Torii Hunter WANTED to Play for the Red Sox?
A lot has come out the past few days about former Gold Glove outfielder Torii Hunter. Yes, the same Torii Hunter who won nine Gold Glove awards and was a five time All-star. If you don’t remember the name, allow me to refresh your memory.
With everything going on in the past few weeks, Torii Hunter has come out to talk about how he had a no-trade clause to the Boston Red Sox.
Torii Hunter explained why he had a no-trade clause to Boston throughout his playing career.
(via @GolicAndWingo) pic.twitter.com/1xNPOFD2gV
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 6, 2020
Now we get an even crazier part of the story. Supposedly, Torii Hunter WANTED to be a part of the Boston Red Sox?
Interesting stuff from Torii Hunter on WEEI this morning.
"I love Boston. I wanted to play there. But it just hit me I can’t have my wife and my kids in this area. … If they (use a racial slur), I don’t know what I’ll do. I’ll be the angry black guy.”https://t.co/DXzftzIU7t
— Tom Westerholm (@Tom_NBA) June 9, 2020
I have a few thoughts on this whole thing.
What Could’ve Been with Hunter in Boston?
I’m going to go about this from the fan perspective for a second. Imagine Torii Hunter being a part of the Boston Red Sox. Seriously, you could’ve had Torii Hunter in the same outfield as Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon. Hunter could’ve even been a part of the 2013 team potentially as opposed to being the guy falling over the bullpen. This isn’t your average, mediocre player. Torii Hunter was a pretty complete player. Besides his great defense, he won two Silver Slugger awards (2009,2013). So he proved he could hit as well as take care of the outfield.
Siding with Hunter’s Decision
When you read about Torii Hunter’s experiences in Boston, I don’t blame him at ALL for implementing that no-trade clause. This isn’t the first time that a visiting player has had a legitimate issue with Boston fans. Remember Adam Jones from the Baltimore Orioles? Yeah, that makes this a bit concerning. When fans are using racial slurs, that’s where they have to rethink about themselves. Can you heckle an opposing player and call them a “bum” or a “coward”? Sure. More power to you! But using racial slurs like Hunter mentions above? No, that’s not acceptable in any fashion. Fans need to be better. We need to be better as a whole, outside of sports.
In Conclusion
It’s sad to see Torii Hunter had these things to say about Boston. Again, imagine what he could’ve done if he ever got a deal done with the Red Sox. We’d get to witness the great catches, the solid bat, and everything else that Torii Hunter brought to the table. Let’s learn from instances like these and make the world a better place to live.
-Al Nahigian (@BigAl2793)