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While Mike Schmidt was the dominant third baseman in the NL during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s (and arguably the best at the position in all of baseball), the AL also had its share of elite players at the hot corner during this time, chief among them Wade Boggs and George Brett. Even though their careers overlapped for more than a decade and both are members of the rarified 3,000-career hit club, the two were very different types of players – Boggs the ultimate hit machine and Brett more of an all-around hitter. Nevertheless, as two of the greatest third basemen in MLB history, the question that thus arises is:
Who was better – Wade Boggs or George Brett?
The Beginning
As sports-crazed youths/teenagers, Boggs and Brett were both drafted by major league teams directly out of high school; though each would take some time to get to the big leagues, they would not disappoint upon arrival, each having strong rookie seasons that were only a precursor of things to come.
As part of an army family, Boggs was originally born in Omaha, Nebraska, but moved around a bit before settling down in Florida; there, he starred in both baseball and football in high school (even earning a football scholarship from South Carolina to be a punter/placekicker) and was drafted upon graduation in the seventh round of the 1976 MLB Draft by the Boston Red Sox. Compared to some other Hall of Famers, Boggs spent a relatively long time in the minor leagues (over half a decade), notably playing in the longest professional baseball game ever in 1981 when his Pawtucket Red Sox played 33 innings and nearly eight-and-half hours vs. Cal Ripken Jr. and the Rochester Red Wings. After being called up to the majors at age 24 in 1982, Boggs proceeded to bat .349 with 5 home runs, 44 runs batted in, 51 runs scored, a .406 on-base percentage, and a .441 slugging percentage, good for a 128 OPS+ (which measures on-base percentage plus slugging vs. a league-wide average set at 100) and a third-place Rookie of the Year finish; his .349 batting average would have won the batting title that year, but he did not have the minimum number of at-bats required (338 vs. the needed 502).
Meanwhile, though he was born in West Virginia, Brett’s family later moved to the Midwest and then to California. As the youngest of four boys, he grew up in a family of baseball players (one of his brothers, Ken, was a major league pitcher for more than a decade and pitched in the World Series as a teenager, while his other two brothers both played minor league baseball) and was himself drafted 29th overall in the second round of the 1971 MLB Draft by the Kansas City Royals (a 1969 expansion team). Though he was originally a shortstop, Brett converted to third base in the minor leagues and would make his big league debut as a late-season call-up in 1973. Then, in his first full year in 1974, he hit .282 with 2 home runs, 47 runs batted in, 49 runs scored, a .313 on-base percentage, and a .363 slugging percentage (91 OPS+) to also finish third for Rookie of the Year.
Career Comparison
For well over a decade each, Boggs and Brett were not just among the premier third basemen in the AL, but were elite players overall (i.e. All-Star and MVP-caliber) – the former being the consummate professional hitter and the latter an all-around slugger.
Throughout the 1980s, Boggs was arguably the league’s most consistent hitter year in and year out; in just his second season in 1983, he would win the first of five batting titles and eight Silver Sluggers with a .361 batting average on 210 hits, 5 home runs, 74 runs batted in, 100 runs scored, a league-best .444 on-base percentage, and a .486 slugging percentage, good for a 150 OPS+. Moreover, this marked the first of a then-record seven consecutive 200-hit seasons (broken by Ichiro Suzuki two decades later), including four straight years of hitting .350+, leading the league in on-base percentage, finishing top-10 for MVP, and winning the batting title starting in 1985:
- 1985: career-high .368 batting average with a league-leading and career-best 240 hits, 8 home runs, 78 runs batted in, 107 runs scored, a .450 on-base percentage, and a .478 slugging percentage (151 OPS+); finished fourth for AL MVP and marked the first of 12 straight All-Star selections (a streak surpassed at third base only by Brooks Robinson and Brett)
- 1986: .357 batting average with 8 home runs, 71 runs batted in, 107 runs scored, a .453 on-base percentage, and a .486 slugging percentage (157 OPS+); seventh for MVP and start of four straight Silver Sluggers
- 1987: .363 batting average with career-highs of 24 home runs and 89 runs batted in, 108 runs scored, a .461 on-base percentage, and a career-best .588 slugging percentage (174 OPS+); ninth for MVP
- 1988: .366 batting average on 214 hits (including a league-high 45 doubles) with 5 home runs, 58 runs batted in, a league-high and career-best 128 runs scored, a career-high .476 on-base percentage, and a .490 slugging percentage (168 OPS+); placed sixth for AL MVP
The next year, despite missing out on the batting title in 1989 (Kirby Puckett would win it with a .339 batting average), Boggs still hit a robust .330 with 3 home runs, 54 runs batted in, a league-leading 113 runs scored, a league-best .430 on-base percentage, and a .449 slugging percentage, good for a 142 OPS+.
Though he never won another batting title, Boggs remained a perennial .300+ hitter and an annual batting title contender; this included two more .300+ seasons with the Red Sox (including a .332 average and another Silver Slugger in 1991) before slumping to a career-worst .259 in 1992, the first time in his career below .300 in a season. A free agent after that season, he surprisingly signed with the archrival New York Yankees and regained his hitting stroke with four straight .300+ and All-Star seasons, two Silver Sluggers, and two Gold Gloves. Notably, during the strike-shortened 1994 season, Boggs hit .342 (his highest average since 1988) with 11 home runs (the only other time besides 1987 with double-digit home runs), 55 runs batted in, 61 runs scored, a .433 on-base percentage, and a .489 slugging percentage (142 OPS+), winning both a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove that year. Moreover, his final All-Star season was in 1996 at age 38: .311 batting average with 2 home runs, 41 runs batted in, 80 runs scored, a .389 on-base percentage, and a .389 slugging percentage (98 OPS+).
After turning 40 years old in 1998, Boggs signed with his hometown and expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays (now just known as the Rays) to chase 3,000 career hits, a milestone he reached late in the 1999 season – though he was never much of a power hitter, Boggs was nevertheless the first player in MLB history to reach the 3,000-hit milestone with a home run. All in all, he would end up hitting .300+ for a final time that season (.301) and retired following two seasons with Tampa Bay with a grand total of 3,010 career hits; from a historical perspective, Boggs is one of just five players to win four straight batting titles, joining the likes of Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Rod Carew, and Tony Gwynn.
Brett likewise quickly evolved into a star, hitting .308 in 1975 with a league-best 195 hits and 13 triples, 11 home runs, 90 runs batted in, 84 runs scored, a .353 on-base percentage, and a .456 slugging percentage, good for a 125 OPS+. Furthermore, in 1976, he won his first batting title on the strength of a .333 batting average with a league-high and career-best 215 hits and a league-best 14 triples, 7 home runs, 67 runs batted in, 94 runs scored, a .377 on-base percentage, and a .462 slugging percentage (144 OPS+); not only was this the first of 13 straight All-Star selections, but he also finished second for AL MVP to Thurman Munson and became the only player in the AL besides the aforementioned Carew to win the batting title between 1972 and 1978. Over the next few years, Brett continued to play at an All-Star level, closing out the 1970s with a 1979 campaign that saw him bat .329 with a league-high 212 hits and a league-leading and career-best 20 triples, 23 home runs, 107 runs batted in, a career-high 119 runs scored, a .376 on-base percentage, and a .563 slugging percentage, good for a 148 OPS+ and a third-place MVP finish.
Entering a new decade, Brett had arguably the best statistical season of his career in 1980 – though he only played in 117 games, he won a second batting title with an astounding .390 batting average (the highest single-season mark since Ted Williams’ .406 in 1941, and since surpassed only by Gwynn’s .394 in the strike-shortened 1994 season), 24 home runs, a career-high 118 runs batted in, 87 runs scored, a career-high and league-best .454 on-base percentage and .664 slugging percentage (203 OPS+), in the process also winning Silver Slugger and the AL MVP award. Throughout the 1980s, he remained a consistent .300 hitter with strong power and run production; infamously, he was involved in the 1983 “pine tar incident” – after hitting a home run in the ninth inning off closer Goose Gossage of the Yankees, umpires found more than the allowable pine tar on Brett’s bat, which resulted in him being called out and led to him charging the home plate umpire in anger. During the Royals’ magical 1985 championship season (more on that shortly), Brett had another great year with a .335 batting average, a career-high 30 home runs, 112 runs batted in, 108 runs scored, a .436 on-base percentage, and a league-best .585 slugging percentage (179 OPS+); as a result, he won his only Gold Glove, another Silver Slugger, and again finished second for MVP to a Yankee, this time Don Mattingly.
In 1988, Brett moved to first base to prolong his career and produced his final All-Star and Silver Slugger season: .306 with 24 home runs, 103 runs batted in, 90 runs scored, a .389 on-base percentage, and a .509 slugging percentage (149 OPS+). A few years later, despite a slow start to the 1990 season, he ended up hitting .329 with a league-high 45 doubles, 14 home runs, 87 runs batted in, 82 runs batted in, a .387 on-base percentage, and a .515 slugging percentage, resulting in a 153 OPS+ and a seventh-place MVP finish; moreover, Brett won his third and final batting title, thus becoming the only player ever to win a batting title in three different decades (1970s, 1980s, and 1990s). During the 1992 season, he reached 3,000 career hits (though was subsequently picked off at first base) and retired post the 1993 season at age 40, having played his entire career with Kansas City and holding most of the team’s career batting records. Additionally, Brett is one of only four players in MLB history with a .300+ career batting average, 3,000+ career hits, and 300+ career home runs (Hank Aaron, Stan Musial, and Willie Mays being the others), and retired with the most career hits by a third baseman (since surpassed by Adrian Beltre).
Given his longer MLB career (three additional seasons translating to 250+ more games and 1,100+ extra at-bats), Brett maintains a statistical edge over Boggs in nearly every major counting offensive category with the exception of walks; on the other hand, Boggs has the higher career batting average and on-base percentage by far, though Brett nevertheless leads in slugging percentage and OPS+. Due to their different hitting profiles, Boggs has the advantage in .300+ seasons (15 vs. 11), 200-hit campaigns (7 vs. 2), and years with 100+ runs scored (7 vs. 4), while Brett hit 20+ home runs and drove in 100+ runs more frequently (8x vs. 1x and 4x vs. none, respectively). Awards and accolades-wise, it is again mixed: Boggs won more batting titles (5 to 3), Silver Sluggers (8 to 3), and Gold Gloves (2 to 1), but Brett earned more All-Star selections (13 vs. 12) and has the lone MVP award between the two of them. Interestingly, despite a shorter playing career, Boggs actually has a higher career Wins Above Replacement (WAR) at 91.4 vs. 88.6; given their collective status as two of the best third basemen ever, it should come as no surprise that both men were near-automatic first ballot Hall of Fame selections, Brett in 1999 and Boggs in 2005.
Regular Season Statistics
| Wade Boggs | Player | George Brett |
| 18 (1982-1999) | Seasons | 21 (1973-1993) |
| 2,439 | Games Played | 2,707 |
| 9,180 | At-Bats | 10,349 |
| 3,010 | Hits | 3,154 |
| 1,513 | Runs | 1,583 |
| 118 | Home Runs | 317 |
| 1,014 | Runs Batted In | 1,596 |
| 1,412 | Walks | 1,096 |
| 24 | Stolen Bases | 201 |
| .328 | Batting Average | .305 |
| .415 | On-Base Percentage | .369 |
| .443 | Slugging Percentage | .487 |
| 131 | OPS+ | 135 |
| 91.4 | Wins Above Replacement | 88.6 |
| 12x | All-Star Games | 13x |
| – | MVP | 1x |
| 1x | World Series Titles | 1x |
| 8x Silver Slugger, 2x Gold Glove, 5x Batting Title | Other Awards | 3x Silver Slugger, 1x Gold Glove, 3x Batting Title |
| 2005 | Hall of Fame Induction | 1999 |
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
While Boggs and Brett both won one World Series title, their postseason profiles are very different – the former was relatively average in the postseason and was very much a complementary piece during his title run, whereas the latter upped his game come playoff time and was integral to the Royals’ postseason success in the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s.
Between the Red Sox and the Yankees, Boggs made half a dozen total playoff appearances, split evenly between the two teams. As a member of the Red Sox, he was part of the infamous 1986 team – led by Cy Young and MVP winner Roger Clemens, Boston was on the verge of breaking the “Curse of the Bambino” in 1986, but lost to the New York Mets in seven games in a series best remembered for Bill Buckner’s infamous error through the legs; for his part, Boggs was decent, hitting .290 (9 hits in 31 at-bats) with 4 walks, 3 runs batted in, and 3 runs scored. More than a decade later, he made three straight postseason appearances with the Yankees, highlighted by his only World Series title in 1996 in a six-game victory over Chipper Jones and the Atlanta Braves in which he batted .273.
As for Brett, he led the Royals to seven postseason trips during his career, including three straight ALCS losses from 1976 to 1978 to the Yankees despite him batting .300+ each time. In 1980, Brett hit .375 (9 hits in 24 at-bats) with a home run and 3 runs batted in during the World Series, but Kansas City would lose to Schmidt, Steve Carlton, and the Philadelphia Phillies in six games. They would finally break through in a magical 1985 season – in a seven-game ALCS victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, Brett was named ALCS MVP on the strength of a .348 batting average (8 hits in 23 at-bats), 3 home runs, 5 runs batted in, and 6 runs scored. This hot hitting would carry over the World Series, as he was again stellar with a .370 batting average (10 hits in 27 at-bats) as the Royals won their first World Series championship in a seven-game “Battle of Missouri” against Ozzie Smith and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Playoff Statistics
| Wade Boggs | Player | George Brett |
| 39 | Games Played | 43 |
| 154 | At-Bats | 166 |
| 42 | Hits | 56 |
| 15 | Runs | 30 |
| 2 | Home Runs | 10 |
| 16 | Runs Batted In | 23 |
| 16 | Walks | 17 |
| – | Stolen Bases | 2 |
| .273 | Batting Average | .337 |
| .337 | On-Base Percentage | .397 |
| .383 | Slugging Percentage | .627 |
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; on one hand, Boggs essentially signed with Tampa Bay to reach 3,000 career hits, while on the other hand, Brett remained an effective player well into his late 30s, evening winning a batting title at 37. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Wade Boggs | Player | George Brett |
| 1983-1991, 1994 | Decade of Dominance | 1975-1980, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1990 |
| 1,475 | Games Played | 1,454 |
| 5,727 | At-Bats | 5,682 |
| 1,972 | Hits | 1,832 |
| 1,015 | Runs | 949 |
| 84 | Home Runs | 185 |
| 648 | Runs Batted In | 916 |
| 956 | Walks | 610 |
| 16 | Stolen Bases | 141 |
| .344 | Batting Average | .322 |
| .436 | On-Base Percentage | .386 |
| .474 | Slugging Percentage | .522 |
| 70.3 | Wins Above Replacement | 67.9 |
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
Here, when you normalize their careers to decades of dominance, you can really see the profile of each hitter – Boggs with not only a higher batting average and on-base percentage, but also more hits, walks, and runs scored, while Brett has the better power and run-producing numbers; overall, they remain very comparable, separated by less than 3 WAR over a 10-year period.
My Thoughts
Any baseball team (or sports team in general) that can pencil in a player at one position for a decade and know what they are getting day in and day out should consider themselves fortunate – such was the case with Wade Boggs and George Brett at third base for the Red Sox and Royals, respectively. As the first two third basemen in MLB history with 3,000 career hits, the duo will always be among the all-time legends at the hot corner, but which one do I prefer? To me, Boggs profiles very similarly to Rod Carew and Tony Gwynn, i.e. terrific at collecting hits, getting on-base generally, and scoring runs, but with relatively limited power and run production; as valuable as a table-setter/on-base machine is to a team, give me Brett’s all-around game any day: a batting title contender who was also a slugger, a player who elevated his game in the postseason, and someone who was the heart and soul of his franchise and the unquestioned best player in Royals team history.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
George Brett
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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