15. Pedey. The Muddy Chicken. La Luna. The Lasershow. A man of many nicknames, but to most, he was just Dustin Pedroia.
Dustin Pedroia formally announced his retirement from Major League Baseball on February 1st with a press conference held by the Red Sox, including club president Sam Kennedy, manager Alex Cora, and general manager Brian O’Halloran. For most Red Sox fans, this is a day most anticipated for about a year now, but never wanted to see.
Pedroia, now age 37, played 14 seasons with the Red Sox and is a former league MVP, Rookie of the Year, has made 4 All-Star games, won 4 gold gloves, won a Silver Slugger, and been named Defensive Player of the Year. More important than all of that, however, Dustin is a 3-time World Series Champion.
Dustin has long been known as the heart and soul of the Red Sox through the 2000s and 2010s alongside “Big Papi” David Ortiz, Dustin’s former teammate and long-time face of the franchise. Dustin was well-known for his gritty play style, a dirt dog through and through. If there was someone to bet on their jersey being dirty by the 5th, it was Pedey. Dustin was a team leader for the Sox, and someone that always made sure that their voice was heard, whether it was pumping up his teammates in the dugout, or chewing out the always prevalent Boston media. Dustin was never someone to leave quietly, and always made sure his presence was felt both on and off the field.
Dustin was a role model to many kids growing up and watching baseball throughout his tenure in Boston, including myself. He showed that you don’t have to be the biggest or strongest player on the field to leave the biggest impact on the game, and he showed that year in and year out. For someone like myself, who really didn’t know how a short, chubby kid like me would ever be good at or enjoy baseball, I lucked out. I probably wouldn’t have changed my mind, unless before an August 2012 Red Sox game against the Texas Rangers, I had the chance to talk to Dustin. It was for less than 30 seconds, and I couldn’t even tell you what he said, but I haven’t looked back since. I modeled my game after Pedroia from that day on, playing my hardest and taking every chance I got. Pedroia was “that guy” for me, and I’d imagine I’m not the only one who felt that way.
(Photo courtesy of Over The Monster, a SB Nation affiliate)
Pedey has had his fair share of moments with Boston, from the leadoff homer in the 2007 World Series, his entire MVP season, his 3-homer game in Colorado, 11 straight at-bats with a hit in 2016, and his pinball defensive play against Carlos Gomez and the Rangers in 2017. He also holds the 2nd longest streak for consecutive Opening Day starts as a Red Sox player with 11, only behind the late great Carl Yastrzemski with 12.
Pedroia was never one to miss time with injury either, with 2010 being his only season, prior to 2018, with less than 81 games played. Mentioning 2018, Pedroia’s retirement comes in part of a knee injury suffered on a Manny Machado slide into 2nd base that has kept Pedroia limited to 9 games played in the past 3 seasons combined. This is a player that once suffered a broken hamate bone in the season opener of the 2013 season, and went on to play all but 2 of the games played by Boston in both the regular and postseason that year. Pedroia really tried his best to get back on that Fenway Park field one more time before he called it quits, but that unfortunately wasn’t in the cards for him.
While fans and players alike who knew Pedroia didn’t see the ending we all hoped we would see for one of the most influential and important players in Red Sox history, we can be thankful for everything Pedroia gave to us over the past 15 years. There will truly never be another player like Pedroia, and hopefully the next time we see him, it’ll be at Fenway Park retiring his number 15 forever. Thank you Pedey, thank you for everything.