Then he saw Wade Boggs.

``I was literally in awe,'' said Winn, now an outfielder with the Seattle Mariners. ``I had always seen him on television. For a young ballplayer, being around him was quite an education.''

Sometimes, Boggs wonders if his presence made a lasting impact - beyond the obvious, of course. In Tropicana Field's sea of right-field blue bleachers, there are two yellow seats to commemorate the location of historic hits.

* Section 148, Row V, Seat 6 (Boggs' home run on March 31, 1998, against the Detroit Tigers, the first homer in Rays' history).

* Section 144, Row V, Seat 7 (Boggs' 3,000th hit, also a homer, on Aug. 7, 1999, against the Cleveland Indians).

``You can't take those away,'' Boggs said.

Leader By Example

They are tangible reminders that he was aboard for two last-place seasons with Tampa Bay before his retirement. No doubt, Boggs is best remembered nationally for five American League batting titles in Boston, then his contributions to a 1996 World Series championship with the New York Yankees.

For his former Tampa Bay teammates, though, there were other meaningful moments, some not so obvious.

``Just being around Wade, you learned about a work ethic,'' said former Rays catcher John Flaherty, now with the Yankees, who was also a Boggs teammate in Boston. ``How to prepare for each game, each at-bat, really. And there was never a letdown. It was like clockwork.''

For Winn, batting practice became a favorite part of his work day.

``He never messed around during BP - ever!'' Winn said. ``First few rounds, he's hitting [opposite-field] line drives to left. Bam! Bam! Bam! Then he's going up the middle. Toward the end, he'd launch a few.

``He'd get there at the same time every day, playing his catch, taking balls at third, doing his BP. I mean, to me, the guy was already in the Hall of Fame. So many hits, Gold Gloves and all that. But he's still getting his work in, day in, day out. Most definitely, it made an impression. It told all the young players, `Hey, you want to be great? Work like Wade Boggs does.' ''

Not everyone possessed Winn-like reverence, according to Boggs.

With many players on Tampa Bay's roster barely removed from Triple-A, Boggs had to politely remind rookies that they didn't ride in the back of the team bus or charter flights.

``They're looking at you like you have two heads,'' Boggs said. ``I treated it [as] a learning experience to get them on their feet and ... teach them a little bit of old school, but it didn't really work. It didn't really work at all.''

Right At Home

Otherwise, Boggs found it comforting and refreshing to finish his career in the hometown area. Each year following spring training, he remembered some 35 UPS boxes being packed by his wife, Debbie, shipping belongings to their in-season home.

``All of a sudden, you're not having to find a new place to live, relocate, change schools for the kids, that kind of thing,'' Boggs said. ``Instead of here we go, it's the `Beverly Hillbillies' all over again, you're hanging out by the pool with the family, driving across the bridge, playing a game, then going home.

``That was different. And it was nice.''

One thing that wasn't so nice - all the losses. In Boston and New York, Boggs was accustomed to contending for a pennant.

That was never a possibility in Tampa Bay.

``You realize you are playing for an expansion team,'' Boggs said. ``You know that the playoffs and World Series are probably null and void, so you can make plans to do something the day after the season and not have them interrupted.

``The first year, [some] were calling the Devil Rays `Triple-A and a half.' I took offense to that because I had spent 16 years in the big leagues for what, nothing? I mean, I'm still in the big leagues.''

Even during expansion, even with last-place finishes, Boggs was nothing but a big- leaguer to his Tampa Bay teammates.

``He stepped between those lines and it was business,'' Rays first-base coach Billy Hatcher said. ``Regardless of what else was going on or how you were feeling, for those three or four hours, you did the job. That was Wade. You'd be silly not to watch and learn from him.''

Winn watched, learned and reached one sobering conclusion.

``Wade showed me how to work, but I couldn't [replicate] his approach to hitting,'' Winn said. ``I mean, who really could? This guy is unique. I finally reached the conclusion that he could basically get out there and hit the ball wherever he wanted to. I'm just glad I got to see that up close.''

3,000th Hit

Wade Boggs collected his 3,000th major- league hit on Aug. 7, 1999, against Chris Haney at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

The hit, a home run in the sixth inning, came on a 2-2 hanging curveball that landed in Section 144, Row V, Seat 7, where it was caught by Mike Hogan, a recently hired sports information assistant at the University of South Florida, who returned the ball to Boggs.

Step Aside, Babe: Here Comes Wade

When Wade Boggs was playing youth baseball in Tampa, some coaches and teammates called him ``Babe Ruth.''

Boggs could hit it farther than anyone else.

In the middle of an otherwise unremarkable inaugural season for the Devil Rays, during an 11-5 win against the Oakland Athletics, Boggs tied Ruth's career hit total with - you guessed it - a home run. Then he passed the Babe with a ninth-inning single, giving him 2,874 career hits.

``Imagine that, a kid from Bayshore Little League passing Babe Ruth,'' Boggs said afterward.

There were larger milestones to come.

But for the Tropicana Field fans, who gave Boggs a lengthy ovation before he was lifted for pinch-runner Bobby Smith, it was the first realization that something special was happening. Even as the losses mounted for their expansion team, they could still watch as Boggs stalked the game's immortal hitters.

George Sisler, Charlie Gehringer and Brooks Robinson already had been passed by Boggs as he wore the multicolored Tampa Bay uniform.

He inched past the Babe.

Mel Ott and Frankie Frisch were ahead.

So with Boggs around, Rays fans got a bonus. Each night, they could potentially see some history.
- Joey Johnston

He Said It
I couldn't imagine anything like this back then [in childhood]. I couldn't imagine it would end up like this. I've been so blessed. -- WADE BOGGS