The Real Curse Reserved

On Sunday, April 15th Major League Baseball will honor perhaps the most important player in its history. A man who changed not only the game of Baseball, but was a pioneer of Civil Rights years before Rosa Parks never stood up on that bus or Dr. Martin Luther King told us his dream.
A man who integrated the races before Brown could fight the board of education. A man who before Malcolm X prophetically proclaimed "by any means necessary," did what he had to for his people and his country. This man of course was Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson.
This Sunday all across baseball teams will honor the sixtieth anniversary of Jackie's brave and historic achievement as the first black man ever to play in Major League Baseball.
Black players all around the league will wear number 42 in his honor that day. Players such as the Kansas City Royals outfielder Reggie Sanders, Florida Marlins ace pitcher Dontrelle Willis, future Hall of Famer, Cincinnati Reds outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. The entire Los Angeles Dodgers team will take the field this Sunday at Dodger Stadium wearing 42.
There is also another local player who will be wearing 42 to honor Jackie Robinson this Sunday though. Covelli "Coco" Crisp, outfielder for the Boston Red Sox will wear the number to honor Robinson and his impact on the game.
This will truly be a great day for baseball but it will have particular special meaning at Fenway Park. The Boston Red Sox past when it comes to race relations is perhaps the most shameful in all of sports. The Red Sox were the last team in all of the Major Leagues to have a black player on their roster. Elijah Jerry "Pumpsie" Green was the first black man to ever don a Red Sox uniform twelve years after Jackie wore Dodger blue and two years after he retired.
Pumpsie was never truly given a fair chance with the Sox and was released after the 1962 season. This obvious case of bigotry and hatred by then owner Tom Yawkey and his organization is the real curse of the Boston Red Sox. A curse Ted Williams himself called "shameful."
There was never any curse of the bambino, that was made up to make Red Sox fans feel better about losing, but the curse of segregation still lingered for years and years.....until now. Until tonight.
Tonight at Fenway Park, an historic event will happen, Daisuke Matsuzaka will step onto the rubber at the Fens, and the first batter he will face will be Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki.
Tonight is not about this achievement for Japanese baseball, no, tonight is about an achievement far greater than that. In the field behind Daisuke will be with players from all different backgrounds and heritage including three of Latin decent in 3B Mike Lowell (Cuban), SS Julio Lugo (Dominican) and RF Manny Ramirez (Dominican); Three of white heritage in 1B Kevin Youkilis, J.D. Drew, and 2B Dustin Pedroia, and of course there will be CF Coco Crisp of African-American blood.
Tonight is a night the Red Sox can be proud, tonight is a night John Henry, Larry Lucchino, Tom Werner, and especially Brookline's own Theo Epstein can look out upon the field and say, "we done good."
Can the past be erased? No. The Red Sox will always have that (no pun intended) black mark on their past, but as you look out tonight on Fenway with Daisuke on the mound and all those men behind him, think to yourself this thought: tonight is the night the Red Sox apologize to all those they hurt, all those they shunned, all those they kept out for the selfish and pathetic reason of race.
Maybe they do not formally say it at any press conference or in any release document, but they do not have to anymore. Tonight the REAL CURSE of the Red Sox, the curse of Pumpsie Green, the curse of Tom Yakey.........the curse of Jackie Robinson.......is reversed.