The Boston Red Sox refused to sit around and do nothing.
Torii Hunter, a former major league outfielder who retired after the 2015 season, recently revealed he was subjected to racist taunts while playing at Fenway Park during his MLB career, even prompting him to place clauses in his MLB contracts ensuring he wouldn’t be traded to Boston.
The Red Sox, taking Hunter’s comments very seriously, released a powerful statement Thursday night in which they acknowledged such incidents have occurred at Fenway Park and vowed to continue using their platform as a way to fight racial injustice.
The Red Sox’s statement caught the attention of former major leaguer Adam Jones, who dealt with his own racist incident at Fenway Park in 2017 while playing for the Baltimore Orioles.
Jones, who now plays baseball in Japan, applauded the message before then sharing a story about how Red Sox president Sam Kennedy and team owner John Henry handled the 2017 situation.
Huuuge. https://t.co/4vWZiTIisE
— 10 (@SimplyAJ10) June 11, 2020
I’ll never forget my convos the next day with Sam Kennedy (President of Baseball Ops) and the Owner John Henry. Much respect for them for coming into the visiting clubhouse and hearing my story. That was huuuuge!!! https://t.co/4vWZiTIisE
— 10 (@SimplyAJ10) June 11, 2020
As the Red Sox noted in their statement, there’s still a lot of work to be done. However, the club clearly is committed to making Fenway Park a better place and, most importantly, doing whatever it can to combat racial inequality.
