1983 Boston Red Sox season explained

Boston Red Sox
Season:	1983
League:	American League
Division:	East
Ballpark:	Fenway Park
City:	Boston
Record:	78–84 (.481)
Divisional Place:	6th (20 GB)
Owners:	Buddy LeRoux, Haywood Sullivan, Jean Yawkey
President:	Jean Yawkey
General Manager:	Haywood Sullivan
Manager:	Ralph Houk
Television:	WSBK-TV, Ch. 38 (Ned Martin, Bob Montgomery)
Radio:	WPLM-FM 99.1 WPLM-AM 1390 (Ken Coleman, Joe Castiglione)
Espntn:	bos
Brtn:	BOS

The 1983 Boston Red Sox season was the 83rd season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished sixth in the American League East with a record of 78 wins and 84 losses, 20 games behind the Baltimore Orioles, who went on to win the 1983 World Series. It was the Red Sox' first losing season since 1966.

On June 6, general partner Buddy LeRoux attempted to replace general manager Haywood Sullivan with former general manager Dick O'Connell, leading to protracted legal proceedings between LeRoux and the team's other two general partners, Sullivan and Jean Yawkey.^[1] LeRoux ultimately lost in court the following June.

Offseason

• November 1, 1982: Tony Pérez was released by the Red Sox.^[2]
• December 6, 1982: Carney Lansford‚ Garry Hancock‚ and a minor leaguer (Jerry King) were traded by the Red Sox to the Oakland Athletics for Tony Armas and Jeff Newman.^[3]
• January 10, 1983: Josías Manzanillo was signed as an amateur free agent by the Red Sox.^[4]
• January 11, 1983: Ellis Burks was drafted by the Red Sox in the 1st round of the January portion of the 1983 Major League Baseball draft. Burks signed on May 17.^[5]
• January 13, 1983: Mike Torrez was traded by the Red Sox to the New York Mets for a player to be named later. The Mets completed the deal by sending Mike Davis (minors) to the Red Sox on February 15.^[6]
• March 25, 1983: Brian Kingman was released by the Red Sox.^[7]

Regular season

Record by month^[8]

Month	Record		Cumulative				Ref.
	Won	Lost	Won	Lost	Position	GB
April	10	9	10	9	2nd (tie)		^[9]
May	16	11	26	20	2nd		^[10]
June	11	16	37	36	5th	5	^[11]
July	14	14	51	50	6th	9	^[12]
August	12	19	63	69	6th		^[13]
September	14	14	77	83	6th	20	^[14]
October	1	1	78	84	6th	20	^[15]

Highlights

• Jim Rice led the American League in home runs (39) and total bases (344), and tied for the lead in RBIs (126) while hitting for a .305 batting average.
• Wade Boggs led American League hitters with a .361 average and a .444 on-base percentage, finishing second in hits (210) and doubles (44).
• Tony Armas may not have had enough hits to keep his average up (.218), but finished second in the league with 36 home runs and seventh with 107 RBI.
• Carl Yastrzemski retired after 23 seasons, all with the Red Sox, one of the longest careers with one franchise in MLB history.

Notable transactions

• June 6, 1983: In the 1983 Major League Baseball draft, the Red Sox drafted Roger Clemens in the 1st round (19th pick) and John Mitchell in the 7th round.^{[16] [17]}

Opening Day lineup

26		3B
24		RF
14		LF
20		CF
8		DH
11		1B
10		C
18		SS
12		2B
43	Dennis Eckersley	P

Source:^[18]

Roster

1983 Boston Red Sox
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		OutfieldersOther batters		ManagerCoaches (First base) (Bullpen) (Hitting) (Pitching) (Third base)

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases; BB = Walks; AVG = Batting average; SLG = Slugging average

bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="20%"	Player	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	G	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	AB	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	R	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	H	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	2B	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	3B	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	HR	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	RBI	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	SB	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	BB	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	AVG	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	SLG
Jim Rice	155	626	90	191	34	1	39	126	0	52	.305	.550
Jerry Remy	146	592	73	163	16	5	0	43	11	40	.275	.319
Wade Boggs	153	582	100	210	44	7	5	74	3	92	.361	.486
Tony Armas	145	574	77	125	23	2	36	107	0	29	.218	.453
Dave Stapleton	151	542	54	134	31	1	10	66	1	40	.247	.363
Glenn Hoffman	143	473	56	123	24	1	4	41	1	30	.260	.340
Dwight Evans	126	470	74	112	19	4	22	58	3	70	.238	.436
Carl Yastrzemski	119	380	38	101	24	0	10	56	0	54	.266	.408
Reid Nichols	100	274	35	78	22	1	6	22	7	26	.285	.438
Rick Miller	104	262	41	75	10	2	2	21	3	28	.286	.363
Gary Allenson	84	230	19	53	11	0	3	30	0	27	.230	.317
Rich Gedman	81	204	21	60	16	1	2	18	0	15	.294	.412
Ed Jurak	75	159	19	44	8	4	0	18	1	18	.277	.377
Jeff Newman	59	132	11	25	4	0	3	7	0	10	.189	.288
Marty Barrett	33	44	7	10	1	1	0	2	0	3	.227	.295
Julio Valdez	12	25	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	.120	.120
Jackie Gutiérrez	5	10	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	.300	.300
Lee Graham	5	6	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	.000
Chico Walker	4	5	2	2	0	2	0	1	0	0	.400	1.200
Team Totals	162	5590	724	1512	287	32	142	691	30	536	.270	.409

Source:https://baseball-reference.com/teams/BOS/1983-batting.shtml

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts

bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="20%"	Player	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	W	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	L	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	ERA	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	G	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	GS	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	SV	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	IP	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	H	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	R	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	ER	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	BB	bgcolor=#DDDDFF; width="7%"	SO
John Tudor	13	12	4.09	34	34	0	242.0	236	122	110	81	136
Bruce Hurst	12	12	4.09	33	32	0	211.1	241	102	96	62	115
Dennis Eckersley	9	13	5.61	28	28	0	176.1	223	119	110	39	77
Bob Ojeda	12	7	4.04	29	28	0	173.2	173	85	78	73	94
Bob Stanley	8	10	2.85	64	0	33	145.1	145	56	46	38	65
Mike Brown	6	6	4.67	19	18	0	104.0	110	62	54	43	35
Oil Can Boyd	4	8	3.28	15	13	0	98.2	103	46	36	23	43
Mark Clear	4	5	6.28	48	0	4	96.0	101	71	67	68	81
Doug Bird	1	4	6.65	22	6	1	67.2	91	52	50	16	33
Luis Aponte	5	4	3.63	34	0	3	62.0	74	28	25	23	32
John Henry Johnson	3	2	3.71	34	1	1	53.1	58	28	22	20	51
Al Nipper	1	1	2.25	3	2	0	16.0	17	4	4	7	5
Team Totals	78	84	4.34	162	162	42	1446.1	1572	775	697	493	767

Source:https://baseball-reference.com/teams/BOS/1983-pitching.shtml

Statistical leaders

Category	Player	Statistic
Youngest player		23
Oldest player		43
		7.8

Source:^[19]

Batting

Abbr.	Category	Player	Statistic
G			155
PA	Plate appearances	Jim Rice	689
AB	At bats	Jim Rice	626
R	Runs scored		100
H	Hits	Wade Boggs	210
2B	Doubles	Wade Boggs	44
3B	Triples	Wade Boggs	7
HR	Home runs	Jim Rice	39
RBI		Jim Rice	126
SB	Stolen bases		11
CS			5
BB		Wade Boggs	92
SO	Strikeouts		131
BA		Wade Boggs	.361
OBP		Wade Boggs	.444
SLG		Jim Rice	.550
OPS		Wade Boggs	.931
OPS+		Wade Boggs	150
TB		Jim Rice	344
GIDP		Jim Rice	31
HBP		Jim Rice	6
SH	Sacrifice hits	Jerry Remy	12
SF			8
IBB			11

Source:^[19]

Pitching

Abbr.	Category	Player	Statistic
W	Wins		13
L	Losses		13
W-L %			.632 (12–7)
ERA		Bob Ojeda	4.04
G	Games pitched	Bob Stanley	64
GS	Games started	John Tudor	34
GF	Games finished	Bob Stanley	53
CG	Complete games	John Tudor	7
SHO			2
		John Tudor
SV	Saves	Bob Stanley	33
IP		John Tudor	242
SO	Strikeouts	John Tudor	136
WHIP		John Tudor	1.310

Source:^[19]

Awards and honors

Awards

• Wade Boggs – Silver Slugger Award (3B)
• Dwight Evans – Gold Glove Award (OF)
• Jim Rice – Silver Slugger Award (OF)

Accomplishments

• Jim Rice, American League Leader Home Runs (39)
• Jim Rice, American League Leader RBIs (126)

All-Star Game

• Jim Rice, starting LF
• Bob Stanley, reserve P
• Carl Yastrzemski, reserve DH

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

The New Britain Red Sox replaced the Bristol Red Sox as a Double-A affiliate.

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: New Britain
Source:^{[20] [21]}

External links

• 1983 Boston Red Sox team at Baseball-Reference
• 1983 Boston Red Sox season at baseball-almanac.com

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Fight is Over the Red Sox, Not in Them . Wulf . Steve . June 20, 1983 . vault.si.com . . October 6, 2022 .
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/perezto01.shtml Tony Pérez
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/armasto01.shtml Tony Armas
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/manzajo01.shtml Josías Manzanillo
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/burksel01.shtml Ellis Burks
6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/torremi01.shtml Mike Torrez
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kingmbr01.shtml Brian Kingman
8. Web site: The 1983 Boston Red Sox . . October 11, 2020.
9. Web site: Events of Saturday, April 30, 1983 .
10. Web site: Events of Tuesday, May 31, 1983 .
11. Web site: Events of Thursday, June 30, 1983 .
12. Web site: Events of Sunday, July 31, 1983 .
13. Web site: Events of Wednesday, August 31, 1983 .
14. Web site: Events of Friday, September 30, 1983 .
15. Web site: Events of Sunday, October 2, 1983 .
16. https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/clemero02.shtml Roger Clemens
17. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mitchjo02.shtml John Mitchell
18. Web site: Toronto Blue Jays 7, Boston Red Sox 1 . . April 5, 1983 . October 11, 2020.
19. Web site: 1983 Boston Red Sox Statistics . . October 13, 2020.
20. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
21. Book: Boston Red Sox Media Guide . 1983 . 81 . March 14, 2021 . Wayback Machine.