Bruce Hurst

I saw Hurst pitch at Fenway in 1982, when at the age of 24 he threw 117 innings in mlb and gave up 161 hits and 40 bb, with 4.1 k/9.   The previous two years in AAA he was walking 4.1 and 4.3/9 (with low k/9), though the h/9 was better.  There was no solid case for optimism.

The reason Hurst left.... Margo Adams.

I actually saw Bruce Hurst at a banquet in November. He is such a nice guy. Class act. I really enjoyed meeting him. He didn't really get into the specifics of why he left. The Sox weren't really quick with their offer and he had already committed to San Diego if I can accurately recall what he said. The Sox actually offered more money. He did say that he had wished he had stayed with the Sox. He loved pitching for the Red Sox.

I remember Darryl Strawberry saying about Roger Clemens (and I'm talking 1986 Clemens) that he was no Bruce Hurst. The Mets were really worried about him in 1986. He had a 3-0 lead in the 6th inning of Game 7 after dominating the Mets twice in the Series and he started to run out of gas. He regretted the pitch he made to Keith Hernandez that scored two runs and brought the tying run to 3b with one out.

I asked him if he could have pitched the 7th as he was due to lead off. He told me that he said to John McNamara if you need a hit to lead off the inning I'm not your guy, but I have another inning left in me. The foolish manager pinchhit the injured and washed up Tony Armas who struck out. Schiraldi was brought back into the game. By time he and Bob Stanley torched the game it was 6-3 Mets. The Sox actually scored 2 runs in the 8th and had no outs and a runner on 2b before Jesse Orosco came in to shut the Sox down. Then Nipper gave up the other 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th. In a perfect world, Hurst would have gone 6 or 7, Boyd would have been able to pitch the 7th or 7th and 8th (This was most likely not an option although Boyd disputes this vehemently), and Clemens was supposed to close out the Series in relief in the 9th inning. Never happened.

Makes me very thankful that the Sox have had 3 championships since then and I haven't had the empty feeling of losing the Series since. There's a lot of 20 and even 30 something year olds on this board who have no idea what it's like. Their biggest disappointment is 2003 Game 7 and the 2011 season and perhaps Game 7 of the 2008 ALCS. None of those hurt as bad as Game 6 and Game 7 of the 86 Series (although Grady Little comes close) or Game 7 of 1975 or the ending of the 1978 season. I think we're pretty lucky.

If you knew Bruce Hurst you'd know it wasn't about the money. He was very religious and was both embarrassed and offended by a member of the team who had little discretion when it came to his affairs. Yes Hurst like pitching for the Red Sox, but his decision to leave eventually cost the team Brady Anderson and Curt Schilling, in a trade to obtain a #2 to go along with Clemens.

I don't know Hurst. I met him at a banquet. I doubt he'd say he left because Wade Boggs' extramarital affair was bothering him. And I would think it would be more than that. I'm sure Boggs wasn't the only guy on the team doing what many married ballplayers have been doing for years. I'm sure he didn't appreciate the excessive drinking, but again that's prevalent in baseball. I'm sure there were drug issues on the Sox then (Boyd for one obviously), but I'm sure there was more to it then just that being the reason. Guys are going to have issues whether it's in San Diego or Boston.

As far as the Boddicker deal goes, Boddicker was in essence acquired to replace Oil Can Boyd, not Hurst. The Sox rolled to the pennant in 86 with a trio of Clemens, Hurst, and Boyd, and in trying to duplicate it, it was obvious by midseason 1988 that Boyd was no longer going to be able to be the 200 IP workhorse that he had been and that they needed a reliable #3 guy who can pitch better than a #3, and Boddicker certainly did. Didn't like giving up Brady Anderson and Curt Schilling (at the time I really hated losing Anderson), but Boddicker was a quality pitcher and without him they don't win the division title in 1988 or 1990. After the 1986 season Boyd had serious injury problems.

Hurst was on is way out the door , despite have his best year. And you are wrong, the Boddicker trade was abysmal. Hurst liked Fenway. He liked some of the players. It was one player in particular that he could not stomach. Management, media and fans were enthralled by this player. Hurst was the #1 playoff pitcher, starting over Clemens. Boddicker was, at best #3. And Schilling turned out to be one of the greatest post season pitchers of all time. Crazy bad trade. Clemens, Hurst and Schilling should/would have won one.

If I remember right from the Hurst negotiations, I think his mother was ill at the time and he expressed a desire to be nearer her as one of his considerations when leaving. But it certainly was a big blow when he left.

Regarding Boddicker, I wouldn't say it was a complete disaster of a trade. He was a pretty good pitcher for them, but it was an example and the start of the slow downward spiral of downgrading that became the Red Sox of the late 80's and 90's when we had the likes of Danny Darwin, Frank Viola, Dennis Lamp, Mike Smithson, Dana Kieker, Wes Gardner, etc. to get us over the hump. Clemens really never again had someone to help anchor a staff. Look at the record when he started and the record when others started during this time period and it shows you how management failed the Red Sox for this time period until the sale to Henry's group.

The rotation never would have been Clemens, Hurst and Schilling the way you make it sound. Schilling didn't find himself until he had been with Baltimore, Houston, and finally Philly where Johnny Podres helped him.

Schilling didn't get his act together until 1992 or was it 1993 (too lazy to look it up, but it doesn't detract from the general point). Hurst was hitting his decline by 1993 and Clemens wasn't quite as great as he had been. He was in his lull period.

Mike Boddicker was the Sox #2 starter in 1990 when they won the division. He had been the Orioles ace and he was still a quality pitcher when he came to the Sox.

I assume you're referring to Boggs? I wouldn't think that everybody was enthralled by Boggs. He had a lot of people that weren't crazy about him, so I'm not sure where you're getting that from. Doubt Hurst left over one person.