Red Sox News: Yawkey Way renamed to Jersey Street

The city of Boston has voted to change the name of the street adjacent to Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox, from Yawkey Way to Jersey Street.

Boston Red Sox fans on their way to a game at Fenway Park will soon be strolling down a street with a new name. Or an old one that has become new again.

Boston’s Public Improvement Commission voted unanimously to change the name of the street running adjacent to Fenway Park from Yawkey Way to its original name, Jersey Street.

Red Sox principal owner John Henry spearheaded the effort for change by filing a petition in February to rename the street. The organization views this as an important step toward distancing themselves from an embarrassing history stained by racism. The street had been named after former Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey, who was widely considered to have held racist views.

Yawkey owned the Red Sox from 1933 to 1976. During his tenure, the franchise became the last team in Major League Baseball to integrate when Pumpsie Green became the first African-American player to play for the Red Sox. Green made his debut on July 21, 1959. That’s over 12 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Robinson once visited Fenway for a tryout in 1945, although he walked away from it believing he was never given fair consideration. The tryout was essentially a sham to deflect the building pressure to integrate. A Red Sox executive – either general manager Eddie Collins or Yawkey himself – was heard shouting racial slurs at Robinson and the other minority players he tried out with.

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Sadly, this disgusting intolerance still exists today. Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones revealed that a fan hurled a racial slur at him during a game at Fenway last season.

That horrendous act does not represent the city of Boston or the Red Sox organization. Henry has made it clear that this franchise has zero tolerance for this behavior.

Following Yawkey’s death, the team was passed down to his widow, Jean, then later the Yawkey Trust, until Henry purchased the team in 2002. While the Yawkey Trust is credited with their involvement with charitable work, it does not erase the unfortunate history connected to the name of the team’s former owner.

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Renaming a street won’t wash away the past or eliminate racism from the city but it’s a step in the right direction. It shows that this city and the Red Sox organization won’t stay for intolerance.