The Red Sox have sure had their share of them. Those blood red socks seem to breed eccentricity, from Ted Williams going pigeon shooting in the Fenway outfield to the 2004 team taking shots of whiskey prior to every game of the World Series. Even the spelling of the team name is unique. As a lifelong Red Sox fan and a bit of an eccentric myself, I’ve always been able to appreciate the quirks of a team that one year refers to themselves and cowboys and the next wants to be called idiots. Red Sox baseball seems to breed similar attitudes in their fan base as well. I think most would agree that Red Sox fans are the most unusual fans in the game. They usually have a pretty good sense of humor whether they’re referencing the long time joke of “Dougie going deep” or creating a cult following behind Julian Tavarez. To be honest, I would find it boring to root for any other team. I realize however that not all fans share this same perspective.
The Red Sox player who receives the most criticism for being strange is clearly Manny Ramirez. Although, contrary to popular opinion, he may not even be the strangest player on the team. I’m sure much of his criticism is generated by the fact that he doesn’t talk to the media. The Boston media has a history of unfairly criticizing the team’s best players. It’s a trend that goes back to Ted Williams and possibly even beyond. For those of you who aren’t aware, they wrote some absolutely horrible, unfounded things about his character and his relationship with his parents. Now I’m not saying Manny’s the easiest teammate to get along with, and Williams probably wasn’t either, but much of the criticism surrounding Manny is equally unfounded. Remember the car auction controversy from earlier in Spring Training? We observed the Boston media crucifying Ramirez for showing up to camp late once the story broke. What the media never did mention was how the promoter of the event later came out and admitted to not having a deal with Ramirez. In fact, the promoter of the car auction had never even spoken to him or his agent. Seems like that would have been checked first before the media criticized him for showing up late when he was really attending to his sick mother.
The truth is, Ramirez is one of the hardest working players on the team and his teammates support him. When Dan Shaughnessy criticized Ramirez for showing up late to camp last spring, other Red Sox players took notice. Veteran pitchers Curt Schilling and David Wells boycotted the “curly-haired bastard” and advised younger players such as Papelbon to do so as well. A multitude of his teammates including Shea Hillenbrand, Jason Varitek, Curt Schilling and Julian Tavarez have had nothing but praise for Ramirez. And those players aren’t exactly easy to get along with. So if his teammates don’t care, why is it that the media does so much? Why not just sit back, relax and enjoy watching the Red Sox legend hit like everyone else? Sure his trade requests can be distracting at times but it’s not as if he has an issue with the team or the players. And it’s not like he’s an Alex Rodriguez whose distractions carry onto the field. As he’s said multiple times, he loves it here. Here he can be himself. It’s the relentless and overbearing media which he has an issue with.
As I mentioned earlier, Ramirez may not even been the most eccentric player on the team. For your reading pleasure here’s a few more honorable mentions.
Curt Schilling: “Oh, I’m bleeding? No big deal, I just gotta make these 55,000 New Yorkers shut up real quick and then I’ll be right back.”
Julian Tavarez: He earned a cult following that I refer to as “Julians Juligans” after he was lights out as a starter last year. As if his newfound ability to pitch wasn’t strange enough, he made sure to point to every base he wanted his fielders to throw to. Oh yeah, and didn’t he punch a player in Spring Training last year?
Jonathan Papelbon: He allowed Kevin Youkilis to shave his head last year after losing a bet. Then he let fans vote on his entrance song which humorously became “Wild Thing”. In his brief time with the Red Sox he’s had both a mohawk and a mullet.
Kevin Youkilis: Not only did he shave Papelbon’s head but he shaved his own as well. In his major league debut he hit a home run and his teammates pretending not to notice in a little bit of rookie hazing. Not missing a beat, he gave air high fives to imaginary teammates waiting for him at the steps of the dugout.
There are plenty more but I guess you could consider those to be the All-Stars.
