Wade Boggs to Coach Tampa Bay
S T. P E T E R S B U R G, Fla. Nov. 7, 2000 -- Wade Boggs never set boundaries for himself as a player, and he has no intentions of doing it forothers as hitting coach for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
“I think goals are limitations. I don’t want to set limitationson guys trying to achieve. The sky’s the limit,” the five-time ALbatting champion and member of the 3,000-hit club said todayafter he joined the coaching staff of manager Larry Rothschild.
“If I ever did that with my career, I don’t think I would haveever reached 3,000. When you set goals and you reach those goals inmid-August and early September, there’s nothing to look forward to.You sort of lose your drive. I don’t want these guys to lose theirdrive for 162 games.”
All-Star Coaching TeamBoggs, who retired from the team in 1999 after 18 big-leagueseasons, was hired along with Hal McRae and Terry Collins Boggsbecomes the Devil Rays’ third hitting coach in four years.
McRae and Collins, both former major league managers, will serveas bench and bullpen coach.
Rothschild, who also hired Darren Daulton to work as a catchinginstructor, said it was not necessarily his intent to fill thepositions with such high-profile candidates.
“The decision was who was going to best fit in on this staffand help us the most — high-profile, less profile or whatever,”the manager said. “I think the most important thing is the contentof the person and what they bring to us. In each case, like I said,we’re pretty fortunate.”
Boggs played two seasons for Tampa Bay after spending most ofhis career with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, and hasbeen a special assistant to general manager Chuck LaMar for thepast year.
A 12-time AL All-Star with a .328 lifetime batting average,Boggs is 22nd on the career hits list with 3,010. He became theonly player to get No. 3,000 on a home run when he connected offCleveland’s Chris Haney at Tropicana Field on Aug. 7, 1999.
Lengthy List of QualificationsMcRae, the Kansas City Royals manager from 1991-94, was thePhiladelphia Phillies hitting coach the last four seasons. Collins,who has managed both the Houston Astros and Anaheim Angels, was anadvance scout for the Chicago Cubs during the 2000 season.
Daulton, a three-time NL All-Star catcher, played virtually hisentire 14-year major league career with the Philadelphia Phillies.In his final season, 1997, he was traded by the Phillies to theFlorida Marlins on July 21 and helped the Marlins to the WorldSeries title.
He has been in private business since his playing career ended.
Rothschild was retained as manager in October after threeconsecutive last-place finishes in the AL East. But the club firedhitting coach Leon Roberts, bench coach Bill Russell and bullpencoach Orlando Gomez to create the openings filled today.
The hirings complete the staff for 2001. Returning from lastseason are first-base coach Jose Cardenal, pitching coach BillFischer and third-base coach Billy Hatcher.