Ah. This one's hard to answer. Yes, he did mold the Red Sox into what they are today. The street next to Fenway is named after him! Yawkey owned the Sox from 1933 to 1976. He renovated a fallen Fenway and created the amazing teams of 1946 (Williams, Pesky, Dimaggio, Doerr), 1967 (Impossible Dream), and 1975 (Greatest World Series Ever). He never won a title, however. The argument against him comes in that he could have.
Yawkey was, sadly, notoriously racist. It's a dark cloud in Red Sox history, but it's there. He held tryouts for Willie Mays AND Jackie Robinson. He strung them along and never wrote back to them. The first black player on the Red Sox? Pumpsie Green in 1959. Think about that outfield for a second, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, and Jackie Robinson. On the same team! Was what he prevented greater than what he created? I can't quite answer that, but I'd put him in the Hall, although I strongly disagree with the racism.
Imagine that outfield.
Definitely a tough call. Not sure I would give him the spot.
ReplyDelete