The Red Sox Filed A Petition To Change Yawkey Way Back To Jersey Street
This is somewhat breaking news, but not all that shocking. The Red Sox have been very vocal about wanting to change the name of Yawkey Way in the past year, especially after they changed the name of Yawkey Way Extension to David Ortiz Drive last summer.
Listen, it’s well documented that former Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey was a racist. He did a lot of good in the community, which still lives on to this day, but if you’re a racist then the good deeds that you’ve done don’t exactly negate being a racist. They absolutely should change the name, and it appears as though they’re actively trying to.
That being said, if the Red Sox wanted to use the renaming of Yawkey Way, which will serve as the removal of a known racist’s name, as a symbolic gesture of progression in today’s society, then they should rename the street after Ted Williams, the best player in Red Sox history, who took a break from his Hall of Fame career to serve his country in the Marines during World War II AND the Korean War.
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In addition to that, and perhaps most importantly, Williams used his Hall of Fame speech to advocate for African American players. When Williams was enshrined into Cooperstown in 1966, the greatest hitter who ever lived famously said, “I hope that some day the names of Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson in some way could be added.” In 1971, Paige was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and the following year, Gibson joined him.
Going back to what the street was originally called is certainly better than what it currently is today, but they could do better. However, the fact that the team has to file a petition for the change means that it’s out of the team’s control. You know what is in the team’s control? The fact that Tom and Jean Yawkey’s initials are STILL displayed on the Green Monster at Fenway Park in morse code.
The Red Sox can never rid themselves of their history, being the last team in baseball to have a player of color on their team. As we’ve said, renaming Yawkey Way is something that they can’t do on their own, but they can certainly remove Yawkey’s initials from the most recognizable feature within their own ballpark. Start there and then come talk to me.