Looking back, the thing that strikes me about Wade Boggs was my first impression of him when he came up with Boston.

You could tell he was a special hitter immediately. That was obvious the way he banged all those doubles off that Green Monster in Fenway. I was impressed with him offensively. But he lacked something as a third baseman. He just lacked something defensively.

Grading him, I'd give him a C or a C-minus back then. But if ever there was someone with a work ethic, it was him. He deserves great praise for it. He made himself a Gold Glove third baseman.

He would take ground balls out there way before the games started. Guys got tired of hitting him ground balls long before he wanted to quit. You just love it when a guy goes out there, and even though he knows he's a great hitter, he's willing to do the work to make the other improvements.

I've always admired Wade and I've always hated to see him playing against the Yankees when he was on the other team. There were a lot of times when he crucified us. It seemed like he was always in the middle of things.

We became good friends after he came on board with us.

After we lost Charlie Hayes in the expansion draft, we needed a third baseman. When I knew I had a chance to get Wade Boggs, I thought he would be a great player for us to have. I knew he would work hard and I felt like that would rub off on the other players. It did.

I can still see him on that horse after we won the World Series (in 1996). Never have I seen anybody more excited. He'd been through many traumatic experiences.

Sure, he's had his ups, he's had his downs. He's a human being. But you could never get me to say anything bad about Wade Boggs.

Let me say, there are some people you arguably can say don't belong in the Hall of Fame. When he goes in, he won't be one of them. He'll deserve to be there.

Congratulations on your 3,000th hit, Wade. It's a special accomplishment for a special player.