Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 14, 1990 TAG: 9005140090
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF SCHULTZ COX NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: OAKLAND, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
The Boston Red Sox third baseman says the general message from his mother, who was killed in an auto accident in 1986, was "relax and have fun."
While Boggs says he isn't sure about life after death, he admits being fascinated by "psychic phenomena, the supernatural and all that stuff. I believe in it.
"It's neat. It's the unexplained, just like life. Sometimes it helps clarify life. I've gone to seances, stuff like that. Brought people back."
And nobody thinks he's crazy?
"It's good to be crazy. Then nobody can understand you."
This season, Boggs, usually a slow starter, reached base four times in Boston's opener and batted .333 in April. He is on track for a record eighth consecutive 200-hit season.
This after a 1989 season in which he hit only .330, a figure 36 points below the previous year's average, and finished third among American League hitters (behind Kirby Puckett's .339 and Carney Lansford's .336).
It also ended his streak of AL batting titles at four and dropped his lifetime average to .352, still fourth all-time behind Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson.
Hitting .330 bothered Boggs more than it would most batters. He studied videotapes of his 1987 season, when his .363 average was punctuated by 24 homers - triple his previous high. He adjusted his grip slightly, decided to concentrate on "swinging through the ball" more and to go with the pitch.
The biggest change in Boggs, however, is not in his batting but in his mental approach. After getting three hits and missing a homer by 10 feet on opening day, he said he felt much more relaxed at the plate than in 1989.
The reason is obvious. No Margo.
"That's a subject I don't have to think about anymore," Boggs said before a recent game in Oakland. "I've gone on with my life and baseball."
The Margo Adams affair was a season-long soap opera in 1989, leading to a palimony suit filed by his former lover, fighting among Boston teammates, trade rumors and a claim by Boggs that he was "a sex addict."
"Any time you have any problems off the field, be it family, injuries, sickness, things like that, naturally you're not going to concentrate the way you're capable of," Boggs said. "This was no different. You just fight though it the best you can and go from there."
The episode certainly affected Boggs' image. He received hostile letters and catcalls. A radio station in Kansas City, Mo., handed out Margo Adams masks before a series against the Royals. Public service messages by Boggs for multiple sclerosis were halted, which really hurt him because he has a sister who is afflicted with MS.
Predictably, there were rumors the Red Sox would deal Boggs, rumors general manager Lou Gorman says are completely unfounded.
"Some people felt, `Here's this guy getting involved in something like this. He's a bad guy,' " Gorman said. "But I don't know anybody who can judge him. Haven't we all done something in our life that we're not too proud of? This shouldn't be an albatross around his neck for the rest of his life. He's not a bad person. Let's put this behind him and go on."
Boggs said the change this season begins the moment he awakens.
After the opener, he remarked how it felt good to get back to his "idiosyncrasies. I have about 25 of them."
No player has a more elaborate daily routine than Boggs. He jogs at a certain time, hits at a certain time, even bounces a baseball off a clubhouse wall for 10 minutes before each game at a certain time.
"A big part of my game is mental, so my routine helps a lot," Boggs said. "You'd have to write a novel like `War and Peace' if you wanted to know everything. They're all pieces of the puzzle that fit together - how I get dressed, how I eat, what doors I walk through. . . . It just gets myself in a positive frame of mind."
by CNB