Wade Boggs, a Hall of Fame baseball player known for his superstitions and disciplined routines, recently reflected on the habits that shaped his career during an episode of “The Road to Cooperstown” podcast. The show, produced by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in partnership with SiriusXM, highlights the personal journeys of notable players as they worked toward induction into Cooperstown.
“There are [278] players in the Hall of Fame and I’m the only one with ‘superstitions’ on his plaque,” Boggs said to Jon Paul Morosi during the interview. “So, I think that that’s the one thing that carried me over the hump. And I’ve always said I’d rather be lucky than good. And that was one of the reasons why I had so many superstitions. I wanted luck to be on my side. I never thought I was that good, but I always wanted to be lucky.”
Boggs’ career included time with three major league teams: the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. His achievements include five batting titles and twelve All-Star selections. His plaque at Cooperstown notes not just these statistics but also refers to him as “Legendary for his superstitions.” Among his well-known rituals were eating chicken before every game, running wind sprints at 7:17 p.m., taking batting practice at 5:17 p.m., and drawing a Hebrew letter in the batter’s box before each at-bat.
“I think they put me in a frame of mind to where I could block out everything else,” Boggs explained about his routines. He attributed some of this discipline to growing up in a military family where schedules were strictly followed.
When asked about joining the Yankees after eleven seasons with Boston, Boggs recounted how he was approached by team representatives while George Steinbrenner was serving a suspension from baseball operations:
“The Yankees called and said, ‘We’d like to meet on the Causeway. Mr. Steinbrenner’s hotel. Joe Malloy will be there; he’s representing the Yankees right now that Mr. Steinbrenner is on suspended leave,’” Boggs recalled. “And so we sit down, have a conversation, and we’re talking and Joe Malloy goes, ‘Would three years, $11 million, put you in pinstripes?’ And I sat there and I said, ‘Well, I’m going to have to go out and discuss it with my wife.’
“I ran out to my Porsche, got on my cell phone in my Porsche and I said, ‘Honey, we’re going to New York.’ We didn’t even discuss it. So, I come back in and I said, ‘I had a conversation with my wife, and I think you got a new player that’s going to put pinstripes on. And I would be honored.’
“And there’s a gentleman sitting at a table over here reading the newspaper and the newspaper comes down and it’s George. And he winks at me. And he was listening to the whole conversation. … George wanted to prove everybody wrong, that I still had something in the tank.”
During this same podcast episode Boggs also discussed his health challenges over recent months after being diagnosed with prostate cancer in August 2024.
“Well, it’s a new lease on life,” Boggs said. “And anytime you get a cancer diagnosis it’s a gut punch… When I was diagnosed in August of 2024, you take it head on… You ask the doctor what we’re going to do… And this is how we’re going to beat it.
“And started the radiation for five weeks and five days a week and got done with the radiation in November 2024. I was waiting on my next follow up checkup. February 7th ,2025 . And I rang the bell .I was cancer free .And yes ,I am a cancer survivor.”
Episodes of “The Road to Cooperstown” can be found through platforms provided by both the National Baseball Hall of Fame as well as SiriusXM.
