A season of discontent
Yankees vs. Red Sox at an empty Fenway Park a reminder of what was lost in 2020 sports
BOSTON — There are moments it really hits hard.
Now, over 50 games into this season, the crowd sound they pump into the ballparks is barely noticeable, a sports version of white noise. The empty seats, shocking back in July, are now just a common backdrop.
But then the Yankees come into Fenway Park and the magnitude of what is missing hits all over again.
Walking the empty streets around Fenway in the hours before Friday night’s series opener, the Yankees’ first and only trip to Boston in this coronavirus pandemic-shortened season, was sad. Doors left open in the cold, autumn air to an empty store overflowing with Red Sox jerseys, hats and T-shirts. A bartender stood alone in front of a neon “Baseball” sign, looking up and out the open door at the random person who walked by.
Once inside, it was another gut punch of a reminder about the 2020 season.
“I thought about that earlier when we went off for batting practice. Usually, you hear the gates open and the fans start coming in for batting practice,” Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner said. “Just now I came off the field and it was still pretty quiet out there.”
“So it’s going to be just as quiet once the game starts, no different than anywhere else we’ve been. But obviously it’s a special place to play. I’ve always enjoyed playing here.
“One of the things that makes this place so special is their fans and the passion that they have for the game and the atmosphere they create on a nightly basis, very similar to our fans in the Bronx. So we’ll miss that this weekend, but hopefully soon we’ll be playing in front of fans again.”
Commissioner Rob Manfred has hinted that he hopes they could open the playoff games, played in protective pods at San Diego, Los Angeles, Houston and Arlington, Texas, with some fans. That misses the point that Gardner and players have made over and over again.
With the Yankees likely headed to San Diego, and then they hope to Arlington, where the World Series will be played at the new Globe Life Field, that puts their loyal fans — the regular fans who cram the bleachers and make the Bronx one of the places teams least like to play — at a distinct disadvantage.
They would have to pay for travel to go see their team play during a pandemic that has killed over 198,000 Americans and caused the biggest economic downturn since The Great Depression.
Friday night, the stands in Fenway would have been loud and rowdy when the Red Sox took a 4-0 lead and probably just as loud when Gary Sanchez tied it up in the ninth inning. There would have been an uproar when J.D. Martinez struck out with the game on the line and an outcry when DJ LeMahieu pushed home the winning run in the top of the 12th.
Instead, there was silence and then the hoots and hollering from the Yankees as they celebrated on the way to their clubhouse echoing through the ancient ballpark.
Fenway was built before the 1918 Spanish flu struck this country. It survived The Great Depression.
It has seen over a century of Yankees-Red Sox games and will see more going forward. Friday, however, what has been missing this season was obvious.
“Anytime you’re playing the Red Sox there’s a reverence for that rivalry and respect for that uniform, and you want to go out and beat them, but it’s different without the fan bases,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who has his own place in the history of this rivalry.
“These are the games, whether it was back in New York or here in Boston, between these two, this rivalry and these fan bases, this is where you notice it a little bit more, and that part of it kind of stinks.
“That said, it doesn’t take away from where we are in our season how important these games are.”