After Torii Hunter recently opened up about the racism he faced at Fenway Park, the Red Sox released a statement saying that Hunter's experience "is real" and vowing that "as we identify how we can do better, please know we are listening."
Another group of alleged victims, however, says those words are ringing hollow. In a new story from The Associated Press, more than a dozen Black men who allege they were abused by former Red Sox clubhouse manager Donald Fitzpatrick say their requests for out-of-court settlements with the team have been ignored.
Fitzpatrick, who died in 2005, pleaded guilty to four counts of attempted sexual battery in 2002, admitting that he used Red Sox memorabilia to lure young, Black clubhouse workers into secluded areas of the team's Florida spring training facility, where he abused them. Those charges dated to the 1970s and '80s.
In the years since then, others have come forward to say that they, too, were abused by Fitzpatrick, not just at the Red Sox' Florida spring training facility, but also at Fenway Park and at road games in Baltimore and Kansas City. Their claims, however, are too old to be included in civil lawsuits, so the men have been pursuing out-of-court settlements with the Red Sox, three other teams, and Major League Baseball.
Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney known for his work representing victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, represents 21 men who claimed they were abused by Fitzpatrick, 15 of whom are Black, and recently tried once again to open settlement negotiations following the death of George Floyd and statements about combating racism issued by the Red Sox, Major League Baseball and several other teams. Garabedian says these attempts have once again been unsuccessful.
"It's inconceivable to me that they wouldn't want to help these victims in this day and age," Garabedian told the AP.
"Now would be a good time for the Red Sox to show everyone they mean what they say," said 65-year-old Gerald Armstrong, who alleges he was abused by Fitzpatrick while Armstrong was the first Black youth to work in the visitors' clubhouse for the old Kansas City Athletics.
Charles Crawford, a 45-year-old African American man from Taunton, alleges Fitzpatrick abused him in a locked storage room and in the team showers at Fenway Park in the summer of 1991 when he was 16 years old. He tells the AP that the Red Sox' most recent statement about combating racism was "another slap in the face for me" given that his allegations have not been addressed.
When contacted by the AP, Daniel Goldberg, an attorney for the Red Sox, re-issued a statement the team released in 2017.
"The Red Sox have always viewed the actions -- which date back as long as six decades ago -- of Mr. Fitzpatrick as abhorrent," the team statement says. "When the team, under prior ownership became aware of the allegations against Mr. Fitzpatrick in 1991, he was promptly relieved of his duties."
Garabedian is seeking $5 million for each of the 21 alleged victims.
