Boggs Loses but Winds Up With $1.35 Million

American League batting champion Wade Boggs of the Boston Red Sox lost his record $1.85 million arbitration case Sunday but still wound up with the largest salary granted since the process was instituted 12 years ago.

The arbiter ruled that Boggs will have to accept the Red Sox offer of $1.35 million. Boggs won a 1985 arbitration award of $1 million.

“We’re happy we won because we thought our figure was fair,” General Manager Lou Gorman of the Red Sox said in Winter Haven, Fla. “We’re still happy to have Mr. Boggs on the ballclub. He’s an outstanding player.”

The case was the final one of the year and gave the owners a 20-15 edge in the 35 hearings.

Although the 27-year-old Red Sox third baseman lost his award, his contract is larger than the $1.2 million Tim Raines of the Montreal Expos won in his arbitration hearing last year.

Boggs was not immediately available for comment. He was reportedly fishing in the Florida Keys.