Red Sox Want To Rename Yawkey Way

FENWAY, MA — A Red Sox organization with a checkered racial past which includes high-profile instances as recently as this year is going to lead a long-called upon effort to pivot away from some of the that history.

Red Sox principal owner John Henry has told The Boston Herald he wants to rename Yawkey Way. Fenway Park itself is located at 4 Yawkey Way. The public road is named after the Hall of Fame former owner Tom Yawkey, whose own racist legacy is something Henry is "haunted" by.

Henry believes the time is right to further broach the conversation on race. Officials around the country are considering taking down Confederate memorials and statues after last weekend's violence in Charlottesville. Henry said his ownership group would favor leading the charge for change, "particularly in light of the country’s current leadership stance with regard to intolerance."

"I discussed this a number of times with the previous mayoral administration and they did not want to open what they saw as a can of worms," Henry, who also owns The Boston Globe, told the Herald in an email.

Yawkey owned the Red Sox from 1933 to 1976, building a complicated legacy during the longest ownership stretch of any team in baseball history. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980, four years after he died of leukemia.

On his watch, the Red Sox became the last team to integrate black players onto a Major League roster. Pumpsie Green debuted with Boston 12 years after Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier with the Dodgers.

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Nearly 60 years after Green donned a Red Sox uniform, the racial history of the Red Sox was at the forefront once again.

Orioles centerfielder Adam Jones said after a May game this year that he was called a racial epithet at Fenway Park, sparking a pointed conversation about race in Boston sports. Jones said he was "called the 'N' word a handful of times" by fans and had a bag of peanuts thrown at him in the Fenway Park outfield.

The next night, shortly after the anthem, Jones was given a standing ovation as he stepped to the plate in the first inning.

The Red Sox banned a fan for life who allegedly used a racial epithet in regards to a black singer's rendition of that night's national anthem.

Red Sox pitcher David Price indicated he was the victim of racial abuse while in the bullpen last season. Yankees pitcher C.C. Sabathia told reporters after the Jones incident that the only place in his career he had been called the N-word was Fenway Park.

Yawkey Way runs along Fenway Park. It's an extension of Jersey Street, renamed in honor of the former owner in 1977. The Red Sox reached a deal with the City of Boston in 2013 that allows the team to close Yawkey Way and sell concessions. Fans can leave the park and mosey around Yawkey Way before returning to the game.

But Yawkey Way still belongs to the City, and that's where the decision resides. Henry told the Herald he would rename it 'David Ortiz Way' or 'Big Papi Way' after the legendary slugger who retired last year.

Henry indicated he didn't want to change the name of The Yawkey Foundation. That foundation, enriched by the current Sox ownership group's $700 million purchase in 2001, has provided hundreds of millions of dollars to those in need around New England and Georgetown, S.C.

You can read the full Herald story here.

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Photo by Bernard Gagnon via Flickr