Inside the Biggest Boggs Fan’s Shrine
When Richard Davis navigates through his man cave — nicknamed the Boggs Tavern — he feels an immense amount of joy. The room is a shrine to his favorite baseball player of all time: Wade Boggs. In all, Davis figures he has over 30,000 Boggs-related items: signed bats, game-used hit balls, player-worn jerseys, pieces from Boggs’ personal collection, over 10,000 baseball cards, and so much more.
“It’s just wall to wall, floor to ceiling of just Wade Boggs stuff,” Davis says. “I’ve got so much stuff, it’s unbelievable.” Davis collects Boggs items from his entire 18-year career with the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. “If he’s on it, I want it,” Davis says.
Known as the “Chicken Man,” Boggs had a phenomenal career both at the plate and in the field. He was a career .328 hitter, leading the majors in batting average in five of his first seven years in the league, and collected 3,010 hits. With his glove, Boggs was a stellar third baseman, winning two Gold Gloves and having a fielding percentage of 96.5%.
Collecting Memories
Davis, now 50 years old, latched onto Boggs when he was 11 in the mid-1980s. He received a collector’s starting kit as a youngster, from which he pulled a Boggs rookie card.
“I got hooked and I started collecting everything Wade Boggs,” Davis said. “Even though I lived outside of Chicago, I was following him in the box scores every day, and that’s how it started.”
Davis has been collecting Boggs items ever since. He started working on his man cave in 2015, and it’s come a long way in the last decade. Taking a virtual tour of Davis’ shrine room is like being in a museum. Heading down the staircase to the basement, you’ll walk past Boggs’ home game-worn jersey from his 1985 season. That was the best statistical season of his career, with a .368 batting average and hits in a record-tying 135 games.
“I’m proud to have that,” Davis says. “The other piece that I love just as much, and there are only 26 in existence, but Wade had a three-foot bobblehead made of himself. They’re numbered one to 26, and I have number three. He told me mine is the only one that’s autographed.”
Continuing to walk down the stairs, Boggs cards, posters, and pictures greet guests. At the bottom of the staircase is a game-used batting helmet and cleats from Boggs’ Red Sox days, the aforementioned oversized bobblehead, and a framed Red Sox jersey. That jersey was the first one Davis received from Boggs with a personalized inscription and autograph.
Davis has a mixture of game-worn and replica jerseys showcased in his main room. There’s also a locker room cubby with a Red Sox nameplate. In that display are a pair of game-worn shoes with the No. 26 on them and a game-worn spring training jersey that’s autographed. Davis figures he has north of 1,000 Boggs autographs on various items, and at least 500 just on baseball cards.
When asked about his favorite Boggs card, Davis has a quick answer. “I absolutely love the ’84 Topps,” he says. “I’m close to 1,000 on that card alone. But then his ’83 Topps rookie, I’m closing in on 600 of those.”
Davis enjoys collecting oddball items of Boggs, which include newspapers, newspaper articles, magazines, and a placard he has of Boggs endorsing an eye doctor in his hometown of Tampa, Florida. That’s unique, but it’s certainly not the most unique item in Davis’ collection. Not even close.
“My friends and family come over and see my stuff, and when I point out these three things is when I get all the head scratching — like, dude, you’re crazy,” Davis says. The items in questions? A complete set of Boggs’ shower shoes from each of his teams. It started with a pair from Boggs’ Red Sox days purchased online. “Then a couple years later, a collector had his Yankees shower shoes, and I bought them,” Davis says. “After I kind of became friends with Wade, I kind of jokingly messaged him. I said, ‘Hey, you know to kind of complete the trifecta, I really need a pair of your Devil Rays shower shoes. I don’t know if you have a pair or not.’ He goes, ‘I do. I’ll send them to you.’”
Boggs signed the shoes and shipped them to Davis.
A couple other of Davis’ favorite items are Boggs’ 2,988th hit ball and his collection of a dozen game-used bats. He has one from Boggs’ rookie year when he won his first batting title.
A Relationship is Forged
Davis signed up for Twitter, now known as X, in 2013, primarily to follow Wade Boggs. He would post photos of his collection on the social media site and tag his favorite player. After a while, Boggs took notice, liking some of his posts and retweeting them. One day, Davis received an alert that Boggs was following him as well.
“I waited a long time to build up the nerve to shoot him a quick message,” says Davis. “I did, and he was super cool,” That was back in 2014, over a decade ago. “We kind of just communicated back and forth through Twitter.”
In the summer of 2022, Davis and his family made their way for a weeklong trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando. With Boggs living in Tampa, Davis sent him a message.
“It happened to be a Wednesday where we had nothing planned at the parks. I remember shooting a message to Wade saying, ‘Hey, I’ve got a friend who lives in Tampa. I’m going out that way to meet with him. What’s a good sandwich place?’ I wanted to see what he said. And he gave me the name of a sandwich joint and then he says, ‘When you’re done, swing by my house. Here’s my number, call me.’”
Davis spent an hour at Bogg’s house. It was a game-changing moment.
“It was unreal to be inside his home,” Davis says. “He showed me his memorabilia room. I got to see his 3,000th hit bat and all of his memorabilia balls. It was fantastic.”
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