Henry wants to rename Yawkey Way

[Northern Star]

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/20371946/boston-red-sox-owner-wants-yawkey-way-name-changed

 

I'm in, but if we're naming it after a player it has to be Ted Williams. According to google maps, a side alley is already named after Ortiz?

[bosoxmal]

I can't buy into this. Yawkey was a rabit racist. But, in his day, most people from his part of the country was also. Notably Ty Cobb. Shoukd they kick Ty cobb out the Hall of Fame? I don't think so!

[Dojji]

Sorry no. Yawkey Way is not about Tom Yawkey anymore. This is a thing that a lot of historical revisionists don't understand. Yawkey Way is probably more famous now for being Yawkey Way than for being named after Tom Yawkey.

 

If you asked Red Sox fans as a group what Yawkey Way was named after I'd be willing to bet at least 75% of them would have no idea at all. The way is more famous than the man, and is not actually associated with Tom Yawkey in any meaningful way for most fans. If this is being done in some kind of reaction to the Emancipation Park incident... just don't, OK? The two things have nothing to do with each other.

 

To me it would be like giving Fenway Park a corporate sponsored name. I mean there's no real reason they couldn't do it but... UGGH. Plz no thx. Sometimes it's just better to let an old controversy die.

Edited August 17, 2017 by Dojji

[devildavid]

They should just revert back to Jersey Street.

[mvp 78]

Yawkey was a racist. If you don't like the name change, you're on the wrong side of history.

 

Yawkey was so racist, he was the last of the racist owners to integrate. f*** him.

[mvp 78]

Dojji, why do you care? You've never even been to a game at Fenway before.

[mvp 78]

I can't buy into this. Yawkey was a rabit racist. But, in his day, most people from his part of the country was also. Notably Ty Cobb. Shoukd they kick Ty cobb out the Hall of Fame? I don't think so!

 

The HOF is a private org. Yawkee Way is a public street. Apples and oranges.

[Dojji]

I don't like the idea of making changes for PC or flimsy reasons.

 

Racists existed. They could even be racists and still contribute valuable things to society. We're excising a lot of valuable history from the public view simply because it feels uncomfortable. I resent that.

[mvp 78]

I don't like the idea of making changes for PC or flimsy reasons.

 

Racists existed. They could even be racists and still contribute valuable things to society. We're excising a lot of valuable history from the public view simply because it feels uncomfortable. I resent that.

 

It's not a PC reason. It's for a legitimate reason. We need to stop celebrating hateful people.

 

Racism should be thrown into the dustbin of history with all those dumb statues. It's not erasing history, it's putting us on a right track for the future.

[StephenCurry30]

f*** this racist cock sucker. If it wasn't for this f***ing faggot, Willie Mays would've been a Red Sox.

[mvp 78]

If you want to teach people about racist history, point them to a text book, not towards a memorial down the street.

[mvp 78]

f*** this racist cock sucker. If it wasn't for this f***ing faggot, Willie Mays would've been a Red Sox.

 

It's true. It's damn true.

[mvp 78]

White privilege is believing that taking down hateful monuments is based on "flimsy" reasons. f*** that noise.

[StephenCurry30]

The Red Sox scouted Willie Mays in 1949, but didn’t sign the man who would become one of the best ballplayers ever. Mays seemed to think the Red Sox decision not to sign him had everything to do with Yawkey being “a racist.’’

 

Mays is quoted in ESPN.com:

 

"There's no telling what I would have been able to do in Boston. But for that Yawkey. Everyone knew he was a racist. He didn't want me."

 

By the Impossible Dream season of 1967, the roster’s all-white days were a thing of the past and the team featured a talented group of black and Latino players. But they faltered in the playoffs. Had stars like Jackie Robinson or Willie Mays been playing at Fenway, perhaps the 86-year championship drought would have been a bit shorter.

 

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2014/04/28/was-tom-yawkey-bostons-donald-sterling

 

educate yourself fellow sox fans. hes a racist piece of s***. shouldn't be acknowledged. would rather have the street called "lugo" street.

[Spudboy]

Sorry no. Yawkey Way is not about Tom Yawkey anymore. This is a thing that a lot of historical revisionists don't understand. Yawkey Way is probably more famous now for being Yawkey Way than for being named after Tom Yawkey.

 

If you asked Red Sox fans as a group what Yawkey Way was named after I'd be willing to bet at least 75% of them would have no idea at all. The way is more famous than the man, and is not actually associated with Tom Yawkey in any meaningful way for most fans. If this is being done in some kind of reaction to the Emancipation Park incident... just don't, OK? The two things have nothing to do with each other.

 

To me it would be like giving Fenway Park a corporate sponsored name. I mean there's no real reason they couldn't do it but... UGGH. Plz no thx. Sometimes it's just better to let an old controversy die.

 

What controversy? It's not like people are talking about how Tom Yawkey and his Red Sox were a racist organization. It may be true but it's not exactly water bumbler conversation.

 

I don't give a s*** one way or another.

 

I think the topic is f***ing dumb.

[Spudboy]

White privilege is believing that taking down hateful monuments is based on "flimsy" reasons. f*** that noise.

 

I don't disagree. We should not celebrate or memorialize people who did a lot of hateful and bad things that were not just.

 

I just don't see Yawkey way as a conspicuous example and I have heard nothing about it until today.

 

Will they also remove the Morse Code from the wall and remove any mention of Yawkey from the stadium?

[notin]

I don't like the idea of making changes for PC or flimsy reasons.

 

Racists existed. They could even be racists and still contribute valuable things to society. We're excising a lot of valuable history from the public view simply because it feels uncomfortable. I resent that.

 

Exactly.

 

I would imagine there were a few racists among the Founding Fathers, especially the ones who owned slaves. Should we close down the USA and revert to being a British colony?

[notin]

It's not a PC reason. It's for a legitimate reason. We need to stop celebrating hateful people.

 

Racism should be thrown into the dustbin of history with all those dumb statues. It's not erasing history, it's putting us on a right track for the future.

 

Of course one could argue that censoring history is the most likely path to repeating it...

pas

[Thunder]

I could honestly go either way here, assuming this is a response to Charlottesville. I'm a believer in keeping in touch with all history, good or bad, as a way to remember and learn from past mistakes. That side of me says keep the name. But then I feel like it should have been renamed a long time ago anyway. There's nothing at all at or near Fenway to honor Ted Williams or Yaz. Pick one of them and celebrate their careers.

[BstHcpr]

Exactly.

 

I would imagine there were a few racists among the Founding Fathers, especially the ones who owned slaves. Should we close down the USA and revert to being a British colony?

 

Would you be OK with a Hitler statue?

[Jasonbay44]

Would you be OK with a Hitler statue?

 

I would be. He was a good dude, just deeply misunderstood. We need to let everyone have their own views and respect them!

[Thunder]

Would you be OK with a Hitler statue?

 

Let me tell you this: In Germany, it is a requirement for all students to visit at least one of the concentration camps before the completion of high school. Now I'm not saying a Hitler statue would be a good idea, but the only way to fix the world is to speak openly about the past.

[Spudboy]

I would be. He was a good dude, just deeply misunderstood. We need to let everyone have their own views and respect them!

 

Lol.

 

I am no mod but I know how things go and how they work here at Talksox.

 

We need to can this political stuff soon before it turns into a giant s*** storm.

[Thunder]

Lol.

 

I am no mod but I know how things go and how they work here at Talksox.

 

We need to can this political stuff soon before it turns into a giant s*** storm.

 

Agree. I say we just move this thread to the archives and call it a night. I've said more in 10 minutes than I should ever have.

[BstHcpr]

Let me tell you this: In Germany, it is a requirement for all students to visit at least one of the concentration camps before the completion of high school. Now I'm not saying a Hitler statue would be a good idea, but the only way to fix the world is to speak openly about the past.

 

Do you think there's a difference in context between the two?

 

As for Yawkey Way, I agree with SpudBoy. I didn't even know this was controversial until today. It's not like Yawkey is a lighting rod for white supremacists like other monuments.

[BstHcpr]

I would be. He was a good dude, just deeply misunderstood. We need to let everyone have their own views and respect them!

 

It's curious how the Chicken Little's who defend racist monuments will compare them to the Founders, but will dismiss a Hitler statue as not at all similar. Amazing how it only works one way.

[illinoisredsox]

Do you think there's a difference in context between the two?

 

As for Yawkey Way, I agree with SpudBoy. I didn't even know this was controversial until today. It's not like Yawkey is a lighting rod for white supremacists like other monuments.

 

It might be now.

[BstHcpr]

It might be now.

 

lol

[SoxHop]

Change the name....... the name is tainted with hate......... I've always wished they changed the name and everytime I'm on that street grabbing a dog....... it doesn't sit well with me......

[a700hitter]

Lol.

 

I am no mod but I know how things go and how they work here at Talksox.

 

We need to can this political stuff soon before it turns into a giant s*** storm.

Yep, this is going down a bad road.