2012: The Year of Ross

*Image courtesy of Kelly and www.sittingstill.net*

Ollie Marquardt     1931

Bill Marshall       1931

Urbane Pickering    1932

Johnny Watwood      1933

Dusty Cooke         1933

Rick Ferrell        1934-35

Heinie Manush       1936

Buster Mills        1937

Joe Vosmik          1938-39

Dom DiMaggio        1940-42

Eddie Lake          1943-45

Dom DiMaggio        1946-53

Sam Mele            1955

Billy Consolo       1956-57

Ken Aspromonte      1957-58

Jim Busby           1959-60

Gary Geiger         1960-62

Dick Stuart         1963-64

Lennie Green        1965-66

Reggie Smith        1967-73

Rick Burleson       1974-80

Mike Easler         1984-85

Ed Romero           1986

Spike Owen          1987-88

Nick Esasky         1989

Phil Plantier       1990

Steve Lyons         1991

Rick Burleson       1992-93 (COACH)

Steve Rodriguez     1995

Trot Nixon          1996, 1998-2006

J.D. Drew           2007-11

Cody Ross           2012

Other than Dom DiMaggio and the Rooster, not much to write home about regarding the number 7 before Christopher Trotman Nixon arrived in Boston, where he became one of The Guys. A guy Boston just fell in love with who played like his hair was on fire, had a helmet so dirty it looked like a science experiment gone awry, and more than once looked like he was going to run through the outfield wall going for a fly ball.

Then came J.D. Drew. I liked J.D. But he wasn't Trot, and that was his biggest downfall with a lot of Red Sox Nation. He didn't have that fire or whatever it was Trot had that made everybody love the guy. You NEVER saw J.D. look like this..........

And if memory serves me correctly, this was in a game when he wasn't even PLAYING.

In the year of our Lord 2012, Cody Ross is doing the number 7 proud. He's a dirt dog who hits bombs and when he KNOWS he's gotten all of one? He's got this little bat flip he does that I'm pretty sure is going to earn him a bean ball at some point but I doubt very much that he cares. In the last 2 nights he's hit three 3 run HR, including a walk off tonight against the White Sox to take that series 3-1 and once again give all us Sox fans hope that maybe, just maybe we're still in this thing.

I'd like to think that somewhere Trot is nodding his head in silent approval of the man roaming his former territory in right field.

You're doing him proud, Cody.