Shindig Takes Over Fenway Park

They had quite the hoedown at Fenway Park Friday. The big bash was to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Red Sox’s home park and except for the fact that the team lost to the New York Yankees (another tradition), it seems as if a good time was had by all.

Even Terry Francona, who decided at the last minute to put aside his bitter feelings towards management and participate. The fans definitely made him welcome with positive chants of his nickname “Tito!” Not that The Curse of Terry Francona has been lifted (otherwise the Sox would have beaten New York just as they did in the opener April 20, 1912).

Given that some 200 ex-Red Sox attended, from Carl Yastrzemski to Bobby Doerr and Johnny Pesky (in their 90s and pushed to the infield in wheelchairs) just about the only other thing missing besides the W was Smokey Joe Wood, the pitching star of the 1912 season with a 34-5 record, Ted Williams, and one-time owner Tom Yawkey. They declined the invitations being dead.

Yawkey, the owner from the 1930s to the 1970s, is the one due most credit for Fenway Park being Fenway Park after giving it a facelift from the original construction and serving as the bridge to the improvements of the last decade.  If another previous owner was present no doubt it was in a haunting capacity. Harry Frazee, the man who sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees, apparently wanted to tear down Fenway, too. I hadn’t heard that until recently, but the guy was already guilty of a baseball felony, so he may as well have gone after the death penalty.

Interesting that Kevin Millar, now broadcasting, and Pedro Martinez, now retired from throwing, were chosen as the toastmasters with the responsibility of lifting a cup of grape juice to the sky and leading the masses in a salute to the old ballyard. They were key figures in the ulcer-curing World Series championship of 2004, ending the 86-year title drought. While I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that the Guinness Book of World records has a category for this, I heard somewhere that this aspect of the event sets a Guinness record for most people toasting at once.

Caroline Kennedy throwing out the first pitch was a nice touch, nice symmetry, since in 1912 her great-grander John “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald was mayor of Boston and threw out the first pitch when Fenway opened the gates.

Yawkey did more good than bad for the Red Sox, but he had one glaring fault. On his watch, the team was the last in the majors to integrate. Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color line in 1947 and the first African-American player for the Red Sox was infielder Pumpsie Green in 1959. Too little, too late. The stories of missed opportunity abound on this front. There are reports that the Red Sox could have had Robinson for their own and passed and that they could have had Willie Mays and passed.

I don’t recall any hateful remarks being attributed to Yawkey, just these sins of omission and a policy of blindness. How different the 1950s would have been for the Red Sox with Hall of Famers like those in the lineup. Ted Williams and Willie Mays in the same outfield. Whew. But that was a might-have-been, not real life and one can only sigh.

Pumpsie Green was one of the players who returned to Fenway Friday. He was given an enthusiastic ovation. Not because he was a big star when he played second base and short. He wasn’t, with a lifetime average of .246. But the knowledgeable fans recognized what he symbolized. The hiring of Pumpsie Green to play second base dragged the Red Sox into the 20th century, even if it was a half-century late. He represented overdue enlightenment at Fenway Park.

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