Boggs Ends Long Journey, Seals Moment With a Kiss

Wade Boggs knelt down and kissed home plate.

His trip was complete.

Boggs became the first player to hit a home run for his 3,000th hit, connecting in rare style with a two-run shot Saturday night in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ 15-10 loss to the Cleveland Indians.

“I finally put my flag in that mountain. So many guys have tried and come up short,” Boggs said. “It was like the longest mile to walk up to the plate.”

Boggs took an emotional trip around the bases after becoming the 22nd player to get 3,000 hits. He already had two run-scoring singles Saturday when he lined a 2-2 breaking ball from Chris Haney over the right-field wall in the sixth inning for a 372-foot homer.

He pumped his fists, high-fived first-base coach Billy Hatcher and pointed upward in a tribute to his mother, who was killed in a 1986 car accident.

A few steps from home, Boggs again pointed up. He then got down on his knees and kissed the plate as his teammates and family waited to embrace him.

“Before I touched home plate . . . something ran through my mind to say, ‘Go ahead and kiss that thing. You stepped on it enough, you might as well kiss it,’ ” he said.

Boggs’ father, Win, his wife, Debbie, and his 12-year-old son, Brett, came on the field to join the festivities. Brett, whose godfather is fellow 3,000-hit club member George Brett, was the Devil Rays’ batboy.

Fireworks were set off when Boggs connected, the crowd of 39,512 gave him a standing ovation.

It was Boggs’ second homer of the season and 118th of his career, which began in 1982 with Boston and later took him to the New York Yankees.