If Scott Brown Had His Way, We Wouldn't Be Celebrating Fenway Park's 100th Anniversary

 

For Immediate Release: April 19, 2012
Contact: Mathew Helman, Communications Director
E-mail: mathew@progressmass.org, Cell: 617-821-8004

BOSTON - As Red Sox Nation comes together this Friday to officially commemorate the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park, we should not lose sight of the fact that, if Republican junior Senator Scott Brown had his way, we would not be celebrating this historic milestone.  If Scott Brown had his way, the Red Sox would not be playing in Fenway Park anymore.  They wouldn't even be playing in Boston anymore.

"Scott Brown has taken political pandering to new heights of hypocrisy if he thinks that we'll simply forget that he wanted to move the Red Sox out of Fenway Park," said Mathew Helman, Communications Director for ProgressMass.  "Scott Brown dishonestly wraps himself in the Green Monster, hoping that he can steal from us real Red Sox fans some of the genuine admiration and enthusiasm we have for the Old Towne Team.  The bottom line is that, if Scott Brown had his way, Fenway Park would never have been home to the 2004 and 2007 World Series champions nor would we be celebrating Fenway's 100th anniversary this week."

In a 2001 letter to New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Scott Brown said, "Exploring the possibility of a Red Sox relocation to Foxboro makes fiscal and economic sense."  Appropriately, the Red Sox reportedly "scoffed at the proposal."

Suggesting that the Boston Red Sox pick up and leave "America's Most Beloved Ballpark," and leave Boston altogether, is enough to make many true Sox fans' jaws drop.  However, it is especially hypocritical for Scott Brown, given that he has spent significant campaign resources on pandering to Red Sox fans.

As part of his "Scott Brown Radio Report" series of paid advertisements, he released an ad entitled "Red Sox" on March 14, "wishing the best of luck to retiring Red Sox players Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield."  If that wasn't enough of a shameless pander coming from a politician who wanted to boot the Sox out of Fenway, just six days ago on April 12, Brown released an ad actually entitled "Fenway."  In the ad, Brown himself hypocritically utters, "There's been a lot of talk over the years about replacing the park, but that would have been a mistake.  John Henry, Tom Werner, and Larry Lucchino deserve credit for improving what we have instead of starting over somewhere else."

What Brown omits from his misleading pander is that, as a state legislator, he was a leading source of the "talk over the years about replacing the park" and "starting over somewhere else."  Any accurate recounting of Fenway Park's storied history must include the unfortunate footnote of Scott Brown's push to move the Boston Red Sox out of Fenway Park and out of Boston.

 

Wilmington Morning Star, 1/9/01, "Brown says no to new Fenway"

A state lawmaker says the Red Sox don't need to build a new Fenway Park and should move to the New England Patriots' stadium under construction in Foxboro.

Rep. Scott Brown asked New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft on Monday to consider expanding his stadium so the Red Sox could play there, too.

Brown hand-delivered a letter to Kraft's Foxboro offices and faxed a copy to the Red Sox. [...]

"Exploring the possibility of a Red Sox relocation to Foxboro makes fiscal and economic sense," Brown wrote.

The Red Sox scoffed at the proposal.

"The Red Sox belong in Boston where we have played for the last century," team vice president Jim Healey said.

 

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