Pictures - Long-time Boston athletes who finished careers elsewhere

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Let’s face it. We Boston sports fans are pretty sensitive. We don’t like feeling like we’ve been broken up with. We don’t like feeling like our city isn’t good enough. We feel a range of emotions when our longtime star athletes leave us, either by trade or free agency. Sometimes we’re OK with it. Sometimes we’re not. Paul Pierce played 15 seasons for the Celtics through bad times and good, and now that he’s been traded to the Nets, the popular sentiment is we’ll miss him but we get it—and he doesn’t owe us anything. Look through to see if other Boston athlete breakups have gone as well.



BOSTON - JUNE 17: Paul Pierce #34 of the Boston Celtics celebrates with the NBA Finals MVP trophy after defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in Game Five of the 2008 NBA Finals on June 17, 2008 at TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) Library Tag 07152008


Let’s face it. We Boston sports fans are pretty sensitive. We don’t like feeling like we’ve been broken up with. We don’t like feeling like our city isn’t good enough. We feel a range of emotions when our longtime star athletes leave us, either by trade or free agency. Sometimes we’re OK with it. Sometimes we’re not. Paul Pierce played 15 seasons for the Celtics through bad times and good, and now that he’s been traded to the Nets, the popular sentiment is we’ll miss him but we get it—and he doesn’t owe us anything. Look through to see if other Boston athlete breakups have gone as well.


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10/1990.. A jubilant Boston Red Sox third baseman Wade Boggs exults after the Red Sox clinched the American League Ease Baseball title, with a 3-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Library Tag 07312005 Sports

Wade Boggs



Wade Boggs played third base for the Red Sox from 1982-1992. Never beloved. Never appreciated for his penchant for getting on base before that was in. But we Boston fans get extra insulted, and perhaps a bit jealous, when our star athletes choose New York teams over us. We get especially testy when they win championships with said Evil Empires. And we get downright vengeful when said previous Boston stars ride police horses around their stadiums. Bad breakup for sure.


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Color Advance -- New England Patriots Adam Vinatieri celebrates atop his teammates shoulders after kicking the game winning field goal in overtime to defeat the Oakland Raiders in their AFC divisional playoff game January 19, 2002 at Foxboro Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. REUTERS/C.J. Gunther REUTERS -- Library Tag 01252002 Playoff Extra -- Library Tag 02022002 Sports Library Tag 02072005 Sports Super Bowl XXXIX Library Tag 02132005 Sports Library Tag 09072006 NFL Preview

Adam Vinatieri



Where would the New England Patriots franchise be without Adam Vinatieri’s foot? Seriously. The kicker was a Patriot from 1996 to 2005, and it didn’t go down well when he picked the archrival Colts to depart to in free agency. A certain Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and squad of Patriots legends can claim credit in turning the franchise around. But without Vinatieri’s clutch, seemingly imposible, field goals this team could very well still be championship-less. Come to think of it, the team hasn’t won since he left. Pretty distasteful breakup.


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BOSTON MA. ---4/29/94--- BOSTON GARDEN . BOSTON BRUIN DEFENSEMAN RAY BOURQUE Library Tag 10042001 SPORTS SPECIAL SportsBookJuly

Ray Bourque



Ray Bourque played for the Bruins from 1979 to 1999 when the team meandered through a chamionship drought. When you’re one of the greatest defensemen in NHL history, you deserve a chance to hoist the Stanley Cup. And when Bourque did after he was traded to the Avalanche, fans rejoiced for his success. He didn’t rub it in our faces (no horse riding involved). In fact, he shared it with us. It’s a breakup that was for the best.


Lane Turner/Globe Staff


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10/31/99--TEMPE--New England Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe calls a play during the first half of Sunday's game against the Cardinals.. The Patriots defeated the Cardinals 27 to 3. GLOBE STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN BOHN.

Drew Bledsoe



Drew Bledsoe was a consummate professional for the Patriots from 1993 to 2001. Who likes giving up their job to a young stud? But he handled it with class and got to take home a championship ring when all was said and done. We found something better (i.e. Tom Brady), but we always appreciated Bledsoe and that he gave us his best—even if it drove us nuts how long he’d hold the ball. We wished him success with his new teams—just not when he played the Patriots. Sort of an “it’s not you, it’s me” breakup.


GLOBE STAFF/JOHN BOHN


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Carlton Fisk

Carlton Fisk



Carlton Fisk came so close to glory in 1975, and fans wanted a World Series win as much for them as for him and all the other Boston greats who missed the top prize since the last time in 1918. But it wasn’t to be. And after a 1971 to 1980 run with Boston, he left to be a great catcher somewhere else. An “it is what it is” breakup.


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7-26-98:Boston:Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra is almost as well known for his systematic ways of doing things on the baseball field as he is for his prowess with the bat or his glove. Here he adjusts his batting gloves between pitches, something he does every at bat.

Nomar Garciaparra



The Nomar Garciaparra breakup is still pretty fresh. You know the story: general manager Theo Epstein trades a once beloved homegrown batting champion and the Red Sox go on to win their first championship in 86 years. A “we’re-better-off-without-you” break up.


Jim Davis/Globe Staff


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print scan for Projects/ 6/10/1974 Globe staff file Frank O'Brien. Red Sox Vs A's Red Sox Luis Tiant with 6 hits and 7 strike outs pitches to Joe Rudi who flyes to center. nytredsox

Luis Tiant



Luis Tiant played for the Red Sox from 1971 to 1978, and we got to know the Cuban righthander as a workhorse and a warrior. Did he have to go to the Yankees when his Boston tour was up? Even that is excusable for someone known affectionately as El Tiante as he’s reunited with the Fenway Family. A we’re still friends breakup.


Frank O'Brien/Globe Staff


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10/11/98 Globe staff Jim Davis story/ sports Patriots Vs kansas City Chiefs. Patriots Ben Coates. TotalPats TotalPats08

Ben Coates



Ben Coates’ 1991 to 1999 tenure included one shot at a championship. But he was released by the Patriots in 1999. The tight end had the last laugh, though, winning a Super Bowl with the Ravens. He got there a year before New England did. Ultimately, a win-win breakup.


10/11/98 Globe staff Jim Davis story/ sports Patriots Vs kansas City Chiefs. Patriots Ben Coates. TotalPats TotalPats08


Jim Davis/Globe Staff


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Boston, MA 05/03/2007: Manny Ramirez won a wild one for the Red Sox tonight with a bottom of the eighth inning solo home run, his second round tripper of the night, as Boston defeated the Mariners 8-7 at Fenway Park.Here he raises his arms in triumph as the crowd goes wild in the backround as the ball sails out of the park. Jim Davis/Globe Staff) section:sports slug:sox04 SOXWS07 Library Tag 11042007 Sports - 2007 World Champions - Special Commemorative Section

Manny Ramirez was one wacky (and possibly synthetically enhanced) dude for the Red Sox from 2001 to 2008. But could they have broken The Curse without the slugger? At the end, it was time to part ways as he was sent to the Dodgers—a place that has become a Boston dumping ground for problem stars. That was clear. A very necessary breakup—but thanks for the trophies.


Jim Davis/Globe Staff


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OPS photo by dan goshtigian bobby orr heads for the net

Bobby Orr



It’s too bad one of the best hockey players in NHL history couldn’t have ended his career in Boston. But it wasn’t to be. Contract questions and an injured knee complicated things. And so the star, who spent 1966 to 1976 in Boston and brought the city the Stanley Cup in 1970, was gone to wind down his career in Chicago. There aren’t many breakups that end in a statue, but Orr earned that and more.


OPS photo by dan goshtigian bobby orr heads for the net


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ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND JAN. 17-18--This is an April 1994 file photo showing former Boston Celtic Robert Parish waving to the crowd at the Boston Garden in Boston, during one of his last games as a Celtic. Parish will have his well-known jersey number-00 retired in ceremonies in Boston at the FleetCenter, Sunday, Jan. 18, 1998. (AP Photo/Jon Chase,File) library tag 12081999 sports Library Tag 09052003 Sports

Robert Parish



The ideal scenario would have been for Robert Parish, who played for the Celtics from 1980 to 1994, to retire as a Celtic like his legendary partners Larry Bird and Kevin McHale did. But sometimes the ideal doesn’t work out, as Parish finished his career in Charlotte and Chicago. Not so much a breakup as a moving on. And the Celtics were happy to retire this Hall of Famer’s jersey.


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Bg Store/ print scan**OPS** Globe staff Joanne Rathe 4/30/1986. Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens holds a ball that was in his world record of 20 strike outs during last night's game. Photographed during press conference Wednesday at Fenway Park. SportsBookSox / bw

Roger Clemens



Has there been a worse breakup of a longtime star and Boston than how the Red Sox and Roger Clemens parted ways? The Rocket played for the Red Sox from 1984 to 1996, but you know how it ended. Not good stuff. Not then. Not now. A “take your Cy Youngs and Yankee championships and shove it” breakup.


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