

Yes, you heard that right.

Wade Boggs is a baseball legend—one of the best hitters to ever step up to the plate. The man was an absolute machine with a bat in his hands, racking up hit after hit for years in the major leagues. And, of course, his dominance landed him in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005 on his very first ballot. But while everyone knows Boggs could hit, did you know he also had a secret weapon? A knuckleball.

For years, Boggs dreamed of taking the mound in a real MLB game, reports are he was always bugging his managers to let him pitch and even showing off his surprisingly wicked knuckleball in warmups. But, of course, when you’re one of the greatest players in the game, teams tend to prefer keeping you in your usual spot. That all changed on August 19, 1997.

The Yankees were getting walloped by the Angels, trailing 12-4 in the eighth inning. With a doubleheader coming up the next day and the bullpen running on fumes, manager Joe Torre knew he needed a position player to finish things off. His first thought was Charlie Hayes, but the Yankees players had a different idea—they wanted to see Boggs’ infamous knuckleball in action. Torre hesitated. This was Wade Boggs, a future Hall of Famer, a hitting savant—was it really right to send him to the mound in an eight-run blowout?

The answer? Yes please.

Boggs finally got his shot, stepping onto the mound with the confidence of a seasoned pitcher. And guess what? He absolutely delivered. He pitched a scoreless eighth inning, allowing no hits, walking just one batter, and even striking out Todd Greene swinging to end the frame. That knuckleball? It danced. The ballpark may not have been packed with tension, but for Boggs, it was a moment of pure baseball magic.

And that wasn’t the last time Boggs took the hill. Two years later, in 1999, now playing for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, he got another chance to pitch when his team was on the wrong side of a 17-1 rout against the Orioles. Tampa Bay manager Larry Rothschild didn’t think twice. “There wasn’t much of a choice. It was going to be a position player, and Wade had done it before. He throws a knuckleball, so I don’t worry as much about him hurting his arm.”

After his pitching debut in 1997, Boggs had said: ”It’s something I’ve always wanted to do in my career, and I never really had the opportunity. Then I started feeling like Phil Niekro. I was Phil Niekro and Charlie Hough all rolled into one. It was great. I was glad it worked out.”

Wade Boggs wasn’t just a Hall of Fame hitter; he was a guy who loved baseball with every fiber of his being. 

Whether he was lining doubles into the gap or floating knuckleballs past unsuspecting hitters, he made the game fun. And let’s be honest—how many Hall of Fame hitters can also say they’ve struck out a batter in a major league game? 

Just another reason Wade Boggs is one of the all-time greats.

–Alvin Izzo
BYB Yankee History Contributor

Source: http://bleedingyankeeblue.blogspot.com/2025/03/that-time-wade-boggs-pitched.html