Like any ownership group that hangs onto a sports team for 20-plus years, John Henry and Fenway Sports Group were bound to enter periods of extreme dissatisfaction from the Red Sox fanbase.
But few could’ve predicted that Henry’s 22nd year of ownership would kick off the way it did on Monday.
Henry, who also owns the Pittsburgh Penguins as part of his diverse portfolio of sporting investments, pulled into Fenway Park for the NHL Winter Classic between the Penguins and Bruins, stepped out of his vehicle and was immediately met with fans screaming, “Pay Raffy (Devers),” as seen in a video posted on Twitter by user @SMS4988.
And as Henry walked from the field onto the stadium, he was booed, according to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
It sounded like a rough day for the Red Sox owner, and it’s hard to imagine it’ll get better anytime soon.
One of the many risks the Red Sox took with their conservative approach to long-term spending was that they’d lose the fanbase. They gambled by firing Dave Dombrowski, who wanted to keep his foot on the gas pedal and propel the Red Sox strongly through a competitive window, declining to sign Mookie Betts to a long-term contract and then doing the same again with Xander Bogaerts.
Their bet is that it’ll be worth it.
But losing two franchise players in three years and taking a future-oriented approach in a city that demands success on a yearly basis isn’t an easy series of events to overcome.
Red Sox fans prove over and over again that they’re paying attention. They know what’s going on with their team. And when they don’t like it, they make that clear.
The franchise saw that last year, when Red Sox games on NESN resulted in lower TV audiences, a 2.65 rating that was down 35% from the previous year, as the Globe reported last month.
For the final game of the season, when fans were being rewarded with golden tickets under the seats and had an opportunity to say what would be a final goodbye to Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez and Nathan — three World Series heroes in 2018 — the stadium was half empty.
Monday, as fans booed Henry and let him know what they thought, was another reminder that this could be a long, uphill climb for ownership and the team to earn back the fans’ trust.
Making matters worse was one Red Sox fan’s story of how he entered Fenway Park on Monday.
The fan, Mike Mullen, said he was trying to bring a sign into the stadium that said, “Pay Devers please.” It was made in Bruins colors, gold and black. He posted a picture of the sign on Twitter and said that the Fenway Park security team confiscated it at the gate.
Fenway Security wouldn’t let me bring this sign in… pic.twitter.com/JGgOzzRy8B
— Mike (parody) (@misplaced_local) January 2, 2023
Mullen told the Herald, “We were entering through Gate E. I didn’t really get an explanation as to why. The security guard said ‘I agree man’ to the sign, then called over another person to look at it and he said no. So they kept my sign. I read the ‘fan code of conduct’ and felt my sign didn’t violate any of the guidelines there.”
On the Red Sox’ website, under Fenway Park Security, the team says that signs are permitted “as long as they do not: obstruct the sight lines of other fans, cover up existing signage, exhibit messages commercial or political in nature, create a disturbance or contain obscene or offensive language or interfere with other fans’ enjoyment of the game.”
It also says that the team reserves the right to confiscate any sign at any time.
Reached for comment, a Red Sox spokesperson said that the sign was not in violation, but the security officials at Gate E “made a subjective judgement call because this was an NHL event. Had they run it by management, it would have been allowed and we are stressing that with the team that was on site.”
One has to hope that similar signs will be allowed at Fenway Park in 2023.
Fans should be allowed to express their hopes for the club without censorship. The message, “Pay Devers,” is a message of admiration for a player that the Red Sox signed as a teenager, developed into a superstar and have a chance to keep in their uniform for the rest of his career, if they so choose to capitalize on that opportunity.
For fans to express a desire for their team to keep their best player shouldn’t be seen as an offense.
It’s the same message that has been uttered by team president Sam Kennedy and chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, who have both told reporters in recent months that signing Devers to a long-term contract is a goal for this offseason.
But alas, there’s a clear sense of uncertainty around the Red Sox these days.
To make matters worse, Henry’s Penguins lost the game, 2-1.
