Fifty Days.

There are fifty days until spring training. It may be frigid outside but there are only fifty days until pitchers and catchers. When you say it like that it doesn't seem so bad. (I may have to work harder on the John Lackey liking, though.)

So I came up with a task for myself for those fifty days. But unlike other assignments I've given myself for this space which I've either done half-heartedly or grown bored with and abandoned, I've come prepared. I have a list. It started off as a list of Fifty Reasons to Love the Red Sox but then morphed into something closer to Fifty Things to Know About the Red Sox. But there were things to know that were not reasons to love and so I suppose that it's best title at the moment would be Fifty Good Things About the Red Sox.

And so I present:

Number Fifty: Fred Lynn.



A graceful, athletic, fearless centerfielder--was there any doubt that he would make my list? It also doesn't hurt that the man could hit. He was Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player in 1975 but in his sixteen (and a piece) seasons in baseball he put up more good years than bad. Injuries and being traded out of Fenway to the California Angels hampered a potentially spectacular career. But men who leap into walls after a small leather ball will always have a little piece of my heart.