On Tony C, Mookie and rival matters
Today’s column is one of those hittingto-all-fields specials, beginning with an incident that took place Thursday night at Fenway Park when a photo of the late Tony Conigliaro was used as part of an out-of-order sign that was attached to an elevator.
As I suspected when I saw the sign and tweeted about it, it was a rogue action by an employee who simply didn’t know that the photo — from the famous Sports Illustrated cover showing the Sox slugger’s horribly bruised left eye in the aftermath of his 1967 beaning — is symbolic of one of the saddest moments in Boston sports history.
From what I’ve been told, the Red Sox did not fire the employee. Nor should they have.
This reminds me of an incident a few years back at San Diego’s Petco Park, when the local Gay Men’s Chorus was invited to sing the national anthem prior to a Padres game. For optimum sound quality, the group was instructed to record the anthem earlier in the day, after which they were to lip-sync it. But then somebody used the wrong version of the national anthem, which was followed by outrage and calls for firings.
Instead, former Red Sox exec Mike Dee, who was running the Padres at the time, issued a team apology and then worked to make things right with the chorus. The employee was not fired.
So, no, firings are not in order here. But it’s sad that the Tony C story has dissolved into a mostly forgotten chapter in Red Sox history, to the degree that most people under the age of 60 don’t know that Conig, a North Shore native, was on his way to becoming one of the game’s greatest home run hitters until he took that Jack Hamilton pitch off the face in August of ’67.
On that same night, Mookie Betts hit his 13-pitch grand slam, followed by a magnificent celebration by the Red Sox MVP up the first-base line. So let me say this for the one millionth time: Baseball needs more of these celebrations, not less. As former Sox infielder Lou Merloni likes to say, “We’re not robots.” So let’s celebrate the athletes as humans and let them act like humans.
The most moving aspect of taking part in the Herald’s four-part series on ALS was witnessing the unflinching support that family members provide when a loved one has been afflicted with this terrible disease. More than that, though, is their commitment to making life around the house as “normal” as possible.
It may seem like a small thing, but I can’t get it out of my head that during my interview with ALS patient John Welch last week, his daughter Mollie was in the other room, methodically assembling a shower curtain for the new handicap-accessible bathroom off the kitchen.
I’m sure there’s plenty of crying, plenty of hand-wringing and, yes, plenty of arguing and turmoil that takes place inside the homes of ALS patients. There’s also plenty of work to be done, and that’s when family members become heroes.
Baseball’s schedule-makers have done a splendid job with this year’s Red Sox-Yankees showdowns, meting out the meetings in small does right up to the last couple of weeks of September. And then . . . bang! If you’re a fan of the Red Sox, if you’re a fan of the Yankees, if you’re a fan of baseball, you should be happy with the manner in which all this is playing out. The two forever rivals happen to be very, very good at the same time, and if they stay that way deep into September, it’ll turn the last 10 days of the regular season into Must See Hardball TV.
The Sox and Yankees meet for three games at Yankee Stadium Sept. 18-20, then at Fenway for three games on Sept. 28-30 to close out the regular season. If the two teams remain in shouting distance of each other, those six games will determine first place in the American League East, with the loser headed for the one-and-done wild-card game.
It should always be this way. And the Red Sox and Yankees should never, under any circumstances, play each other in April — especially on Opening Day. Let the two teams be apart for a month or so to get their sea legs and forge their identities, and then throw them on the same field.
NHL Hall of Famer Ray Bourque and former Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield will be facing each other in the 25th annual Abbot Financial Management Oldtime Baseball Game, to be played at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 16, at St. Peter’s Field in North Cambridge. (Disclaimer: I am among the dozens of volunteers who organize the game.)
This year’s game is being played as a fundraiser for the American Heart Association in memory of longtime Herald sportswriter Steve Harris, who died in February. Steve was in attendance at the game from 200810 when his son Jack, a Merrimack College student at the time, was playing. Jack has been invited to play in the game this year, along with his brother Mat, currently playing hockey at RPI. Ray Bourque’s sons Ryan and Chris, both professional hockey players, will also be playing.
Ray will be wearing the uniform of the Boston Royal Giants, an independent Negro Leagues team from the 1930s. And in case you’re wondering, he’ll be wearing his original No. 7 — an oldtime uniform number for an oldtime baseball game.