With recent news of Johnny Damon adding fuel to the fire it is time to look at the top 5 traitors in Red Sox history. There is no bigger sin than joining the Yankees by choice (this eliminates the Babe) so to qualify a player had to go over to the Evil Empire.
#5 Don Zimmer – Granted Zim was never loved in the Nation and he ran many of the Buffalo Heads out of town and may have even been working for the Empire as a member of the Red Sox, but Zimmer makes the list for his charge at Pedro in ’03. His attack will always be one of the strangest moments in the history of the rivalry.
#4 Bob Watson – After playing with the Sox in 1979 Watson signed with the Yankees. He did not have nice things to say about the Hub : “If you’re not Irish Catholic, you have trouble in Boston. If you’re black, you’re at the bottom of the list . . . I didn’t want another Boston. It was sterilized there. We were surrounded by Bostonians who weren’t black. There was no identity. I’d have to drive across town to get a haircut. In Wellesley, there wasn’t even a black garbageman.” Watson said that he still considered Boston at the end of the 1979 season; then a black student bused into Wellesley was shot. “That hit home.” Watson drew more ire from the Nation after the Fancona uniform incident as well as doling out some uneven fines and suspensions for Red Sox players as V.P. of discipline for MLB.
#3 Wade Boggs – 2 events put Boggs on the list: the first is the horse. Red Sox fans had to watch as a player they once cheered on rode around the outfield of Yankee Stadium on the back of a police horse. ”If you had said to my dad that one day we would watch Wade Boggs riding a horse around Yankee Stadium to celebrate his championship with the Yankees, his head would have blown up.” – Dennis Leary. The second event occurred this season when Boggs wore a Yankee hat at the All-Star game in New York.
#2 Johnny Damon– After being the face of the “Idiots” Damon leaves for the Evil Empire after the 2005 season. Damon said this a few months before signing with the Yankees: “There’s no way I can go play for the Yankees, but I know they are going to come after me hard,” Damon said. “It’s definitely not the most important thing to go out there for the top dollar, which the Yankees are going to offer me. It’s not what I need.” When you add him cutting his hair to play for New York, he has to be a top vote getter for biggest traitor.
#1 Roger Clemens*– Even though he went to Toronto before joining the Yankees he still found a way to be a huge traitor. Last year the Red Sox created a video to try to have him finish his career in Boston where he was once revered, but Roger* chose to go back to the Yankees, making his announcement in Steinbrenner’s box. Bill Simmons once wrote an article comparing him to the Anti-Christ: “It wasn’t bad enough that the winningest pitcher in Red Sox history wanted to play in New York — he actually cheated to get there. Even the staunchest Clemens sympathizers in New England couldn’t defend him anymore. He had crossed over to the dark side. He was Darth Vader with a Texas accent. He was the enemy.” To make things worse he wore a Yankee hat during the Greatest Players of the 20th Century All-Star game ceremony at Fenway after only being with the Yankees for 3 months.
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