Throughout the Boston Red Sox’s 123-year history, over 1900 players have donned the Red Sox uniform, yet only ten have had their number retired by the organization. (Jackie Robinson’s league-wide retired number 42 makes 11) All but one player to have their number retired at Fenway Park have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame Cooperstown, ensuring only the best players in Red Sox history are enshrined with immortality at Fenway Park.
The Case for Dwight Evans’s Number Retirement
However, there is one glaring omission in legendary Red Sox right fielder Dwight Evans. Evans spent 19 seasons with the Boston Red Sox and is second in franchise history in games played only behind Carl Yastrzemski. Below is a table showing where Dwight Evans ranks in Red Sox franchise history in several key stats.
| Category | Total | Ranking | Notes |
| Gold Gloves | 8 | 1st | The greatest defensive outfielder of his era |
| Runs Scored | 1435 | 3rd | Behind only Yaz and Williams |
| Hits | 2373 | 4th | Behind only Yaz, Williams and Rice |
| Total Bases | 4128 | 4th | Behind only Yaz, Williams and Rice |
| Extra Base Hits | 925 | 4th | Behind only Yaz, Williams and Ortiz |
| Wins Above Replacement | 66.6 | 5th | Behind only Williams, Yaz, Clemens and Boggs |
| Runs Batted In | 1346 | 5th | Behind only Yaz. Williams, Ortiz and Rice |
| Home Runs | 379 | 5th | Only behind Williams, Ortiz, Yaz and Rice |
It seems like a slam dunk for Dwight Evans to have his number retired by the organization, as Evans is one of the best and most significant players in franchise history. But as I mentioned earlier, only one Red Sox player has had their number retired by the organization without reaching the Hall of Fame, and that was the beloved Johnny Pesky, who spent 61 years in the Red Sox organization as a player, manager, and coach.
The Hall of Fame is an important credential for the Red Sox organization to retire a player’s number. Roger Clemens’s number 21 has not been worn since he left Boston at the end of the 1996 season, but he has not retired because of Clemens’s omission from the Hall of Fame (That is a whole other article). According to an article by MLB.com’s Ian Browne, John Henry and Tom Werner no longer have strict requirements for retiring a player’s number. However, Hall of Fame credentials are still heavily valued, as illustrated by Roger Clemens’s case.
Dwight Evans Should Be a Hall of Famer
The most significant glaring omission from the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Red Sox history (with no scandal attached) is Dwight Evans. The Red Sox organization has a more than fair standard. Nonetheless, the Red Sox must make a second exemption for Dwight Evans, as it is a travesty that he is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The second table details the case for Dwight Evans’s induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by comparing him to other players in the 1980s.
| Category | Total | Ranking | Notes |
| Gold Gloves | 8 | 5h among OF all time | Only Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Ichiro and Al Kaline have more GG than Dwight Evans among outfielders. All three are in the HOF |
| Wins Run Created Plus (wRC) | 1076 | 1st in MLB | Only players with a wRC of over 1000 throughout the 1980s. Ahead of Robin Yount, George Brett and Cal Ripken Jr. |
| Extra Base Hits | 605 | 1st | Ahead of Dale Murphy, Robin Yount, Andre Dawson and Eddie Murray. (Yount, Dawson and Murray are in HOF) |
| Home Runs | 256 | 4th (MLB), 1st (AL) | Behind only Mike Schmidt, Dale Murphy and Eddie Murray (Schmidt and Murray are in HOF) |
| Runs Batted In | 908 | 4th (MLB) 2nd (AL) | HOF 1B Eddie Murray and Dwight Evans are the only American League with 900 RBIs |
| Hits | 1,497 | 7th (MLB), 3rd (AL) | 6 of 7 players with more hits than Evans are in the HOF |
| Total Bases | 2,657 | 4th (MLB) 2nd (AL) | Behind only Murphy, Murray and Dawson |
| OBP | .385 | 3rd (MLB) 2nd (AL) | Only HOF 1B George Brett had a higher OBP in the American League throughout the 1980s |
| SLG % | .497 | T-5 (MLB); T-3 (AL) | Don Mattingly is the only non HOF player with a higher SLG%than Dwight Evans in the 1980s |
| Wins Run Created Plus (wRC+) | 139 | T-6 (MLB), 4th (MLB) | Only George Brett, Eddie Murray and Don Mattingly have a better wRC+. Evans ranks ahead of Hall of Famers Dave Winfield and Robin Yount. |
The National Baseball Writers Association of America is in charge of the Hall of Fame voting and selection process, dropped the ball with Dwight Evans, who has only spent three years on the ballot, with a one-year Modern Baseball Era committee ballot in 2019.
Evans is far from the first player the BBWAA has snubbed from the Hall of Fame, and he certainly will not be the last. The Hall of Fame voting process is highly flawed.
Unfortunately for Evans, when he was on the ballot, the BBWAA cared about milestones such as 2,500 hits and 400 home runs, which he failed to reach. Those milestones have been far less important in recent years, especially with the induction of players such as Joe Mauer and Scott Rolen, who, like Evans, have advanced stats that illustrate their greatness.
If you still need to be convinced of Evans’s Hall of Fame candidacy, I have one last fact to support the case. Only 50 baseball players can match Evans’s 66.7 Wins Above Replacement totals and .840 OPS, 43 of which are in the Hall of Fame. Of the eight not in Cooperstown, four are tied to steroids (Bonds, A-Rod, Rafael Palmeiro, and Manny Ramirez). Albert Pujols, Mike Trout, and Mookie Betts are the remaining three who are not Hall of Fame eligible or are still active. There are 189 position plyers in the Hall of Fame in total. There is no excuse for Dwight Evans to not be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Dwight Evans: A Player Ahead of His Time
Evans is a victim of the lack of knowledge many outside the game had throughout his era. Several stats that indicate how great Dwight Evans was, such as Wins Above Replacement, On-Base Percentage, On-Base Plus Slugging percentage, were either brand new and not common knowledge among baseball viewers or nonexistent. However, Evans was ahead of his time.
The BBWAA also cared about individual accolades, such as the MVP award, which Evans never won. However, In the current world of baseball, Evans’s 1981 season would be viewed much differently. In 1981, Evans led the American League in several categories that we view as key statistics today, such as OPS, WRC+, and Wins Above Replacement, while leading the league in home runs. If these statistics were official in 1981, perhaps Evans would have received the MVP award that appealed to BWAA members during the voting process instead of a relief pitcher, even if it was the great Rollie Fingers.
If Evans were on the ballot today, the BWAA would likely vote him into the Hall of Fame. But in 1997-1999, when Evans was on the ballot, he peaked at 10.4% of the vote and only received 3.4% in 1999. The stacked Hall of Fame that included Goerge Brett, Robin Yount, and Carlton Fisk made it difficult for writers to consider other players. Another factor against Evans was the 90s being the height of the steroid era and his accomplishment of 379 home runs became an afterthought and the advanced stats that made his case clear were not yet fully understood.
How Evans’s Omission From the Hall Of Fame Be Fixed?
Now that it is clear that Dwight Evans deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, it is clear that the Boston Red Sox should take matters into their own hands. They cannot control Evans’s fate with the Hall of Fame.
His accomplishments speak for themselves; he is worthy of the Baseball Hall of Fame. With the system unfair and imperfect in this case, the Red Sox need to take matters into their own hands. Hopefully, John Henry, Tom Werner, and Sam Kennedy will give Dwight Evans the proper recognition his player career deserves and retire his number 24. It is long overdue.
The Pesky Post 