ESPN baseball analyst and former Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona (L) ducks from an errant throw as he talks with Boston sports writers before a spring training baseball game against the New York Yankees in Fort Myers, Florida March 22, 2012.STEVE NESIUS/Reuters
Don't look for former manager Terry Francona at Fenway Park when the Boston Red Sox celebrate the 100th anniversary of their beloved ballpark a week from Friday against the New York Yankees.
Francona is still smarting from the way things ended between himself and the Red Sox after the collapse of 2011.
"Somebody went out of their way to make me look pretty bad," Francona said, referring to a story by the Boston Globe that cited unnamed club sources expressing concerns that Francona's job performance may have been affected by his use of pain medication.
"It's a shame. I'm sure they'll have a great event and I was part of a lot of that stuff there, but I just can't go back there and start hugging people and stuff without feeling a little bit hypocritical."
Responded Sox chief operating officer Larry Lucchino: "I understand how strongly he feels on this matter and I accept that."
Francona was let go two days after the Sox bowed out of playoff contention Sept. 28, losing their final game in Baltimore. Two weeks later, the Boston Globe published an explosive story questioning the manager's professionalism and revealing a deteriorating clubhouse culture that included pitchers Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and John Lackey eating fried chicken, drinking beer and playing video games while their teammates struggled on the field late in the season.
The Sox have invited every living ex-player and manager back for the ballpark's centennial celebration, but Francona rejected the offer in a phone call with owner John Henry last month, and again this week when Lucchino called.
"Larry called me [last Tuesday]" Francona said. "I was in a phone store in Arizona. I had three people standing around me. I was at a little bit of a disadvantage. He got a little perturbed at me, telling me I was being unfair to them. I called him back … and left him a message. He called me back and we ended up getting into an argument.
"I just feel like someone in the organization went out of their way to hurt me and the more we talked I realized we're just not on the same wavelength. They're probably better off going forth and leaving me out of it."
"I thought there was some uncertainty as to whether he had actually gotten the invitation," Lucchino said. "… So I called him and invited him and he declined. It was a sincere invitation for him to come back. He has an exalted place in our history and we were hoping it would be convenient and comfortable for him to come back and we were hoping it would be."
After his contract was not extended at the end of last season, Francona attempted to reach Henry for several weeks, but his phone calls were not acknowledged. When Henry read about this, he called Francona and the two spoke in late February ("I thought it was five months too late," Francona said). In that conversation, Henry invited Francona back to Fenway for the April festivities, but the ex-manager declined.
"Until I'm more comfortable with some answers on what happened at the end of the year, I don't want to have much to do with the organization and that's a shame," Francona said. "With all the good things that were accomplished, I just feel pretty strongly about that.
"It was pretty raw at the end of the year. I think I've done a pretty good job of moving on from that. At the same time, I'm never going to forget that. For me to go back and start waving and hugging, I'm just not comfortable doing that. I made it pretty clear to John Henry. When I told Larry that, he said: 'Well, I haven't talked to John about it.' I said, 'Well then how [expletive]important could it be?'
"When I spoke to John he made me think they were going to make an effort. John and Larry made it clear to me they weren't responsible for what was said [in the Boston Globe article] I thought they owed it to me to get to the bottom of it a little bit."
Francona is employed as a baseball analyst for U.S. all-sports cable channel ESPN and worked the Red Sox season-opener in Detroit. Does he still root for the team he managed from 2004 through 2011?
"That's a hard one," he said. "The only two games I've watched are the opener in Detroit and one spring training game. You can't root when you're announcing. For me, it's going so fast right now, I'm just trying to do my job.
"There is no way you can be around people for eight years and not have loyalties that will never end. I want Pedroia to hit 1.000. I want Jon Lester to win every game he ever pitches. That's kind of the shame of it. But I'm also not comfortable coming back. That's the shame of it. It's not a vendetta. I just don't feel comfortable coming back because of what happened and that's a shame because I do feel awfully strong ties to so many people there."
New York Times News Service