The Rivalry - Section 2

Words almost can’t describe the energy at Fenway Park Monday night. Sitting in the Bleachers behind the Red Sox bullpen watching the Sox take on the Yankees for the first time this season, I turned to my mother and said, "Mom, there’s nowhere I’d rather be right now than right here." And I meant it.

Everyone in the country knows how huge the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry is. Most sports fans have always known it, but it was put on a national stage in 2004 when the Sox rallied from an 0-3 deficit to win four straight games and beat the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. It was one of the proudest moments I’ve ever experienced as a Sox fan. And ironically, a man most of us had planned to boo on Monday night was largely responsible for winning Game 7 in that series and in bringing Boston it’s first World Series title in 86 years.

On December 23 (my birthday, ironically) 2005, Sox centerfielder Johnny Damon signed a $52 million deal with the Yankees. In Red Sox Nation, there’s one unfortunate fact that comes with a move like this: You’re disowned. Go to another team come back and get cheered. But go to the Yankees and you are dead to us. Plain and simple. Seriously, it’s like watching your ex-boyfriend go from you to the girl in school that you hate. It’s a stab in the back. A smack in the face. It’s the worst thing any former Sox player can do and he’s just the latest to do so.

In the days leading up to the game, sportscasters across the country were posing the same question: Would Damon be booed or cheered as a Yankee at Fenway Park. If you’re a Sox fan, I thought the answer was simple. Several players have come and gone throughout the years and that’s fine. Baseball is a game, but it’s also a business. Guys need to make the money they feel they are entitled to and if it means going somewhere else to get it, so be it. When these kinds of players come back to Fenway in a different uniform, they are often cheered. But this is simply not the case with the Yankees. Because of this, Damon got more boos than cheers Monday night and rightfully so.

My booing him doesn’t mean I have forgotten all he did for the Sox. I didn’t partake in the "Johnny sucks" chants because I just don’t believe it. Johnny Damon doesn’t suck. He’s a good player who did a lot of great things during his four years as a Red Sox. But he also followed in the footsteps of Wade Boggs and Roger Clemens in doing something he said he’d never do. May 5, 2005: "I could never go over there and play for the Yankees." That’s a direct quote from Damon himself almost a year to the day before he stepped onto the Fenway grass in pinstripes. Boggs and Clemens had issued similar promises and reneged.

When they came back as Yankees, they were booed. When Clemens pitched for Toronto, he was cheered. Had it been Houston in the World Series in 2004, we would have cheered him then too. Boggs, same deal when he was with Tampa Bay. Cheers galore. Guys like Kevin Millar (now with Baltimore) and Pedro Martinez (with the Mets) are going to get similar ovations when they return to Fenway this season. Pedro took a deal elsewhere, but that’s Pedro. Kevin didn’t want to be traded, but was. What’s the difference between what Pedro did and what Johnny did? Not much. But Pedro saved himself by pitching for the other team in New York.

Damon perhaps said it best himself in the papers, "They’re not booing me. They’re booing the uniform." I’m telling you, he’s absolutely right. Because if he had taken a deal with any other team in the country, he would have received the kind of ovation Doug Mirabelli did. The backup catcher was re-acquired from San Diego and returned to Fenway the same day Damon did. Mirabelli received a standing ovation. Damon was issued a mixed bag.

After Monday, however, it’s over for me and I hope the rest of the Nation complies. It was important to let Damon know how we felt on his first night back, but it’s over and it’s time to move on. He’s playing for the Yankees and we’ve got Coco Crisp in centerfield. Done deal. When the Yankees come back to Fenway later in the month and I’m sitting in the Bleachers on May 23, I will not boo. There’s no need to after Monday. We got what we wanted: a 7-3 win and 0-for-4 showing from Damon. That’s the end of it.