Red Sox/MLB ROAD TRIP - Red Sox and Yankees heading to London in June 2019

[EverettMike]

@EverettMike - San Francisco Giants - 3 titles since 2010

Henry was an excellent owner 2002-2009 but since he got married there have been many missteps. The 2013 championship was fueled by 'Boston Strong' much like the Bruins run that same year that just fell short. What is also true is the complete transformation of the area around Fenway Park. FSG had a vision nobody else saw and they own much of the land being developed.

Henry bought the team in 02, right? Any team's success you'd take over the Sox since that day?

 

[EverettMike]

I think it is incredibly easy and fair to criticize Henry and the Sox for a number of things, and I think serious questions need to be asked about how the Globe is handling accusations of sexual harassment.

But the team under his ownership has always cared about and tried to win titles. I think we sometimes lose the forest in the trees when it comes to talking about his tenure.

 

[EverettMike]

Also if John Henry's wife was responsible for pushing Dr. Charles Steinberg out she's my f***ing hero. That guy sucked at his job.

 

[Fenway]

Henry bought the team in 02, right? Any team's success you'd take over the Sox since that day?

As I said San Francisco.

But 2008-2017 under Henry hasn't been that great with the exception of 2013, especially in October.

2013 is bittersweet as if the bombing of the marathon doesn't happen do they still win?

I also am thankful that Bud Selig rigged the bidding so the high bidder for the Sox didn't get the team. Jimmy Dolan would have been a disaster.

 

[EverettMike]

As I said San Francisco.

But 2008-2017 under Henry hasn't been that great with the exception of 2013, especially in October.

2013 is bittersweet as if the bombing of the marathon doesn't happen do they still win?

I also am thankful that Bud Selig rigged the bidding so the high bidder for the Sox didn't get the team. Jimmy Dolan would have been a disaster.

This will sound harsher than I mean it, but I think this is actual garbage.

Also, you keep pointing at the Giants for a five year stretch, but the Giants from 05 to 09 were subpar, mediocre teams. So even if you prefer them during this stretch, that's a pretty good compliment for the Sox, right? It took 3 titles in 5 years for someone to outdo Henry's entire body of work.

I don't know why people look at the Sox winning a World Series in 2013 and dismiss it like it doesn't count. Who ever would have thought we'd get to a point in time where people would look at a Red Sox World Series title and be like, "Yeah, but it doesn't really count."

 

[EverettMike]

Also, I can't believe I missed this. The Sox had the best team in baseball in '08 and lost in Game 7 of the ALCS. They win the whole thing if Beckett is healthy in October.

They won 95 games in 09.

And the last two years as much as they drove us nuts they won the AL East, and went into each season as serious contenders.

So no, 08-17 hasn't been a disaster. At all, by any measurement.

 

[Fenway]

@EverettMike Of course Henry wants to win as that keeps the cash cow humming.

I have often wondered how Joe O'Donnell would have been as an owner but John Harrington in one of his last moves made sure O'Donnell would not be the owner when he gave Aramark a long term concessions contract which froze Joe out. Joe and Werner both graduated from Harvard in 1971 but I don't know if they know each other well.

 

[KrejciMVP]

Regardless of their success and record, questions of misconduct need to be answered now. Attempts by the globe to cover it up creates more questions of these self appointed moral arbitrators

 

[EverettMike]

@EverettMike Of course Henry wants to win as that keeps the cash cow humming.

I have often wondered how Joe O'Donnell would have been as an owner but John Harrington in one of his last moves made sure O'Donnell would not be the owner when he gave Aramark a long term concessions contract which froze Joe out. Joe and Werner both graduated from Harvard in 1971 but I don't know if they know each other well.

Even as an Everett guy I'm also glad Joe O'Donnell did not get the team.

 

[BigGoalBrad]

This will sound harsher than I mean it, but I think this is actual garbage.

Also, you keep pointing at the Giants for a five year stretch, but the Giants from 05 to 09 were subpar, mediocre teams. So even if you prefer them during this stretch, that's a pretty good compliment for the Sox, right? It took 3 titles in 5 years for someone to outdo Henry's entire body of work.

I don't know why people look at the Sox winning a World Series in 2013 and dismiss it like it doesn't count. Who ever would have thought we'd get to a point in time where people would look at a Red Sox World Series title and be like, "Yeah, but it doesn't really count."

It counts. Its just that once a decade outlier team that won a WS. 9/10 years teams have to be really good to win it all. 2005 White Sox is who that team always reminded me of.

The current situation is hard to judge. They are fielding teams good enough to win a weak division but with no chance in the postseason. The older vets who should be leaders are horrible in that role. They spend but couldn't make the obvious Edwin to replace Ortiz signing.

We'll see if they can catch some breaks. They didn't go out to a shitty team at least the last 2 years the Astros and Indians were both better. With so many teams losing on purpose and happy to collect revenue sharing checks at the very worst we'll play in the WC game every year and FSG will have a packed park aside from a few cold nights in April.

 

[Ice Nine]

The best interpretation of Tom Yawkey's history of race with the Red Sox is "unfortunate." The team was the last to integrate, they passed on numerous African America megastars, and he let well-known bigot Joe Cronin run the organization during integration, and Cronin's bigotry was a factor in how he evaluated players.

So even if we somehow knew Tom Yawkey personally wasn't racist, as the owner he failed the organization and it will forever be a stain on the Red Sox as a result. It doesn't matter if it was because of economics or animosity or whatever, the Sox ****ed up under his watch. It reflects poorly on the team and the city.

That's why for some fans seeing him honored by both the team and the city with a street named after him isn't about him, it's a constant reminder of an indefensible time period in this city's history. I don't break down in tears or get angry, but it bothers me and has for awhile now. I didn't use to care at all, but the older I get and the more I hear from other people with dramatically different life experiences, the more I understand why that name carries so much baggage, and why that street being named for him can feel so unwelcoming.

If anything changing the street name isn't just about taking away an honor from him, it's a way to let some people stop only thinking about this one issue when they think of him. "Yawkey" at Fenway comes with a very unfortunate, indefensible race policy that did real damage, to real people and to the team's standing. "Yawkey" at a hospital is about saving lives. I would bet more people think about him negatively when they see "Yawkey Way" than they would normally.

It's a small thing, but it will carry a lot of meaning for fans who feel like the Red Sox have never stopped ignoring an ugly time in the team's history.

Tom Yawkey and his memory isn't going anywhere any time soon. But it will be nice not to think about him when I walk into Fenway.

Great post, Mike.

I hate when issues like this seem to regress into caricatures -- "only snowflakes with constantly hurt feelings would want this!" "only racists would keep the name!"

To me, these things aren't about being politically correct, but extending an measure of respect and civility towards others in society -- people with different perspectives and experience, in this case minorities that have faced injustice and strife including in baseball. It's about adults understanding differences, and different experience, and making olive-branch gestures in recognition of it. This isn't a big deal -- just a name change. But I think when we do little things, to respect each or to recognize historical wrongs (done by our baseball club in a darker part of its history), we're all better for it.

 

[Top Shelf Wrister]

Who ever would have thought we'd get to a point in time where people would look at a Red Sox World Series title and be like, "Yeah, but it doesn't really count."

For real, Im still pep talking Foulke to just get the last three outs

 

[EverettMike]

For real, Im still pep talking Foulke to just get the last three outs

Even knowing the outcome it's almost impossible to watch Wakefield pitching in extra innings in game 5 against the Yankees without dying.

 

[Seidenbergy]

The current situation is hard to judge. They are fielding teams good enough to win a weak division but with no chance in the postseason. The older vets who should be leaders are horrible in that role. They spend but couldn't make the obvious Edwin to replace Ortiz signing.

They clearly could've done that, but the luxury tax reset was more important. It was the right call to not bring him in.

 

[bp13]

Even knowing the outcome it's almost impossible to watch Wakefield pitching in extra innings in game 5 against the Yankees without dying.

I've witnessed the birth of my 3 children and been through a number of other stressful situations like any person, but I've never been more nervous than I was in the bleachers during Game 5. What made it so remarkable was that every other person was as anxious and so it felt like a 35,000 seat movie theater during that point in a horror movie where the camp girl goes into the unlit cabin or goes walking through the woods by herself. Literally everyone holding their breath every pitch for hours. The most mentally exhausting night of my life by a mile.

And yes as I just typed that I realized how ridiculous it reads but it's true dammit.

 

[Fenway]

RED SOX MEDIA GUIDE - Click to download

 

[Seidenbergy]

Given some of the other tone deaf moves they've made recently, part of me is shocked that they didn't put Price on the cover of the media guide.

 

[Donnie Shulzhoffer]

Given some of the other tone deaf moves they've made recently, part of me is shocked that they didn't put Price on the cover of the media guide.

or Astro

 

[BiggioRainesHOF]

Even knowing the outcome it's almost impossible to watch Wakefield pitching in extra innings in game 5 against the Yankees without dying.

I can't imagine how Sox fans felt, but I had already seen my favorite team win 4 World Series in my lifetime, and those back to back ALCS's nearly killed me. I hope it never happens again. The ALCS is fun. The ALCS against Boston is not.

 

[EverettMike]

I can't imagine how Sox fans felt, but I had already seen my favorite team win 4 World Series in my lifetime, and those back to back ALCS's nearly killed me. I hope it never happens again. The ALCS is fun. The ALCS against Boston is not.

I was too sick to attend the parade. Almost every night for about ten days I had no more than four hours of sleep a night. I was a mess. I collapsed at the end of Game 6, and when Damon hit the grand slam.

 

[Fenway]

The Herald's Joe Fitzgerald goes after John Henry

Fitzgerald: John Henry’s common sense is way off base

Despite the clobbering he received from Boston natives when he first floated the odious idea of removing Tom Yawkey’s name from the street that houses Fenway Park, current Red Sox owner John Henry is at it again, determined we should forget the memory and legacy of that philanthropist who spoiled and loved the team for the 44 years he owned it.

To hear Henry tell it, Yawkey was one step short of burning a cross in the outfield, a vile man who harbored hatred in his heart.

 

[Fenway]

I was too sick to attend the parade. Almost every night for about ten days I had no more than four hours of sleep a night. I was a mess. I collapsed at the end of Game 6, and when Damon hit the grand slam.

I know what you mean about those 10 days.....the World Series is a blur to me but I can recall every pitch of that ALCS.

The Sunday morning after the 19-8 debacle I was in a rage and then I heard 'Angry Bill' call in and just lost it. ( Does Angry Bill still call in? )

What also can't be forgotten is Joe West and his crew got every call right.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

I know what you mean about those 10 days.....the World Series is a blur to me but I can recall every pitch of that ALCS.

The Sunday morning after the 19-8 debacle I was in a rage and then I heard 'Angry Bill' call in and just lost it. ( Does Angry Bill still call in? )

What also can't be forgotten is Joe West and his crew got every call right.

I was at that 19-8 game.

In the bleachers men's room, everyone was bitchin' & moanin'. One guy yells out, "hey its not over yet!". Many bad things were said to him.

It must have been Jesus.

 

[Fenway]

He was the losing pitcher for NYY in Game 5 of the 2004 ALCS

Esteban Loaiza, former Yankee, faces federal drug charge in court

SAN DIEGO — Former All-Star pitcher Esteban Loaiza is facing a federal charge that he possessed cocaine intended for sale.
Loaiza's drug case was moved Wednesday from state to federal court. He pleaded not guilty to the earlier charges and remains jailed.

Authorities say about 44 pounds of cocaine were found in a minivan parked in the garage of Loaiza's leased townhome last month after investigators stopped his Mercedes SUV and discovered a hidden compartment.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Koji Uehara returning to Japanese league----Yominuri Giants/ wearing #11