Tom Yawkey's racism is well known at this point in the 21st Century. It is no secret the Red Sox were the last team in Major League Baseball to sign a black player. But the issue came to mind again recently when Malcolm Gladwell mentioned the subject on Grantland.com. He states:
"The Boston Red Sox signed their first black player in 1959, a utility infielder named "Pumpsie" Green. This was 12 years after the Brooklyn Dodgers broke the color line with Jackie Robinson...It wasn't until 1965, in fact — 18 years after Robinson started at second base for the Dodgers — that Boston had its first full-time black player. Why? The simple answer — that the Red Sox owner at the time, Tom Yawkey, was a racist — is not terribly satisfying…There was a lot of money to be made by raiding the Negro Leagues in the 1940s. The talent pool was extraordinary: Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, and Willie Mays, among others. The Sox were well aware of this. They tried out Mays and Robinson — both of whom they could have used in the lean years of the 1950s, when the team was known as "Ted Williams and the Seven Dwarfs."
These charges are completely founded, researched thoroughly, and posited by an extremely intelligent and talented, best-selling author. Many people feel the way Gladwell does. In other words--this story is now part of the accepted public record. He goes on to say:
"In a recent academic paper, the economist Jonathan Lanning has also shown that almost without exception integration in the 1940s and 1950s had an immediate and significant positive impact on a team's attendance — even in cities where you might not think the fan base would be enthusiastic. Lanning calculates, in fact, that almost no team in baseball had as much to gain financially from bringing in black players as the Red Sox, particularly since they were losing money in the 1940s. Yawkey's bigotry left millions of dollars on the table. Yawkey was not just a racist, in other words. He was a racist who put his hatred of black people ahead of his desire to make money. Economists have a special term they use to describe this kind of attitude. They would say that Yawkey owned the Red Sox not to maximize his financial benefits, but, rather, his psychic benefits. Psychic benefits describe the pleasure that someone gets from owning something — over and above economic returns — and clearly some part of the pleasure Yawkey got from the Red Sox came from not having to look at black people when he walked through the Fenway Park dugout."
Gladwell's point, that Yawkey's hatred was so extreme that he didn't sign Negro League players at the expense of his own wallet, was leading into a story about the NBA lockout. But it also illustrates not only how bigoted Mr. Yawkey was, but also how his attitude permeated the whole club. While a good portion of the people who worked for the Red Sox at the time were likely not racist, it must have been tough to be in an environment such as that. Racism begets racism, especially when it comes from the top down.
The question on the table here is: why is there still a street running alongside Fenway Park named Yawkey Way? It's an affront to civil rights in America. The former owner's name needs to be removed from anything to do with the current club. I realize his wife, Jean, was an amazing philanthropist, working charitable wonders for the city of Boston. I also know that this is a very provincial town, and is a place full of people who like their traditions. So Yawkey Way probably isn't going anywhere anytime soon. But, as a compromise, shouldn't the name at least be changed to Jean Yawkey Way, to remove any and all racist connotations?
The Red Sox can't erase their racist past, and this is by no means an attempt to cover that up. But I feel that a misanthrope such as Tom Yawkey should not continue to be honored in the 21st century, and the city should step in and do something about it.
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UPDATE:
I recently stumbled across this story, which comments on the John Henry ownership group's handling of the situation. Here's an excerpt from Delores Handy's article, posted on Blackstonian.com:
"Dennis Wilson, who was born and raised in Roxbury, taught history for 30 years and still coaches sports teams at Madison Park High School. He also hosted a sports show for Boston cable TV. 'There’s many African-Americans who love baseball, who love baseball, who played baseball, who know baseball, and they would the attend the games and they were really hostilely treated,' Wilson said. 'A lot of racism took place, a lot of name-calling and trash-throwing at individuals. It was really a scary and uncomfortable and dangerous situation.'
Wilson has seen a change in the past 10 years with the new ownership.
'Over the years, thank goodness, things have gotten much better with the likes of owner John Henry, Larry Lucchino and Tom Werner,' Wilson said. 'They now have changed the atmosphere, where now people of color feel a lot more comfortable going to games. I know I’ve gone to games and the atmosphere has changed drastically. They’re not staring at us like we have four heads and six eyes and that we’re aliens, or anything.'"
As you can see, to the Red Sox credit, they have made a concerted effort to change the atmosphere of Yawkey Way. Nearly a decade ago, I remember speaking to a group of young black college students, all of whom were sporting Yankees caps. Of course, with my over obsession with baseball, I asked them where they were from, hoping to start a debate. To my surprise they replied they were all from Boston. Naively, I was sort of shocked that I would find a group of kids that grew up in Massachusetts that were Yankees fans (and they were fans--they weren't wearing the hats simply because they were cool or liked they way they looked).
Naturally, I asked them why. I basically got the same response that coach Wilson gave above--they were looked at like they had "four heads and six eyes and [were] aliens." The atmosphere was entirely too hostile to spend three hours in, nevermind to then turn around and root for a team that was essentially condoning all of this through inaction. I was so disheartened by this, I really didn't know what to say afterwards. Couldn't argue with that. I felt like an idiot. Clearly, this conversation has stuck with me for over ten years now, and I've always wondered since, if anything had changed.
Well, it looks like things are starting to, and it's nice to see that someone's at least making an effort. Hopefully, things continue to improve (and don't regress).
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