Prominent Red Sox fan’s call for action
William B. Gould IV, Stanford Law School professor emeritus and former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, became a Red Sox fan in 1946 at age 10.
It was a year before Jackie Robinson arrived in the big leagues and 13 years before the Red Sox became the last team to integrate.
Gould, 80, who is African American, stuck with his Red Sox during lousy times, including all the lean years and all the problems related to discrimination, and reveled in their three championships beginning in 2004.
Saddened when hearing about the Adam Jones incident at Fenway Park on Monday, Gould sent a letter to Dave Dombrowski, president of the Red Sox, and cc’d Commissioner Rob Manfred, saying the Red Sox and Major League Baseball “need to think seriously about more serious sanctions for those who engage in racist misconduct at any ballpark.”
MLB would be wise to take the advice.
Gould wrote that he’s “concerned and angered by what happened” to Jones, the Orioles’ outfielder who said that a racial epithet was directed at him a handful of times and that a bag of peanuts was thrown at him.
Gould cited a 2005 incident at Fenway in which beer was dumped on Gary Sheffield by a fan who was banned by the Red Sox the rest of the season. That fan deserved a greater penalty, and so would any fan directing racial slurs at players.
I asked Gould, who as the NLRB chairman played a big role in ending baseball’s 1994-95 player strike, what type of sanctions he’d like to see.
“I would want all clubs to post a code of conduct stating that each requires a harassment-free environment, meaning no racially abusive or profane language — they purport to do the latter already — reserving to the club the right to pursue violators in both criminal or civil court.
“This should be set forth on the scoreboard and through loudspeaker announcements, as well as on the ticket stub itself — juxtaposed to the language which purports to address the clubs’ own liability.”
Gould reiterated his feelings Saturday at a sports law symposium at Stanford. He has written on baseball’s race issues in the Boston Globe and was critical of the Red Sox in the 1980s for their treatment of coach Tommy Harper, who had complained about discriminatory practices before being fired. Gould threw out the first pitch at Fenway on Jackie Robinson Day in 2006.
The day after the Jones incident, another episode occurred that led to a permanent ban of a fan who allegedly used a racial slur at Fenway. According to reports, a fan informed an usher that another fan used a slur about a Kenyan woman who sang the national anthem.
Security was summoned, and action was taken. A step forward. Sam Kennedy, the Red Sox’s president, said he thinks it’s the first time the team banned a fan for life.
Why no Braun: Now the world knows why the Giants weren’t giving up Christian Arroyo, who has made a splash two weeks into his big-league career, for Ryan Braun.
If the Brewers offered to pay every penny of Braun’s contract in a deal for Arroyo straight up, perhaps the Giants still would tell them to take a dip in Lake Michigan.
That says a lot considering the Giants’ Lake Michigan-size hole in left field, where, through Friday, six players had combined to hit .173 with a .246 on-base percentage and one home run.
Braun’s numbers: .284, .370, 7.
Yes, the Giants spoke with the Brewers over the winter about Braun but never pulled the trigger. Wonderful player, too many strikes against him. For instance:
His injuries (his latest is a right shoulder/arm ailment). His age (33). His contract ($76 million due through 2020). His suspension (65 games for using PEDs). His character (took a hit when blaming others during his drug investigation). His game (still good, but not as good as in his late 20s).
The Giants might have been open to Braun if he had just one strike. Maybe two. Not all of the above. The compilation made it easy to say no.
Nowadays, left field is one of the Giants’ many problems, and acquiring one player would hardly make a difference. Until further notice, they appear to be a team that could be selling rather than buying at the July 31 trade deadline.
Cubs’ year? The consensus in spring training was that the mighty Cubs would streak to the finish line again, and that cackle you heard came from the Giants’ clubhouse.
With their every-other-year routine of winning championships in 2010, 2012 and 2014, the Giants showed the difficulty of staying healthy, focused and competitive the year after playing into deep October or even November.
The Cubs had a so-so 13-11 April after starting 25-6 last year. Not surprisingly, the starting pitchers were slow to return to form after all those innings in 2016.
The rotation’s ERA through April was 4.28, a far cry from the previous April’s 2.33, and there’s already talk the Cubs might pursue rotation help before the trade deadline.
The last team with consecutive World Series titles was the Yankees at the turn of the century, and the last NL team was the Reds in the ’70s. Dreamy: Imagine Eric Thames and Khris Davis in the same lineup. Entering Saturday, they had combined for 21 home runs, more than the Giants’ entire team.
The A’s, in need of outfielders, had offseason interest in signing Thames, a Santa Clara native and Bellarmine Prep (San Jose) graduate who had played three seasons in South Korea.
Thames signed with the Brewers for $16 million over three years on Nov. 29. The next day, the A’s signed another lefty-hitting outfielder, Matt Joyce, for $11 million over two years. Around the majors: Mark McGwire is no longer on the Hall of Fame ballot and said in 2012 he wouldn’t vote for himself — “no, not by the guidelines they have now” — but he’s a new member of the Cardinals’ Hall of Fame. McGwire and Tim McCarver were voted in online by fans, Pepper Martin by what the team calls a “Red Ribbon” committee. … The Baseball Writers’ Association of America voted in December to make all Hall of Fame voting results public, but there’s a chance it won’t happen. All voting initiatives proposed by writers require approval from the Hall’s board of directors, which will have its annual meeting in July. … Whether the Derek Jeter group, Tom Glavine group or yet-to-be-named group buys the Marlins, the transaction can’t be completed fast enough. Jeffrey Loria is bad for baseball, from helping to ruin the Montreal Expos to bamboozling Florida taxpayers to fund his ballpark, and the game will be better off once its worst owner leaves.