Sox want to rename Yawkey Way

Team says name a haunting reminder of ballclub’s history

BOSTON » The Boston Red Sox will ask the city to rename Yawkey Way, the street alongside Fenway Park, to erase what owner John Henry called a haunting reminder of the ballclub’s history of racial intolerance.

Henry told the Boston Herald on Thursday that he welcomes changing the name of the street that honors his predecessor Tom Yawkey, an inductee in the baseball Hall of Fame, and is the mailing address for the ballpark and team offices.

Under Yawkey, who owned the club for four decades, the Red Sox were the last team in the major leagues to cross the color barrier while choosing not to sign black players including Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays.

“It’s a continuation of John’s strong feelings about tolerance and inclusion and making sure that everyone in Boston and New England feels welcome at Fenway Park,” Red Sox president Sam Kennedy told The Associated Press. “This is just the beginning of a process that will involve the community.”

Henry did not immediately respond to a message from the AP seeking comment.

Kennedy said a change would require a discussion among the property owners along Yawkey Way. In addition to the Red Sox, that would mean the owner of a large souvenir stand across the street from Fenway Park, as well as a hamburger restaurant on the corner, he said. (The owners of the souvenir shop told the Herald they would not be opposed to a name change.)

“The different property owners would need to get together and discuss this,” Kennedy said. “You need

a consensus to petition the city.”

Yawkey came into his inheritance in 1933 at the age of 30 and promptly bought into the all-white sport of major league baseball.

Then he did what he could to keep it that way.

As other teams abandoned the color barrier, the Red Sox held out, giving Robinson a tryout and scouting Mays but opting to sign neither. The club eventually signed Pumpsie Green as its first black player in 1959 more than a decade after Robinson debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers and after even Willie O’Ree took the ice for the Boston Bruins as the first black player in the NHL.

Yawkey owned the club until his death in 1976, when his wife, Jean, took control. She died and left the ballclub in the care of a foundation that bore their name; trustee John Harrington ran the team until it was sold to Henry and his partners in 2002.

MICHAEL DWYER — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Yawkey Way outside Fenway Park in Boston.