Serving up history

Wade Boggs homering for his 3,000th career hit (St. Petersburg Times photo)

Left-hander Chris Haney finds himself an unwitting part of history 26 years ago today as he serves up Wade Boggs' 3,000th hit – a two-run homer to right field in sixth inning of what turns out to be a losing cause as Cleveland holds off Boggs and Tampa Bay 15-10 at Tropicana Field.

Boggs becomes the first player to record his 3,000th hit on a home run – a feat later matched by a pair of Yankees (Derek Jeter in 2011 and Alex Rodriguez in 2015).

The homer in front of the Saturday night crowd of 38,215 also is the 118th and last of Boggs’ Hall of Fame career.

After homering off Haney, Boggs kisses home plate.

He should be kissing Cleveland manager Mike Hargrove for allowing Haney to face Boggs, who in 14 career plate appearances against Haney reaches base seven times on five hits and two walks.

Looking for more to read? More than 2,500 archived posts may be found at Blog 3 — Baseball (and other cool stuff) … Enjoy!