How Long Have You Been A Red Sox Fan?

[Spudboy]

At age 8 in 1967. 44 years and counting. It's my addiction.

 

I have you beat! Age 10 in 1966. 45 years and counting. Young pussy is my addiction.

[Entitled]

2004 just like every other redsox fan. I was a yankee fan before that but once the sox got good i switched until 2009 when i was a yankee fan again. this off-season i was a sox fan again because i thought they were going to be good but now they are horrible so I am a yankee fan again.

[Flynnatic10]

2004 just like every other redsox fan. I was a yankee fan before that but once the sox got good i switched until 2009 when i was a yankee fan again. this off-season i was a sox fan again because i thought they were going to be good but now they are horrible so I am a yankee fan again.

 

bandwagoner much?

[boston22407]

2004 just like every other redsox fan. I was a yankee fan before that but once the sox got good i switched until 2009 when i was a yankee fan again. this off-season i was a sox fan again because i thought they were going to be good but now they are horrible so I am a yankee fan again.

 

are you f***in idiot ?

[yankees228]

Based on the handle I think he's just joking around lol.

[boston22407]

Based on the handle I think he's just joking around lol.

 

i hope so or he needs this done to him ASAP

 

[Flynnatic10]

I became a Red Sox fan in 2010.

[BornToRun]

Jumped on the bandwagon after 2004 (I admit it) and never jumped off

[Wil Corderos Wife]

1994 when I was in 3rd grade. Tim Naehring came to visit my elementary school and I started watching the games to follow his progress and got hooked that way. My dad also had a connection to Ben Mondor and I got to watch a bunch of PawSox games from the owner's box. It was one of those things that you think is kinda cool at the time, then reflect back on years later and realize what a lucky son of a bitch you really were.

 

I wouldn't say I became a true die-hard until 2003 when they were drastically re-shaped by the new ownership. It was one of the most offensively packed lineups ever, and with Millar & company they were just freaking fun to watch. With the poetic nature of the '03 heartbreak and '04 justice, it was hard not to get sucked in at that point anyway.

[Emmz]

2004 just like every other redsox fan. I was a yankee fan before that but once the sox got good i switched until 2009 when i was a yankee fan again. this off-season i was a sox fan again because i thought they were going to be good but now they are horrible so I am a yankee fan again.

 

TROOOOLOLOLOLOLOL

[NewRSFan]

Been an actual fan since today. No really! I just got tickets for my first game on 8/7 vs the Yanks. No im not a bandwagon fan... you guys in boston have the best tradion in the history of the game. Coming from a guy in Ohio!

[SoxSport]

You guys should have seen Fenway 60 years ago. No advertising signs. Seats you could eat off of.

Everything clean. Yawkey kept that place like his own back yard. It was, in fact, his yard. It was called Yawkey Yard. Tom had a good heart.

[BornToRun]

You guys should have seen Fenway 60 years ago. No advertising signs. Seats you could eat off of.

Everything clean. Yawkey kept that place like his own back yard. It was, in fact, his yard. It was called Yawkey Yard. Tom had a good heart.

 

Too bad he was a racist sonofabitch.

[BigPapiEnFuego]

You guys should have seen Fenway 60 years ago. No advertising signs. Seats you could eat off of.

Everything clean. Yawkey kept that place like his own back yard. It was, in fact, his yard. It was called Yawkey Yard. Tom had a good heart.

 

except for the whole racism thing...

[RedSoxFaithful]

Since i was in 3rd grade so about 13 years. I'm from New York and my whole family were Yankees fans and I used to go to games with them and then once they started having players on there team like Derek jeter I really began to hate them and became a Sox fan out of hate and never stopped following them. I might be negative sometimes but my loyalties will never change

[a700hitter]

Too bad he was a racist sonofabitch.

It's amazing that people who never met the man condemn him based on some stuff they've read or heard. The misconceptions about him abound as if they are fact. One misconception is that he was a southerner. He was born on Park Ave in NYC. Lived most of his young adult life in Detroit. I think you would be hard pressed to find an African American who played for Yawkey who didn't like the man.

[Spitball]

I have been a fan since 1964 when I was in fifth grade. Tony Conigliaro, Carl Yastzremski, Dick Stuart, Dick Radatz, and Felix Mantilla were among my favorites. I think I can still remember each player's number.

[BigPapiEnFuego]

It's amazing that people who never met the man condemn him based on some stuff they've read or heard. The misconceptions about him abound as if they are fact. One misconception is that he was a southerner. He was born on Park Ave in NYC. Lived most of his young adult life in Detroit. I think you would be hard pressed to find an African American who played for Yawkey who didn't like the man.

 

Oh come on. No one has to meet the man to know he was a racist. And the fact he was born in N.Y.C and raised in Detroit doesn't mean s***. The north has plenty of ignorant jackasses too. Yawkey may have not been racist but the signs point to otherwise. Why else would they be the last team to integrate, and once they integrate they would consistently field a team with very few minorities and consistently trade away their good minority players after just a few seasons? There is more than that. Just read about it. Take a minute and read some actual information.

 

 

In fact, why am I even explaining this? Anyone who isn't an idiot or a bigot themselves knows about this teams history and the part Yawkey played in its racism. I really cannot believe your post. It's just... ridiculous.

[redsoxbeatz]

Um, born & raised in Boston (well, the Northshore) & only just moved to CA, so... since 1989.

[RedSox_Ruszkowski]

born in 83..... parents grew up in Chelsea.... there were no other teams than the sox and celtics..... otherwise i would have been caned and gone to bed without supper....

[a700hitter]

Oh come on. No one has to meet the man to know he was a racist. And the fact he was born in N.Y.C and raised in Detroit doesn't mean s***. The north has plenty of ignorant jackasses too. Yawkey may have not been racist but the signs point to otherwise. Why else would they be the last team to integrate, and once they integrate they would consistently field a team with very few minorities and consistently trade away their good minority players after just a few seasons? There is more than that. Just read about it. Take a minute and read some actual information.

 

 

In fact, why am I even explaining this? Anyone who isn't an idiot or a bigot themselves knows about this teams history and the part Yawkey played in its racism. I really cannot believe your post. It's just... ridiculous.

The sport practiced institutionalized racism. That's the way it was. The fact that the Red Sox were last to integrate doesn't make their owner any more racist than Yankee ownership that integrated a whole 2 years earlier. BTW it was the Yankees continuing reluctance to bring in african american players while relying on their aging white stars throughout the 60's that made their dynasty crumble. The hiring of Dick O'Connell and the subsequent influx of black stars helped the Sox establish themselves as a contending team and surpass the Yankees.

 

No blacks in baseball was thought to be sound business practice at the time, because it was reflective of society. They didn't fail to integrate because they didn't like blacks. They didn't do it because they didn't think that their fan bases would tolerate it. Does that make it less evil? No, but it certainly spreads the blame to lots of people including Joe Fan. It's unfair to label Yawkey as a racist, because you don't know anything about the man. All you know is that he was an owner during a period of institutionalized racism. To conclude that he was an evil racist, is just an uninformed mob mentality. The uninformed mob mentality goes in the other direction as well. Cold blooded murderers like Che are held up by many as beacons for freedom, when he executed thousands of people without trial, and oh btw, he was a racist. That's not my opinion. That's in his own writings. Let's instead call a generous humanitarian like Tom Yawkey a racist.

 

Here's a fact about Yawkey. The Red Sox were not his main business. Based upon all reports, for several years, he was a neglectful owner who concentrated on his other businesses. He left the keys to the store in the hands of some good old boys, including Joe Cronin (funny that no one calls him a racist). They controlled the franchise and ran it into the ground. In the early 60's Yawkey turned more of his attention to the Sox. He gave the okay to sign the hottest prospect for the biggest signing bonus up to that time-- Yaz. He cleaned house and brought in Dick O'Connell who was eventually made GM. O'Connell probably signed more african american players than any GM in Red Sox history. The franchise turned the corner and returned to prominence. It was Yawkey who cleaned house.

 

By all accounts Yawkey was a drunk and an absentee owner throughout the 50's. I have never read an account from a player whether they were black or white that Yawkey was a racist. But by all means let's just label people based on circumstantial evidence and at best second and third hand accounts. While we are at it, let's label as racists whites who live in predominantly white neighborhoods and blacks who live in predominantly black neighborhoods. The circumstances would indicate that they are racist. Don't you think.

 

Maybe Yawkey was a racist. We don't know. There is no record of his beliefs about the issue. There are no first hand accounts of his actions or opinions in this regard. All we know is that he was an owner of a team in a business that was segregated. Unless we are willing to condemn every baseball fan during those years, every player, coach, owner and front office worker, it's a little unfair to paste that label on Tom Yawkey, who did more selfless charitable humanitarian work than almost everyone else combined from that era.

[a700hitter]

and once they integrate they would consistently field a team with very few minorities and consistently trade away their good minority players after just a few seasons? There is more than that. Just read about it. Take a minute and read some actual information.

This is a specious argument. The Red Sox of the 60's and 70's traded everyone. Only Yaz and Rico didn't get traded from the 60's. They traded Conigliaro, Hawk Harrelson, Lonborg, and Mike Andrews. They traded Lonborg to get Tommy Harper. They traded Mike Andrews to get Luis Aparicio. From their crop in the 1970's they traded Carbo, Lynn, Burleson, Rick Miller and Fisk who was set free. The only player the kept was Jim Rice.

 

Also,l the late 1960's Sox fileded a team with George Scott, Joe Foy, Reggie Smith, Jose Tartabull and Elston Howard and John Wyatt was the closer. They were either every day players or regular platoon guys. That is not fielding "very few" minorities.

 

As far as your suggestion that I read about this stuff, I am fairly certain that in following this team for 45 years that I have read more than 99% of Red Sox fans. I have read almost every book written by or about the Red Sox. You are the one that is taking second hand accounts and using it to condemn someone.

[TylerD]

I have been watch the Red Sox alot for the last couple but yrs, but I have been a fan none the less since I was about 11. So I guess almost 13 years. I never watched baseball a ton but when I did it was always a Red Sox game. I loved watching the playoffs though. It wasnt until the last couple years I really started paying attention to the team and watching a ton of games.

[Dojji]

Since I was about 10. Dad tried to make me a Padres fan, since that's what he is, and I flirted with the Expos for awhile because they were good when I was getting into baseball, and in Northern Maine I could get the CBC broadcasts. But I live in New England, and the Sox were there.

 

I have to say I wasn't really rabid until about 2006 though. I was kinda in and out, watching when it was convenient. I only picked 2004 up in the playoffs because I'd watched the 2003 team and was convinced that the curse was still right there, going strong.

 

I'm still kinda detached from the team sometimes. It's harder than I'd like it to be to love a big money machine at times. I think it was seeing the team vulnerable in 2006 that actually made a fan of me. Nothing much to root for in a stately, nearly-predetermined march to the playoffs when you're a fan who remembers things called "pennant races" that were a really, really big deal at one point.

[Thunder]

I have been a fan for life, and it will remain that way.

[AtWork]

Yawkey was definitely racist. When asked about the lack of black ballplayers on his team, he blamed African Americans for being “clannish”. And when his manager Pinky Higgins stated "There'll be no niggers on this ball club as long as I have anything to say about it” not only did Yawkey not fire him but he eventually promoted him to GM.

[redsoxrules]

November in 1997 when the Red Sox got Pedro Martinez .

 

So 14 years .

[SoxSport]

Yawkey was no more "racist" than the majority of those rich white baseball owners. Besides, the white players in those days were cut from a different cloth, too. Less tolerant as a group.

The big exceptions were Branch Rickey and the guy who owned the Guardians and then the White Sox.

What was his name?

[a700hitter]

Yawkey was no more "racist" than the majority of those rich white baseball owners. Besides, the white players in those days were cut from a different cloth, too. Less tolerant as a group.

The big exceptions were Branch Rickey and the guy who owned the Guardians and then the White Sox.

What was his name?

Bill Veeck, and he was an outcast among the other owners.

[Spitball]

Yawkey was definitely racist. When asked about the lack of black ballplayers on his team' date=' he blamed African Americans for being “clannish”. And when his manager Pinky Higgins stated "There'll be no niggers on this ball club as long as I have anything to say about it” not only did Yawkey not fire him but he eventually promoted him to GM.[/quote']

 

I can't believe Pinky Higgins's name is just now surfacing in this thread. I was about to post about him earlier but decided I did not have time. He was the absolute face of prejudice in the organization. He used the "N word" very frequently and publicly. It wasn't like today. Yawkey had no pressure to fire his drinking buddy for use of the word. Heck, President Lyndon B. Johnson was using the word up until 1963.

 

But back to Higgins and prejudice in the Red Sox organization. Yawkey was not particularly active in the operation of the Sox for several years in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Higgins was not really promoted to the GM as much as he was removed as manager. It was an awkward friendship and when Higgins was eventually fired as GM, it because Higgins had lost control of his drinking.

 

Btw, shortstop Don Buddin (known as E-6 and maybe the most hated Sox of all-time) was not replaced by Pumpsie Green (the first black Red Sox) until right after Pinky (There'll be no niggers on this ball club as long as I have anything to say about it) Higgins was "promoted" up to the GM position.

 

Higgins, and not Yawkey, was the face of prejudice on the Red Sox.