Your top "forgot he was a Red Sox"

ookami7m

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Kent Mercker is a name I didn’t remember until the above post. Probably blocked out bad memories
 

BornToRun

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Tony Graffanino let that ball go right through his legs in the 2005 ALDS.
And the fans were super supportive before game 3 at Fenway. I remember watching that game on ESPN and I’m pretty sure he got a nice ovation during the introductions.
 

tims4wins

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Jul 15, 2005
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They got royally screwed by the umpires in game one, but they also rolled out the corpse of Bret Saberhagen and Kent Mercker to start in the ALCS against a really good MFY team. They had no chance.
Lost by 1 in games 1 and 2 then won game 3. Got screwed in game 5 too. I’m not saying the Sox should have won that series. The MFY were SO much better. Just saying that series was a lot more competitive than the 4-1 series margin made it appear.
 

MICHAELG63

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Mar 30, 2008
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Who the hell is Stan Papi?
Boston traded Bill Lee to Montreal for him in 78. Zimmer and Lee never got along so we gave up a solid starter for a .188 hitting utility infielder. Certainly one of the worst trades in Sox history.
 
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lexrageorge

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Jul 31, 2007
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Rick Aguilera. Got him from the Twins in July of 1995, before he re-signed with the Twins. On the day of the trade he switched locker rooms and pitched against his teammates from earlier in the day, earning a save.

Those were the days when we lusted after Twins closers: see Campbell, Bill and Reardon, Jeff.
My memory of Aguilera is that he came on in the bottom of the 11th of Game 1 of the ALDS against the Indians hoping to preserve a 4-3 lead for the Red Sox. He ends up slipping on the wet mound and appears to hurt his groin in the process. And the first batter, Albert Belle, takes him deep to tie the game. Aguilera is then unable to finish the inning after giving up 2 more hits, and is eventually ruled out of the remainder of the ALDS.

Zane Smith (another nominee for this thread) got the loss, and the Sox were eventually swept in 3. If there is any solace, it's that Frankie Rodriguez, the player traded for Aguilera, never lived up to the Pete Gammons prospect hype (he had lots of company).
 

voidfunkt

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Apr 14, 2006
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Jason Bay definitely takes it for me... I had to go look up who we traded for Jason Bay besides Manny, does anyone remember Craig Hansen who was supposed to be the closer of the future according to Theo?

So yea... Craig Hansen.
 

lexrageorge

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Jul 31, 2007
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I must admit I never understood how people could have forgotten about Jason Bay. Not only was he a key part of the Manny trade, he was a pivotal player for the Sox in the 2008 and 2009 seasons before he left as a free agent.

But, now that Craig Hansen was brought up, I will bring up two more names:

1.) From Hansen to Hanson: Erik Hanson: played as part of that 1995 team mentioned above. Went 15-5, lost his playoff start, and then left for the Blue Jays, where he accomplished nothing.

2.) From Erik to Erik: Erik Bedard. Picked up by Boston at the trade deadline in 2011 in an attempt to strengthen the starting pitching for the stretch run, as it was unclear how much longer John Lackey's elbow was going to hold out. Part of a 6-player, 3-team trade that included 4 Red Sox prospects: Tim Federowicz, who turned into a backup catcher; Stephen Fife, who started for the Dodgers for part of one season; and 2 players that never made the majors (Juan Rodriguez and Chih Hsien Chiang). Bedard ended up being pretty useless when it came to stopping the Sox slide from first to third that infamous September, and accomplished little else afterwards.
 

Hank Scorpio

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While we’re talking about obscure Sox players, I thought Kimi Pozo was going to be a star, and I also thought Jim Tatum was going to be a huge power hitter for us, because Jim Tatum kinda sounds like the type of guy who would put up 45 dingers.

Not so much…
 

DavidTai

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Dec 18, 2003
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Also, I vaguely remember some incident with Sun Woo Kim and a Japanese pitcher for the Red Sox... and google says it was Tomokazu Ohka.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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While we’re talking about obscure Sox players, I thought Kimi Pozo was going to be a star, and I also thought Jim Tatum was going to be a huge power hitter for us, because Jim Tatum kinda sounds like the type of guy who would put up 45 dingers.

Not so much…
Arquimedez? We have had at least a couple members here using some play on his name as their usernames.
 

Didot Fromager

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Apr 23, 2010
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I had completely forgotten that Haywood Sullivan PLAYED for the Red Sox. Cups of coffee in '55, '57, and '59 then 52 games as one of a group of backup catchers. We lost him to the Senators in the expansion draft.
 

Hyde Park Factor

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Jun 14, 2008
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I had completely forgotten that Haywood Sullivan PLAYED for the Red Sox. Cups of coffee in '55, '57, and '59 then 52 games as one of a group of backup catchers. We lost him to the Senators in the expansion draft.
And then he picked his own son in the second round in 1979. Marc Sullivan hit .186 over 5 seasons with the Sox as the backup catcher.
 

mauf

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Totally forgot Cliff Floyd played here. Brad Penny too.

Also, Bruce Chen and Bobby Kielty, but they were the sort of guys you wouldn’t necessarily expect to remember 15 years later. Like, I won’t remember Marwin Gonzalez 15 years from now.
 

Ferm Sheller

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Kielty hit a HR which proved to be the game winning run of a WS clincher. Not sure how you could forget about him.
 

loshjott

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Dick McAuliffe. Shocked that he played 7 games in 1975 after clearly circling the drain in 1974.

Ernie Harwell: "McAuliffe's hit into one double play all year"....before he hit GIDP #2, which clinched the pennant for the 1967 Red Sox.
Ha, when I first started buying a few baseball cards in the early 70s McAuliffe was a Red Sox card I got and saved for decades. So, no surprise to me!
 

Humphrey

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Hoya81

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Kielty hit a HR which proved to be the game winning run of a WS clincher. Not sure how you could forget about him.
Also his last hit in the majors.

The 2000 team is a great case study for this thread:

Gaetti
Ed Sprague (traded from SD in June, released in August and promptly signed back with SD)
Jeff Fassero
Bernard Gilkey
 

8slim

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Mark Lemke and Aaron Cook are the only two guys so far that I know full well played a while in MLB, but if you asked me if they'd ever played for Boston, I'd say "Nah, I don't think so."

Olerud may have slipped my mind too. That could be his superpower. Maybe that Rickey Henderson anecdote isn't apocryphal.
The bolded is the criteria I use in this thread. I couldn't conjure up some of the names that have been mentioned out of my own brain... but once mentioned, I either do remember that they played for the Sox, or I don't know who the hell they are.

So in this case "forgot" means if I was at a BBQ this weekend and someone asked me "Hey, did well-known, long time baseball player John Olerud ever play for the Sox?", I'd say "Nope, Blue Jays, and maybe a few other random teams, not the Sox."

Gary Gaetti is another. I'd have said he was a Twin, never with the Sox.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Also his last hit in the majors.

The 2000 team is a great case study for this thread:

Gaetti
Ed Sprague (traded from SD in June, released in August and promptly signed back with SD)
Jeff Fassero
Bernard Gilkey
Now this is a "really?" moment for me. I absolutely remember that Gary Gaetti played for the Red Sox. I never would have guessed correctly if you asked me to name the year. I'd have said he was done in 1995 at the very latest.
 

Ferm Sheller

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Now this is a "really?" moment for me. I absolutely remember that Gary Gaetti played for the Red Sox. I never would have guessed correctly if you asked me to name the year. I'd have said he was done in 1995 at the very latest.
Maybe you're confusing him with Brunansky since both orginally were stars with the Twins? (I'm not saying you think Bruno and Gaetti are one and the same; just saying that you might be confusing the timing of their RS tenures.)
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Maybe you're confusing him with Brunansky since both orginally were stars with the Twins? (I'm not saying you think Bruno and Gaetti are one and the same; just saying that you might be confusing the timing of their RS tenures.)
Nope. Just remember Gaetti as an 80s player (with the Twins) and didn't realize he played through the entire 90s as well.
 

TFisNEXT

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Also his last hit in the majors.

The 2000 team is a great case study for this thread:

Gaetti
Ed Sprague (traded from SD in June, released in August and promptly signed back with SD)
Jeff Fassero
Bernard Gilkey
This post reminded me just how utterly brutal that 2000 Red Sox team was outside of Garciaparra, Everett, Pedro, and maybe Trot Nixon. If we include the bullpen Derek Lowe was pretty damned good that year too. But man, they ran out some complete trash that season. Other names from that team that come to mindare Mike Lansing, Dante Bichette, and Rico Brogna.
 

Bergs

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Jul 22, 2005
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They got royally screwed by the umpires in game one, but they also rolled out the corpse of Bret Saberhagen and Kent Mercker to start in the ALCS against a really good MFY team. They had no chance.
The bolded is my answer to this thread. TOTALLY forgot about Sabes.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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You know what I forgot? Tom Brunansky played for the Sox for two separate tours.

(I was not a Bruno fan, I was pissed Lou Gorman traded him for Lee Smith. So I guess I took my displeasure of that trade out on him.)
 

gammoseditor

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Jul 17, 2005
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This post reminded me just how utterly brutal that 2000 Red Sox team was outside of Garciaparra, Everett, Pedro, and maybe Trot Nixon. If we include the bullpen Derek Lowe was pretty damned good that year too. But man, they ran out some complete trash that season. Other names from that team that come to mindare Mike Lansing, Dante Bichette, and Rico Brogna.
An El Guapo Rich Graces. One of the highlights of that year was being in Fenway, spacing out in between innings , then hearing a random cheer start to fill up Fenway. So you look around trying to figure out what is going on and realize El Guapo is coming out of the bullpen!
 

Ferm Sheller

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You know what I forgot? Tom Brunansky played for the Sox for two separate tours.

(I was not a Bruno fan, I was pissed Lou Gorman traded him for Lee Smith. So I guess I took my displeasure of that trade out on him.)
Gorman traded Al Nipper and Calvin Schiraldi for Lee Smith.

Never mind, I see now. The Sox obtained Brunansky for Smith. I'd forgotten about that!
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Gorman traded Al Nipper and Calvin Schiraldi for Lee Smith.

Never mind, I see now. The Sox obtained Brunansky for Smith. I'd forgotten about that!
Gorman acquired Tom Brunansky for Lee Smith. It was after the Sox inexplicably signed Jeff Reardon in the offseason as a free agent despite having Smith in the backend of the bullpen.

Edit: oops.We’re on the same page here.
 

Ferm Sheller

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Gorman acquired Tom Brunansky for Lee Smith. It was after the Sox inexplicably signed Jeff Reardon in the offseason as a free agent despite having Smith in the backend of the bullpen.
Yes, your phrase "Gorman traded him for Smith" threw me. I thought you were saying they traded him to acquire Smith. I knew that Brunansky had been on the Sox twice, but I'd forgotten that they traded Smith for him. The second time, I would have guessed that they'd grabbed him after he'd been released.
 

Captaincoop

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Jul 16, 2005
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Until this thread sent me down a BBref rabbit hole, I never realized that the Sox lost Ernie Whitt in the '77 expansion draft after having him up with the big club the previous year.

Not a star, but definitely a solid starting catcher all through the 80s.
 

MtPleasant Paul

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As they lost Jim Fregosi to the Angels in the 1961 expansion draft. He played 18 years in the majors, 10 as a regular, 6 as an All Star.
 

Pitt the Elder

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Any mention of Frank Viola?

And maybe a different category, but I always seem to forget All-stars Scott Cooper and Tom Gordon had long-ish stints with the Sox before floating on.