Johnny Damon Should Be the Last Player Red Sox Fans Boo During His Latest Return to Fenway Park

by abournenesn

May 10, 2012

Johnny Damon Should Be the Last Player Red Sox Fans Boo During His Latest Return to Fenway ParkJohnny Damon looked around the ballpark he once called home.

Sitting in the visitors’ dugout, looking fit at 38 years old and wearing a T-shirt proclaiming “there’s no safety on these guns,” Damon was talking about playing left field at Fenway Park.

“I was just showing the guys where [Manny] was standing on that play,” Damon said of the infamous Manny Ramirez cut-off in 2004. “It’s a little strange to be playing 270 feet out there. Kind of makes me feel like a third baseman.”

It’s no longer strange to see Damon playing against the Red Sox. He’s been gone longer than he was here. He’s now with the Indians, his seventh team over an 18-year career. He’s collected 2,728 hits over the course of his career (entering play Thursday) and is well aware that everyone in the 3,000-hit club is in the Hall of Fame.

He also knows that some Boston fans will boo him when he is introduced at Fenway Park, as ridiculous as it is. No one played harder or did more to change the culture of the Red Sox clubhouse than he did when he joined the team in 2002. Fans know what he did here, but when he left to join the hated Yankees he became the enemy. Three teams later, some still see him with pinstripe-colored glasses.

“Some fans out there do cheer for me,” Damon said. “They really enjoyed what I brought to the table. It’s OK that some boo me. As Reggie Jackson once said, ‘Fans don’t boo nobodies.’ They know what I can do. I’m booed everywhere. I’m loved and hated everywhere.”

Since leaving Boston after the 2005 season, Damon has played for the Yankees, Tigers, Rays and now the Indians.

“It seems like a long time ago,” Damon said of his time in Boston. “A lot of players have come and gone. I think Ortiz is the only one left. It’s strange, especially since I left the team and how many teams I’ve ended up playing with. I never envisioned this, playing with seven teams now.”

Damon might not hear the loudest boos Thursday. The Red Sox have lost seven of eight and 10 of the last 11 at Fenway Park. Boston’s starter, Josh Beckett, has become a lightning rod for the unhappiness fans have with this team.

Does Damon have any advice for the current Red Sox?

“Try to enjoy it,” Damon said. “People get caught up playing for this team or playing for that team. Bottom line is, play to win the game.”

It’s something Damon always did in Boston and New York. Now he’s become a mentor of sorts to younger players in Detroit, Tampa Bay, and Cleveland. He’s playing regularly in the absence of Grady Sizemore, and Damon knows his playing time could change when Sizemore returns.

“I’ve really enjoyed these last three years,” Damon said.

He has enjoyed every stop of the way on a pro career spanning more than two decades. It’s why he was such a popular player in his four years in Boston — and why he should be the last player Red Sox fans boo.

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