American Hero #1- Wade Boggs

When one thinks of heroism, several attributes come to mind. Bravery. Courage. Strength. A kick-ass beard. The ability to drink 764 ounces of beer in a seven-hour span. Wade Boggs exemplifies these characteristics and more, and is our choice as our first American Hero.

Okay, let's get it out of the way: The dude could drink. A lot. According to numerous credible sources (namely, urban legends), Boggs would go out on the town and regularly drink anywhere between 30 and 70 Miller Lites. In one of the most widely circulated Boggs tales, Wade drank 64 Miller Lites on a cross-country flight (either New York to Seattle, or Boston to LA, depending on the report). Boggs, in an interview on "Pardon the Interruption," denied that it was 64:



Former teammates have corroborated the legend, however. Jeff Nelson, in a radio interview, said

"I’ve never seen anyone drink as much beer as [Boggs] did in my life...I’d say, on a typical road trip, east coast to west coast, say a road game to Seattle……Wade would drink anywhere between 50 and 60 beers...I know how crazy that sounds, and I wouldn’t believe it myself unless I saw him do it…..numerous times. And he drank nothing but Miller Lite." (Tasty Booze)

Nelson went on to explain just how Boggs could down so many, well, Boggs.

"Wade was the kind of guy who was always the first one at the club house. So he’d get to the clubhouse, and he’d bring a six pack with him. He’d be there drinking a beer when someone showed up, and as we were all packing our stuff up out of our lockers and getting our bags ready for the trip, Wade would sit there and drink that whole six pack.

"Now, at the time, we were flying out of New Jersey, so it was somewhat of a drive from Yankee stadium to the airport in New Jersey. Wade would drink another couple of beers on the bus to the airport. At the time, we were flying this older airplane, it couldn’t make it across the country without refueling, and it wasn’t the fastest airplane in the sky. So we would stop in North Dakota or something. Wade would drink about a half rack between New Jersey and North Dakota, and it would take about a half-hour to an hour to refuel once we got there, so he’d have a few more beers while we were grounded in North Dakota.

"Once we got back up in the air, Wade would drink another 10, 11, 12 beers on the way out to the west coast. The whole flight from coast to coast ususally took us well over 7 hours. We’d touch down at Sea-Tac, hop on the bus headed to the Kingdome, and Wade would have another beer or two on the bus. Then, all of us would get to the Kingdome and unpack our bags and sit around and BS with eachother, and Wade would have a beer in his hand the entire time. He was always one of the last people to leave the club house too. So I’d say that all in all, he drank over 50 beers on the trip, and this wasn’t just an isolated incident, he did that almost every time." (Tasty Booze)

Needless to say, Boggs has developed a bit of a cult following for his drinking feats. It is mind-blowing that a man could drink as much as Boggs did, and end up as a Hall of Fame baseball player, hitting .328 for his career. So thank you, Mr. Boggs, for inspiring us all to be better men, and giving us a new nickname for a great tasting, less-filling brew. So next time you're at your local watering hole, order a cold Boggs Lite and toast to the one and only Wade, our generation's Paul Bunyan.