The Boston Red Sox have officially submitted a request to the city to rename the Yawkey Way, the street where Fenway Park is located. The background is the racist past of the former owner of the franchise, after whom the street is named.
The Sox sent a petition to the Boston Public Improvement Commission to rename the Yawkey Way back to its original name, Jersey Street. The team announced this on Wednesday.
Almost exactly six months ago, the current owner of the Sox, John Henry, told the Boston Herald that the current name of the street “haunts”him.
In 1977, the part of Jersey Street where the Red Sox’s ball park is located was renamed in honour of Yawkey. Under Yawkey’s ownership of the team, the Red Sox were the MLB’s last team to include a dark-skinned player in Pumpsie Green’s squad, twelve years after Jackie Robinson’s Brooklyn Dodgers debut.
“Restoring the name Jersey Street is intended to confirm that Fenway Park is included and welcomes everyone,”the team announced in a statement.
The team also indicated that they had the support of all residents of the Yawkey Way. And also mayor Martin J. Walsh had already declared that he was in favor of the name change.
This article was published without prior view by the Major League Baseball.