OFFENDING SIGNS of the past have now been removed. Baseball fans are safe from reminders about the troubling history of our hometown team and the mixed legacy of one of the franchise’s dominant personalities. The brouhaha over the Boston Public Improvement Commission’s decision to return Yawkey Way to its original name of Jersey Street has died down. And […]
Boston Red Sox
Posted inThe Back Story
Yawkey Way debate wasn’t really a debate
THE LONG and impassioned debate this spring over whether to change the name of Yawkey Way was largely an exercise in futility. Some of those participating in the four crowded hearings in March and April before Boston’s Public Improvement Commission were aware their arguments had no impact on the final decision, but a fair number […]
Posted inArts and Culture
A missing pair of Sox
AMID ALL THE FUROR over changing the name of Yawkey Way to Jersey Street because of the alleged racist attitudes of the late Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey, the team has quietly removed plaques at an entrance to Fenway Park honoring the longtime owner as well as that of former general manager Eddie Collins, who […]
Posted inGambling
Making book on Beacon Hill
MONDAY’S RULING FROM the U.S. Supreme Court that states are free to legalize sports betting opened the door to the possibility of a further expansion of gaming in Massachusetts, a topic Gov. Charlie Baker is planning to talk about with legislative leaders Monday afternoon. The decision in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, which the […]
Posted inPolitics
City stalls on Yawkey name change
A STANDING-ROOM ONLY crowd, including reclusive former Red Sox CEO John Harrington making an emotional plea to retain the street’s moniker, left disappointed after a Boston commission charged with overseeing the city’s public ways unexpectedly delayed a controversial vote to rename Yawkey Way on Thursday. The city’s Public Improvement Commission, which had been slated to […]
Posted inThe Download
The Yawkey divide
The battle over renaming Yawkey Way continues, with the Boston Globe, owned by Red Sox owner John Henry, taking all sides of the fight. Was Tom Yawkey a racist? Yes, says Adrian Walker, and that’s why renaming the street matters. Was he a misunderstood product of his times, someone who did far more philanthropic good than […]
Posted inThe Download
What’s in a name?
The long debate over the name of the street running alongside Fenway Park’s third base foul line may finally come to a close this month. But it won’t settle the complicated question of how to treat ignoble history, and the distinction between acknowledging it and revering it. The Boston Red Sox have finally made good […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
A shameful record
The renowned sports philosopher Duane Charles Parcells has often noted that no matter what image one might project on the outside, people cannot escape the reality of their true being. “You are what your record says you are,” the old ball coach has repeatedly said in an observation that is as applicable off the field […]
Posted inThe Download
A lapse in news judgment
Last Friday, the Boston Globe posted a stop-you-in-your-tracks story online about Comcast Sportsnet reporter Jessica Moran resigning amid questions about her relationship with Red Sox manager John Farrell. It was fascinating in many respects, not the least of which is both the Globe and the Red Sox are owned by John Henry, adding a level of […]