8/7/99: Wade Boggs’s 3,000th Hit

Cleveland Indians 15 at Tampa Bay Rays 10, F — Just one day after Tony Gwynn had reached the milestone, Wade Boggs was sitting three hits away from 3,000. Fans not sure they were going to witness history that night became restless as he rapped out hits #2,998 and #2,999 early in the game… anticipation was in the air. Boggs then stepped to the plate in the sixth inning and became the first player to join the 3,000 hit club via a home run, when he drilled a Chris Haney pitch to deep right. He celebrated by racing around the bases, pumping his fist in the air, pointing toward the heavens and then kneeling down in front of home plate and giving it a great, big kiss. When he was inducted into Hall of Fame on January 4th, 2005, he said, “I first started thinking about the Hall of Fame on Aug. 7, 1999. That’s the first time I felt like I had good enough numbers to qualify for the Hall of Fame.”