As soon as Cam Booser landed in Boston, he could feel all the memories coming back.
“I wanted to deny it as much as I could but as soon as we got into the city I was like man I missed this place,” the former Red Sox left-hander said. “My girlfriend and I truly loved our time here, the city is great, the people were great, it’s hard not to admit we missed it. It’s a great spot.”
Booser, back at Fenway Park this weekend for the first time since the offseason trade that sent him to the Chicago White Sox, was one of the feel good stories of the 2024 Red Sox season. The longtime journeyman finally made his MLB debut at age 31 a year ago this week after overcoming every form of adversity you could imagine throughout his formative years.
He battled alcohol addiction along with numerous injuries, including a broken femur and broken vertebrae in high school, Tommy John surgery in college and a broken back suffered after he was hit by a car during his recovery from a torn labrum. He retired from baseball in 2017 and spent several years working as a carpenter before attempting a comeback.
Booser’s story was prominently featured as part of “The Clubhouse: A Year With The Red Sox,” the new Netflix documentary series that premiered earlier this month. Booser said he has not seen the show yet, but expressed gratitude for the opportunity to share his story.
“I’ve heard it’s phenomenal and I heard they did a great job. I’m trying to refrain until the offseason until I can, I just want to stay focused on the clubhouse in here,” Booser said. “I think the biggest takeaway is if anybody can watch that and relate in any way, I guess if it can help even one person then it was worth it.”
Booser followed up his emotional debut by posting a strong rookie season in the big leagues. He appeared in 43 games for the Red Sox, posting a 3.38 ERA with 43 strikeouts in 42.2 innings, and following the season he was honored as the recipient of the 2024 Tony Conigliaro Award, which recognizes a “Major Leaguer who has overcome adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination and courage.”
He was traded to the White Sox in exchange for a minor league pitching prospect in December, but Booser made Chicago’s Opening Day roster and has largely picked up where he left off. Entering this weekend’s series he had posted a 2.57 ERA with 10 strikeouts through his first seven appearances.
But while he’s generally tried to stay business as usual since joining his new team, Booser said he’ll always hold a special place in his heart for the Red Sox.
“At the end of the day I’m incredibly grateful that the Red Sox gave me an opportunity to make my dream come true,” Booser said. “When I was 30 years old coming out of indy ball they were really the only team that gave me an opportunity going into 2023. It’s no lie, you can look at the stats, at the start of ’23 I had an awful rough start, and they gave me opportunity after opportunity to figure it out.
“So I’ll always be grateful for them for giving me an opportunity, one, to stick with it, and two, to live out my big league dream,” he continued. “It was always my dream to debut here at Fenway in a Red Sox uniform so I’m incredibly grateful to them that I got to make that a reality.”
