MLB: Under the Microscope

This is a warning to baseball players that are interested in coming to the city of Boston.

Beware! Boston isn’t like any other sports city in the country. In Boston, all the athletes are placed on a pedestal for all of the public and press to study and analyze, like they were some sort of art exhibit. There is such a media frenzy in Boston made up of aggressive, bloodthirsty reporters and beat writers. It is not that the reporters or writers in Boston are overzealous; it is merely a matter of the press giving the fans exactly what they want. People have said that the New York and Boston markets are the toughest sports media markets in the country. However, there is one distinct factor that separates the New York and Boston markets.

In New York, the Yankees are perennial world champions. Basketball has the Knicks always competing deep in the playoffs. The New York Giants just went to the Super Bowl, and the Jets are a couple years removed from the AFC Championship game. In Boston, the Bruins and Celtics have been floundering near the bottom of the pool for the last few years, and the New England Patriots just finished a 5-11 campaign. While the Yankees are burying teams season after season, collecting their championship rings, their biggest rival, the Boston Red Sox, have been starved of a championship for almost 83 years. To be frank, the fans are delirious. They eat, sleep, and dream about one day being able to tell their kids that they saw the Boston Red Sox finally win that elusive championship. It is a legacy that has kept fans tuned in to the Red Sox for decades and will continue until that elusive goal is finally achieved. The reporters realize the desperation of fans and they look to deliver any information as soon as it can be delivered. Thus, they look to match the intensity and hunger of fans by digging out any information they can on the players. The media can be a bear on the Bruins, Patriots, and Celtics, but as far as the Red Sox are concerned, the media is more rabid than a pack of dogs fighting over a raw steak. The problem here is, as much as the players think they can handle all the intensity and scrutiny, nothing usually can prepare them for the fury and attention when they first arrive in Boston. The baseball players who come here have to realize what they are getting involved in.

This past week, a rumor from the New York press and ESPN’s Baseball Tonight surfaced that Manny Ramirez was an unhappy camper. Could Manny already be frustrated with his surroundings? Even before he played a single game in Boston? There is a flock of press members living down in Florida, covering the team daily. During the first week of spring training, without playing a single game in left field, Manny moved himself back over to right and instantly cut ties with members of the media. During one of the first games of spring training, Manny misplayed a routine looking fly ball and seemed to jog over to get the ball. Instantly, some fans from Boston who were down watching the team, drenched Manny in a chorus of jeers and boos, questioning his supposed half-hearted effort for the ball. He seemed stunned and this led temperamental Carl Everett to rush to his defense, shooting down the attitudes of the fans. It only got worse when Manny pulled up lame a week later, fielding a ball in right field. Play was halted and Everett helped his counterpart off of the field. The $160 million dollar man’s fragile hamstrings were hurting before playing a single game in the regular season. The fans in Boston were covering their eyes.

Could Manny be unhappy with the Boston Red Sox? Supposedly he never had been booed in Cleveland. Now, he comes to Boston and is booed and jeered by some fans in a grapefruit league game! Dorothy said it best; “This isn’t Kansas.” Boston certainly isn’t Cleveland. In Boston, the fans are starved for a winner and if Manny ever jogged to the wall for a loose ball in Fenway, fans would roast him regardless of his plate heroics. He handcuffed the team by refusing to play in left field and suddenly, fan-favorite Trot Nixon, the gritty right fielder Peter Gammons said could arguably be the best defensive right fielder in the American League, seems designated back to platoon status. These antics don’t wash in Boston and Manny will slowly learn that fans notice everything from a player’s fielding percentage to his shave. The public can make life very uncomfortable for players if the don’t live up to the standards and hype that they expect.

Manny better grasp the weight of his contract and what that means to the fans. If he doesn’t give 100% every night, the fanatical fans could make life so uncomfortable for their new superstar slugger - they may run him out of town faster than Whitey Bulger.