BOSTON — They were remembered more as the team that lost the World Series than the team that got there.

“People say we underachieved,” said Wade Boggs, the third baseman for that 1986 Boston Red Sox team.

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“Underachieved? When you go out and are picked to finish fifth and win the American League championship, and go to the World Series and push it to Game 7 – and the ’86 World Series is voted one of the greatest World Series of all time – I don’t think we were underachievers at all.”

The ’86 Red Sox were recognized before Wednesday night’s game at Fenway Park, with almost 30 former players in attendance.

And as if to complete this reconciliation tour, Boggs will have his No. 26 retired Thursday night at Fenway.

“Words can’t express how I feel right now,” Boggs said. “It’s over.”

Over?

“I don’t have to think about it anymore,” Boggs said.

Boggs has thought about it a lot, ever since he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005 – wearing a Red Sox cap. But he waited for years to hear about his number being retired.

The Red Sox never called.

True, Boggs didn’t finish his career with Boston. But neither did Carlton Fisk (inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000, with his number retired the same year).

Boggs watched Jim Rice (2009) and Pedro Martinez (2015) have their numbers retired the same year as their Hall of Fame inductions.

In interviews in previous years, Boggs had admitted bitterness to the slight. But on Wednesday, his tone was softer.

“I hoped this day would come,” he said. “It’s not a given.”

Boggs even mentioned that Ted Williams – Boggs’ idol – stopped playing in 1960 but didn’t have his number retired until 1984.

“It took Ted 24 years,” Boggs said. “When I left Boston in ’92, how many years is that (until now)? Ted and I are bonded. It took 24 years for both of us.”

That’s a nice narrative, although the fact is Boston did not begin formally retiring numbers until 1984.

Williams’ No. 9 and Joe Cronin’s No. 4 were the first, in a ceremony held May 29 of that year.

The exclusion of Boggs had been mystifying. The belief most commonly held was Boggs entered Boston’s doghouse when he left the Red Sox for the rival Yankees after the 1992 season.

Worse for Boston fans was watching Boggs celebrate New York’s 1996 World Series title, holding up an index finger while riding on a police horse.

Was Boggs being excluded by Boston for playing and (worse) winning with the Yankees? That conspiracy theory is somewhat supported by the coincidence of Boggs’ number being retired soon after Larry Lucchino – a vocal critic of the Yankees – stepped down as Red Sox president.

Regardless, the Red Sox are finally making good on recognizing one of the greatest hitters to play the game.

Boggs’ .328 career batting average not only ranks 33rd all time, his .415 on-base percentage ranks 24th.

But back in the 1980s and 90s, on-base percentage (OBP) simply wasn’t celebrated like it is today.

“I was Billy Ball before Billy Ball,” Boggs said, referring to Oakland General Manager Billy Beane’s famed fascination with OBP that spread throughout the game.

Boggs’ numbers can’t be denied. Neither can the accomplishments of some of the teams he played for, including those ’86 Red Sox, even though they lost the World Series to the New York Mets and continued Boston’s championship drought that began after the 1918 World Series victory.

“It was a heartbreak,” Boggs said. “Everyone kept saying 1918, 1918, 1918. We were tired of hearing that. We were on the brink.”

But the Mets prevailed. Boston fans never seemed to recover until the Red Sox finally captured a championship in 2004.

“Thank God for 2004,” Boggs said. “That got the big giant gorilla off our backs.”

That year was certainly big, as was the next for Boggs, with his induction to Cooperstown.

Now, after a mystifying long wait, he is getting his final due at Fenway.

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