Only four Boston Red Sox players on the current roster attended legendary Sox player and coach Johnny Pesky's funeral on Monday. Those four were David Ortiz, Clay Buchholz, Vicente Padilla, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Even more appalling is that the Sox front office chartered buses for players (as well as front office staff) to attend the funeral, and the team had a day off on Monday…and yet, only those four players made the trip. However, former players such as Nomar Garciaparra (who was apparently extremely emotional during the ceremony) made the trip for the legend's farewell.
I can understand that a lot of the members of the Red Sox are new to the club, but when only Ortiz and Buchholz show up among your big names…that's a problem. No Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez, Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, Jon Lester…it's an embarrassment to the franchise. In contrast, nearly the entire team was at Beckett's Beckett Bowl event that night.
If you want proof that this current Red Sox team needs to be blown up, look no further than this news. Pesky was an absolute legend in Red Sox history, and was a fixture at the ballpark. If you can't be bothered to show up for a funeral for him, you pretty much have no deep ties to the organization…and for a market like Boston, thath could be a death knell. This is cleary not the Jason Varitek/Tim Wakefield Red Sox anymore.
[h/t: Boston Herald]
