Johnny Pesky, a 60-year veteran of the Red Sox organization, was laid to rest on Monday. The Red Sox had just finished a three-game series in New York and had the day off on Monday, yet only four current players showed up for the funeral.
Clay Buccholz, David Ortiz, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Vicente Padilla attended the services. Padilla has only been with the team since Spring Training, but still showed up to pay his final respects to a true Boston legend. About a dozen players have been in the organization for at least a couple years, yet chose to skip out. Ownership and other members of the front office were in attendance, but the team itself was M.I.A.
Later that night, Josh Beckett held his annual "Beckett Bowl" charity event, to which the entire team, even including Jered Weaver from the visiting Angels, attended. This is where things get tricky, however. You can't exactly bash the Sox for showing up to a charity event. Yes, its a slightly more upbeat event than a funeral, but at a certain point, their integrity has to be questioned here.
I have no problem with the team showing up to the Beckett Bowl, but I can't understand how players just decided to skip out on Pesky's funeral. Complete strangers were attending his wake over the weekend, taking time out of their off days. Let's think about that.
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