Comments on: Smoking Gun: Red Sox Owner Was Blatant Racist

By: SoxFTW

SoxFTW — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:02:43 +0000

It’s funny that 23% of your readers chose “give him a break, it was as different time”, which is subscribing to the idea of cultural relativism. I guarantee you that the vast majority of those who chose that answer are conservatives. Aren’t they the ones that rail against cultural relativism? LOL! What a bunch of hypocrites. And as a Sox fan, I can say that this is the worst stain on our team. Luckily the Yawkey’s, who were incompetent, are on their way to being forgotten.

By: Jay

Jay — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:37:59 +0000

Yawkey may have been racist but the quote used in this story does not prove him a racist. Making the accussation of racism based on this quote amounts to slander. The way I interpret it, in Yawkey’s and his scouts opinion, there were not any black players that they scouted who could play better than what they already had. He was not an equal opportunity employer. So what. In those days very few were. It took boldness and vision to break that trend. And few people are visonaries. It’s blatant arrogance to make disparaging accusations against people who lived in a world much different than what we live. I can assure you that many of those making the accusations today would have been no different themselves if they lived in that day and time. People behave according to the customs of their day. That’s a fact of life.

By: looker

looker — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:05:25 +0000

“Actually, we scouted them right along, but we didn’t want one because he was a Negro. We wanted a ballplayer.”

Ah, the written word, as opposed to the spoken word.

Just maybe, Yawkey meant he wasn’t going to hire a guy just BECAUSE he was a ‘negro’ but that he wanted a guy who could play ball and (unsaid in words, but implied by tone) it wouldn’t necessarily matter what his color was if he could play ball.

Not saying that’s the way the conversation went, but you can certainly say the same words Yawkey said, and with the right tone/inflection/emphasis, you come out with a different meaning than the written word gives you.

Think of Benny Hill’s characteristic line - “What is this thing called Love?” which he always read as “What is this thing called, love”.

I know diddly about Yawkey, just playing devil’s advocate, but it’s a bit much to measure a man solely based on two sentences jotted down by someone else for posterity.

By: BigMck

BigMck — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:00:44 +0000

Why the hell would this blog care about old news? Everyone who follows the Red Sox knows the deal with Yawkey.

As for that first comment by BostonSTP - he’s clearly the most ignorant person I’ve ever come across.

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:51:16 +0000

So are you trying to stir up controversy over an article that was published 44 years ago? Is there nothing of interest today?

By: PJ in Pearland

PJ in Pearland — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:32:19 +0000

slow day huh…

By: basketball jesus

basketball jesus — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:31:20 +0000

old old old old old old news…why bother, my god we all know yawkey was a dbag

By: Leon

Leon — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:25:18 +0000

This whole thing smacks of… who cares. Was a long-dead man racist… nope, don’t care.

By: Roy

Roy — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:45:38 +0000

You have to keep this in mind.

The Boston Bruins had their first black player, the first black player in the NHL Willie O’Ree, playing in 1958.

The Boston Red Sox was the last MLB team to put a black player on the field, Pumpsie Green, in 1959.

That’s right, the NHL brought a black player into its league before the Red Sox did.

By: wretched soul

wretched soul — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:08:23 +0000

Preston kept Halas and Rooney in line. Yep, blacks were excluded from the NFL from 1934-45…

George Halas defended this by saying “The game didn’t have the appeal to black players at the time.”

Preston held out until *1962,* only relenting after being threatened by the government to have stadiium lease not renewed..