Baseball player Torii Hunter says Boston is so racist, his contracts had "do not trade me there"

goatmane

goatmane

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Torii Hunter says racist fans kept him from playing in Boston



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Minnesota Twins, Torii Hunter. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

On Thursday morning, former major league outfielder Torii Hunter revealed why he had a no-trade clause to never land in Boston.

In the wake of what happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis last week, and a general state of unrest across the country, a group of retired African American MLB players gathered for a Zoom call with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. All talked candidly about the racism, including Torii Hunter.


Hunter split 17 seasons as a major league regular with the Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Angels and Detroit Tigers, winning nine Gold Gloves and earning five All-Star selections. He got a significant bite at the free agency apple with the Angels in the winter of 2007, then landed a two-year deal with the Tigers and a one-year deal back with the Twins for his final season in 2015.

Hunter appeared on ESPN Radio’s “Golic and Wingo” Thursday morning, to talk about the general state of the world and some of his experiences including clear racial profiling. But one thing he said, in terms of his experience as a player, stood out.

"I've been called the N-word in Boston 100 times, and I said something about it," Hunter said. "(People would say) 'Oh, he's just a militant, he's lying, this didn't happen.' No, it happened. All the time. From little kids. And grown-ups right next to them didn't say anything. ... So I had a no-trade clause in everything I had not to go to Boston. Not because of all the people, not because of the teammates, not because of the front office. Because if you're doing that and it's allowed amongst the people, I don't want to be there. And that's why I had a no-trade clause to Boston. Every contract I've ever had. And I always wanted to play for them. It sucks."


It's not the first time Boston's been associated with racism, particularly in baseball. Former Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones said he was targeted by racist taunts and had peanuts thrown at him while playing at Fenway Park in 2017.

Additionally, Yawkey Way was renamed Jersey Street in 2018 because of its association with former Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey. He oversaw the team during the integration era and the Red Sox didn't roster a black player until 1959, 12 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.



Due to racist fans in Boston, even little kids with their parents next to them apparently, calling him the n-word, Hunter made sure he had a no-trade clause blocking a trade to the Red Sox in every contract he had. Being an outfielder exposed him to taunting more than a lot of other players, but a line was definitely crossed in Hunter’s case.

When Hunter suffered a broken ankle at Fenway Park in 2005 as the Twins’ centerfielder, one can only imagine what was said to him from the stands. Deep in the unique center field triangle at Fenway, as Hunter chased a David Ortiz fly ball, the people are definitely close enough for him to have heard them.
 
Black Lightning

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Not shocked.

They treated their greatest athlete/champion(Bill Russell) like shyt.

From Russell to KG to today’s Celtics: Being a black player in Boston

‘Flea market of racism’

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Russell, who declined to be interviewed for this story, once called Boston a “flea market of racism” in his 1979 memoir Second Wind.

“It had all varieties, old and new, and in their most virulent form,” Russell wrote. “The city had corrupt, city hall-crony racists, brick-throwing, send-’em-back-to-Africa racists, and in the university areas phony radical-chic racists. … Other than that, I liked the city.’’

Russell, a native of Oakland, California, arrived in Boston in 1956 after attending the University of San Francisco. While he was Boston’s first black star athlete, he was verbally abused by some Celtics fans and never felt welcome during his playing days. His home in the Boston suburb of Reading was vandalized while he was being celebrated at a country club in the same town. Karen K. Russell, Bill Russell’s daughter, penned a story for The New York Times in 1987 and said the house was in “shambles.”

The N-word was spray-painted on the walls, beer was poured on the pool table, trophies were smashed. The vandals defecated on parts of his home, too, including his bed. Russell was crushed by the incident, according to several of his former teammates.

“Things that Russell went through made him a very angry man,” Sanders said.

On March 13, 1972, the Celtics had a private ceremony to retire Russell’s No. 6 jersey at Boston Garden. The jersey was raised to the rafters in front of players and friends about an hour before the doors opened for a game against the New York Knicks. When asked why the ceremony wasn’t open to the public, Russell told reporters: “You know I don’t go for that stuff.”

The real reason was that Russell believed he never got the respect and adulation he deserved for leading the Celtics to 11 titles because he was black.

“[Russell] said he thought that Boston was the most racist place he had been in,” Sanders said.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Sanders said, it was even difficult getting cabs because he was black, not to mention renting an apartment where he wanted to live in the city.

Deborah White, the widow of late Celtics great Jo Jo White, recalled her husband telling stories of racism that Russell and Sam Jones had to deal with in Boston. She said that Jones spoke of having “inappropriate things,” including a burning cross, put in his front yard.
 
Stop_It_5

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Unfortunately, it seems Adam Jones is not alone.

Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia told Newsday beat reporter Erik Boland that he has “never been called the N-word” anywhere but in Boston. Sabathia’s comments come after Jones, an Orioles outfielder, said peanuts were thrown at him and he was subjected to racial slurs from a person or people in the stands.

On Twitter, Boland quotes Sabathia as saying that Fenway Park has an intolerant reputation among black MLB players.

“We know. There’s 62 of us. We all know. When you go to Boston, expect it,” Sabathia said, according to Boland

Well known.
 
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