I heard comments from… hell… if I remember, I think it was a Nets coach or somebody who used to be linked to the Lakers. Anyways, the coach pretty much said that Boston was one of the worst places for him due to various hostile reactions from the Boston fans.
With all that, I am reminded of another aspect of Boston’s great tolerance. The Red Sox.
Let’s face the fact, I don’t like the Yankees. In fact, I hate the Yankees, but that isn’t the point I will make.
Alot of people prefer the Red Sox over the Yankees.
But how come?
Let me tell you why…
because New York is a big bad monster that beats up on Boston.
Haven’t you heard of the “Curse of Babe Ruth”?
Let’s face the facts Baseball fans, the reason why the Red Sox had such a huge drought was simple.
It’s the “Curse of Tom Yawkey not letting any black players onto the team”. I’m not gonna go out and say that Yawkey was a racist or anything, but if he really truely wasn’t, then he was a very shitty owner when it came to getting some players. (Granted, they went to the Series in 46 and 67.)
For you historians, you know this. The Red Sox were the last team to intregrate, in 1959. That’s right, it took them 12 fucking years to let ONE Black player onto their team.
I will ignore the Red Sox try outs for Jackie Robinson, because lets face it, there was no way in hell that would have gone anywhere at all.
But, one of the biggest lapses of Red Sox judgement. They turned down Willie Mays.
Since, you know, Willie wouldn’t turn out to be jack, ya know.
Short story: Mays played for the Black Barons, and the recomendation was that the Sox would sign him for 5,000. But, that didn’t work. No thanks to Tom Yawkey.
Yawkey kept Pinky Higgins in as his manager, Pinky is quoted as saying “There’ll be no niggers on this ball club as long as I have anything to say about it”. Sure, Higgins got to manage Pumpsie Green, but it did help Green that Higgins was fired in the middle of 1959 (and re-hired in June 1960).
Some other links detailing more of this:
http://www.boston.com/globe/specialreports/1997/mar/robinson/race.htm
http://sundaygazettemail.com/news/Books/200210318/
http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/top/features/documents/02048775.htm
Basically, since all that, the Red Sox have have very very few black players. By my count, the Red Sox have FOUR Black players right now. Three of them are from the Dominican Republic (Pedro, Manny and David Ortiz).
Something tells me that even with John Henry as the owner, the Red Sox will not taste glory for a long time.
In conclusion, one can hate the Yankees for whatever reason, be it money, or success, or the hype they recieve. But one should pity the Red Sox, for what they could have accomplished but never did.
[/rant off]