Famed street outside Fenway Park renamed over racist past

BOSTON — Boston approved a plan Thursday to change the name of Yawkey Way, the street outside Fenway Park named in honor of a former Red Sox owner some have said was racist. The city’s Public Improvement Commission unanimously approved a proposal by current Red Sox ownership to call the stretch of roadway Jersey Street, which it was originally called before being changed in 1977 to honor Tom Yawkey a year after he died.

The team filed a petition with the commission in February to change the name as part of a mission to “reinforce that Fenway Park is inclusive and welcoming to all.”

Yawkey owned the Red Sox from 1933 to 1976 and presided over the last franchise in Major League Baseball to field a black player. That was in 1959, more than a decade after Jackie Robinson played for the Dodgers.

The city renamed a stretch of the road David Ortiz Drive last summer in honor of the retired Red Sox designated hitter.

Following the decision, the Yawkey Foundations issued a statement, CBS Boston reports. The group said it is “deeply disappointed” by the vote:

We have always acknowledged that it is regrettable that the Red Sox were the last Major League baseball team to integrate. We also realize there were strong feelings in favor of renaming Yawkey Way based on that painful fact and other criticisms about the team’s record concerning race and inclusivity. But we also believe that consideration of the whole story of the team’s efforts to integrate and the full picture of Tom Yawkey’s life more than justified keeping the name Yawkey Way.