Yawkey Way now Jersey St again

mandro ramtinez

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There already is a street in Boston - Roxbury - named for Attucks.
Boston has different Washington Streets in Allston-Brighton, Hyde park, Dorchester, Charlestown along with the main one running from DTX to Dedham. There is ample precedent for the city naming more than one street in honor of a significant figure such as Attucks.
 

pgeyer13

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Boston has different Washington Streets in Allston-Brighton, Hyde park, Dorchester, Charlestown along with the main one running from DTX to Dedham. There is ample precedent for the city naming more than one street in honor of a significant figure such as Attucks.
Having lived down the block from a Boylston St in JP, I always assumed that the multiple streets with the same name was a result of not changing them when neighborhoods became incorporated into Boston.
 

shaggydog2000

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Boston has different Washington Streets in Allston-Brighton, Hyde park, Dorchester, Charlestown along with the main one running from DTX to Dedham. There is ample precedent for the city naming more than one street in honor of a significant figure such as Attucks.
What was his OPS?
 

Spelunker

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Having lived down the block from a Boylston St in JP, I always assumed that the multiple streets with the same name was a result of not changing them when neighborhoods became incorporated into Boston.
That was my assumption as well: those street names predate the annexations of the mid/late 19th century. Given the general deference towards Washington St Prime (e.g. the name changing of cross streets) I'd be surprised by purposeful duplicate naming.
 

Ale Xander

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You can have the same name for 2 different suffixes, right?

We have a MLK blvd, what's wrong with adding a Martin Luther King Jr. Way, or even better, put a The in front of it. He went to school just yards away.
 

Spelunker

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You can have the same name for 2 different suffixes, right?

We have a MLK blvd, what's wrong with adding a Martin Luther King Jr. Way, or even better, put a The in front of it. He went to school just yards away.
Bingo. I've screwed up any number of cabs with Temple St. v. Temple Place.
 

section15

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You get a fair number of squares named after community people who aren't well known outside the community, so you could say it isn't that rare.

Nerd time: Yawkey isn't the only owner of an all-white MLB team with a street named after him in Boston. The old streetcar loop for Braves Field is still called Gaffney Street, after the owner who built Braves Field, James Gaffney.
Gaffney no longer owned the team when the color bar was dropped in 1947. Lou Perini (construction magnate at the time) owned the Braves. As best as we can ascertain, Perini had no hesitation toward integration, there were no calls to Branch Rickey "hey, keep that Robinson guy home, when you come to play us", Jet Jethroe was welcomed and welcome to play center field.

Oh yeah, before they left town - just before they left town, the Boston Braves had acquired a player from the Negro Leagues in 1952, had him in the minors, and they gave him a shot to make the big club at spring training in 1953. Yes, this guy wore a Boston Braves uniform and played some grapefruit league games with the team before being re-assigned to the A level team, and before the Boston Braves made the move to Milwaukee.

A guy named Hank Aaron.
 
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section15

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That was my assumption as well: those street names predate the annexations of the mid/late 19th century. Given the general deference towards Washington St Prime (e.g. the name changing of cross streets) I'd be surprised by purposeful duplicate naming.
Yeah but you don't want Boston to become another Atlanta. If you've ever been to Atlanta, you'd note that half the streets in that city are named "Peachtree". Peachtree Street, Peachtree Drive, Peachtree Boulevard, etc. and when I had to travel to Atlanta, our reservations group went nuts trying to figure out a hotel near our Atlanta office.
 

biollante

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I would go with Yaz Way or Reggie Smith Street or not change it. When did they change it to Yawkey Way ? (I should remember but I don't) Seems like more free publicity ~ "See how great we are". I would be more impressed it they reduced beer prices or ticket prices to families.
 

BoSoxLady

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I would go with Yaz Way or Reggie Smith Street or not change it. When did they change it to Yawkey Way ? (I should remember but I don't) Seems like more free publicity ~ "See how great we are". I would be more impressed it they reduced beer prices or ticket prices to families.
Proposed by City Council member Fred Langone, the Boston City Council agreed to dedicate a portion of Jersey Street in honor of Tom Yawkey. That was in 1977, the year following his death. I have no doubt John Harrington was pals with most of the council and greased the skids.
  • 1977: Joseph M. Tierney, President; James Michael Connolly; Christopher A. Iannella Patrick F. McDonough; Lawrence S. DiCara; John J. Kerrigan; Albert L. O’Neil; Louise Day Hicks; Frederick C. Langone.
 

TheoShmeo

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I would go with Yaz Way or Reggie Smith Street or not change it. When did they change it to Yawkey Way ? (I should remember but I don't) Seems like more free publicity ~ "See how great we are". I would be more impressed it they reduced beer prices or ticket prices to families.
I agree with this. The timing of the announcement of Henry's angst is consistent with that.

Tom Yawkey is an easy mark. He probably was a racist. I am not particularly learned about him personally, but it's a hard conclusion to avoid, and I hate that the Sox were the last team to integrate and passed on the likes of Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays, for every reason.

But this thing doesn't feel like it's motivated by genuine concern on the part of Henry, and there's the issue of all the dollars that have been donated by the Yawkey Foundation in and around Boston on a color blind basis over the years.

I don't really see a link to lower beer prices. Or ticket prices. Kind of a non-sequitur, though it would be nice. To me, the better approach would be to do more in the way of raising consciousness about tolerance and diversity. Not through grand gestures like changing the name of a street, but through education and just driving home the message that the Red Sox are about inclusion over time. I don't pretend to have a ready made formula, and I know that the Yawkey name is painful for some or even many. But again, doing that seems like an easy, PC thing, and not one truly calculated to make a long term difference.
 

Al Zarilla

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Here is an excellent essay by Glen Stout on the issue of Yawkey and racism brought to my attention by Richard Johnson.
http://verbplow.blogspot.ca/2017/09/tomyawkey-race-and-smoking-gun-ii.html
Good article but the "smoking gun" quote from Yawkey, I don't know if you could call it that:

But if you need one, then comes the first smoking gun: “But they are clannish,” Mann quotes Yawkey as saying of African Americans, “and when that story got around that we didn't want Negroes they all decided to sign with some other club.”

Sounds like he was saying the Sox boxed themselves into a corner with missing the boat on Robinson and Mays. Of course, that was incredibly stupid. Who did the prejudice of not signing blacks come from first, Yawkey, or from a succession of GMs from Eddie Collins to Cronin and on, and Yawkey just let them have their way? I guess if it was the latter, after a while Yawkey could have put his foot down and said increase the scouting a ton on blacks.

Farrell said something almost foot in mouth-like on #42 day, like "we're happy with our black players, Jackie", etc. it almost came across like "every team needs some". Farrell being Farrell.
 

soxhop411

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Street won’t be named after anyone living. Some arcane rule won’t let the Sox do that.

So sorry. No David Ortiz way.
 

Ale Xander

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Bobby Doerr seems like the obvious choice, especially with Ted already having a semi-highway named after him.
 
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FormerLurker

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Proposed by City Council member Fred Langone, the Boston City Council agreed to dedicate a portion of Jersey Street in honor of Tom Yawkey. That was in 1977, the year following his death. I have no doubt John Harrington was pals with most of the council and greased the skids.
  • 1977: Joseph M. Tierney, President; James Michael Connolly; Christopher A. Iannella Patrick F. McDonough; Lawrence S. DiCara; John J. Kerrigan; Albert L. O’Neil; Louise Day Hicks; Frederick C. Langone.
This is an old post, but I think in 1977 Harrington was still a mid-level team factotum and not a person with much clout. If anyone greased the skids it was probably Jean Yawkey herself. Interesting that Louise Day Hicks was still on the council at the time (and Dapper O'Neil, of course).
 

Hawk68

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Here is an excellent essay by Glen Stout on the issue of Yawkey and racism brought to my attention by Richard Johnson.
http://verbplow.blogspot.ca/2017/09/tomyawkey-race-and-smoking-gun-ii.html
To me the "smoking gun" is this one:

"They blame me,” Yawkey says, “and I'm not even a Southerner. I'm from Detroit… I have no feeling against colored people"

I have no tolerance for racism, but it is a very serious charge and I have never seen the proof against Yawkey to substantiate it.

To me, changing the name is virtue signaling by the current ownership and an effort to protect the value of their investment.
 

Devizier

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virtue signaling
What do you think monument building is? Either you're trying to capture a piece of someone's legacy or elevate the memory of their life's accomplishments. There is no other purpose to building statues, naming streets, etc.
 

Savin Hillbilly

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I have no tolerance for racism, but it is a very serious charge and I have never seen the proof against Yawkey to substantiate it.
I think the bolded bit reflects a mindset we need to get over. The world isn't divided into guilty racists and innocent non-racists. Racism manifests in people's thoughts, words and actions in more varied ways than that simple dichotomy can account for. The question about Tom Yawkey that matters here isn't "was he guilty or not guilty of the 'very serious charge' of being a racist"? The question is "what did he do with the opportunities he was given, as the leader of a prominent civic institution, to help his society overcome racism?" And a lot of us feel that the answer makes him a poor choice for the honor of a street name.

To me, changing the name is virtue signaling by the current ownership
Well, virtue signaling beats vice signaling every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons (if that's what's going on here) is better than declining to do the right thing because your motives aren't pure enough.
 
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charlieoscar

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Yes, the Red Sox under Tom Yawkey were the last club in the majors to integrate. But wan't racism the norm back then? Half of the clubs did not have a Black player until at least seven years after the Dodgers, Indians, and Browns broke the way in 1947. The Yankees didn't bring up Elston Howard until 1955, six years after the Giants integrated; it took the Phillies ten years and the Tigers until June of 1958. And while the MLB teams were concentrated in the north-east to the mid-west, there were a lot a minor league affiliates in the south. From 1939 to 1955 the Red Sox top club was in Louisville and the second club was in New Orleans from 1946 to 1947 and Birmingham from 1948 to 1952...not exactly places to send Black minor leaguers in that era.

You have a situation where all the players are white and you need to hire a manager or coach. The first thing you ask is not going to be their opinion of Blacks. You have players who grew up in areas where segregation was the norm. It's not easy to suddenly convert. I'm not trying to say the Yawkey was right or wrong; just that you need to look at things as they would appear in that era.

[And as I said earlier in this thread, I think Piper Davis is the player who should be honored.]
 

SumnerH

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To me the "smoking gun" is this one:

"They blame me,” Yawkey says, “and I'm not even a Southerner. I'm from Detroit… I have no feeling against colored people"
You missed the continuation:

“I employ a lot of them in the South. But they are clannish…”

Probably not the best choice of wording in this context.
 

BoSoxLady

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This is an old post, but I think in 1977 Harrington was still a mid-level team factotum and not a person with much clout. If anyone greased the skids it was probably Jean Yawkey herself. Interesting that Louise Day Hicks was still on the council at the time (and Dapper O'Neil, of course).
John Harrington was the Controller for the American League under AL President Joe Cronin and after Cronin retired, Harrington was hired as Treasurer of the Red Sox. Tom Yawkey passed away in 1976 and Jean sold the club to Sullivan and Leroux in 1977. Their purchase wasn't approved by Bowie Kuhn so Jean had to join the partnership for the sale to be approved. Harrington left the Red Sox to work for Governor Ed King.

Harrington was a BC guy and was well-known throughout Boston. He had a ton of connections, including most if not all of the members of the Boston City Council. Jean really had no clout other than being married to Tom.
 
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Hawk68

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You missed the continuation:

“I employ a lot of them in the South. But they are clannish…”

Probably not the best choice of wording in this context.
With all respect, I did not miss it. Rather I identified what I believe the key to Mr. Yawkey's feelings were. I expect the rest is choice of wording in a conversation.
 

VTSox

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Regarding the can't name a street after a living person thing, I noticed an Aly Raisman way in Needham, and there is Flutie Pass in Natick.
From the article, sounds like it's a Boston-specific rule. Not sure if there's actually any law backing it up.
 

TonyPenaNeverJuiced

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Yes, the Red Sox under Tom Yawkey were the last club in the majors to integrate. But wan't racism the norm back then? Half of the clubs did not have a Black player until at least seven years after the Dodgers, Indians, and Browns broke the way in 1947. The Yankees didn't bring up Elston Howard until 1955, six years after the Giants integrated; it took the Phillies ten years and the Tigers until June of 1958. And while the MLB teams were concentrated in the north-east to the mid-west, there were a lot a minor league affiliates in the south. From 1939 to 1955 the Red Sox top club was in Louisville and the second club was in New Orleans from 1946 to 1947 and Birmingham from 1948 to 1952...not exactly places to send Black minor leaguers in that era.
The "but other people were bad, too" argument is never good ground to stand on. Many, many people, within and without baseball were racist. Many still are. No one is saying only Yawkey should be "punished" - we're Red Sox fans, talking about the Red Sox, talking about a street in Boston. We're not running around telling other teams places what to do. This is about our team, and our legacy, and what we want that legacy to be going forward. Maybe it was a nice gesture to name a street after the guy in 1977. It's kinda shitty now.

...not exactly places to send Black minor leaguers in that era.
So we were doing them a favor? I really hope the argument you're making is more nuanced than this.
 

MuzzyField

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Just call it Fen Way. I’m sure there’s a dead Fen somewhere.

The Winter Haven Elks and the child sex abuse added to the obvious racism in baseball operations are the Yawkey legacy.

It all happened and It can’t be erased. There is no defense.

What are the thoughts on the retired players that speak well of Tom?
 

Sampo Gida

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Making Yawkey a scapegoat for racism in MLB is just so silly. Frankly blacks played with whites in the 19th century. It was refusal of influential White players like Cap Anson to take the field against Black opponents along with marketing concerns led to segregation in baseball. Some of those same concerns existed in the 1950's. Yawkey was last but so what. Three years later than Yankees and 1 year later than Tigers. Someone had to be last. That 1967 team was pretty mixed, seemed close to 40%. He definitely embraced integration in the end as did most of MLB.

There were far more worse villains than Yawkey on this issue among players, owners and commisioners who are in the HOF. Heck many of our ex-Presidents who had slaves have street names , this is just an opportunistic means to erase Yawkeys memory that benefits the current ownership group at his expense.