The Red Sox go global

Lacing up his cleats inside the Red Sox clubhouse, Boston's newest sports idol, Daisuke Matsuzaka, could be excused for believing that the cultural melting pot convening in Fenway Park this year constitutes baseball business as usual. Entering 2007, Boston's 40-man roster will feature 16 foreign born faces representing six nations and three continents. Its makeup is closer in ethnic diversity to the Olympics than to any traditional Opening Day lineup.

But even as our rapidly diversifying population has literally changed the face of the Commonwealth this past decade, so too has Boston's most favored team undergone a cultural evolution. Lest we forget, things weren't always this "We Are the World" around these parts.

It wasn't until 1959, in fact, that the Red Sox became the last team in baseball and the last professional sports team in Boston to desegregate (even the Bruins had skated a black player the year before). Beantown was a long way from shaking what Boston-born baseball author Howard Bryant recalls as the city's "deep moral confusion on race."

Times have certainly changed. "There's no question that race relations in Boston as reflected in the ethnic diversity of its sports teams show the city has come a long way," says Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics of Sport at the University of Central Florida. "That the team roster reflects the increasingly rich ethnic diversity of Boston is noteworthy and significant. It's a sign of the progress made by the Red Sox and driven by this ownership group. It's clear that they're taking a much more progressive look at who they're hiring on the field and in the front office."

Matsuzaka's Japanese heritage makes him part of one of the state's fastest-growing minorities. Latinos comprise the largest ethnic minority segment in Massachusetts at 7.3 percent of the population, outnumbering African-Americans (6.5 percent), but Asians now represent 4.5 percent of the state's total population. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Massachusetts also boasts the nation's largest population of Portuguese-speaking people. For the first time since the city's establishment in 1630, non-Latino Caucasians are a minority inside Boston.

"The new ownership should be congratulated for building a team that reflects society," says U.S. Representative John Tierney, Congressman for the state's Sixth District. "The community of this metro area has been increasingly diverse - schools, businesses, neighborhoods - for years. To the extent that the baseball team is starting to reflect that, it really becomes everybody's team."

The Red Sox organization, meanwhile, seems less interested in taking a bow than staying the course.

"One of the key areas of focus of the modern Red Sox is diversity - in the office and the fan base," says Red Sox Executive Vice President for Public Affairs Charles Steinberg. "We want students seeking internships and fellowships to understand that we seek, embrace, and value a diverse workforce. We seek a fruitful farm system of talented people for the front office, just as we do for the field. The eyes of our scouts are wide open."

Since joining the organization in 2002, Steinberg has embodied the new ownership's quest for a fan-friendly, community-oriented identity that permeates the franchise. Part of that vision has involved building on the organization's burgeoning effort to ethnically diversify between the lines, which began well before the team's sale five years ago.

"I think [ former GM ] Dan Duquette deserves a lot of credit as the guy who opened it up to everyone with the signing of Pedro Martinez," says New England Cable News sports anchor Chris Collins, the first and only African-American to serve as a primary television sports anchor in the Boston market's history. "Before Pedro, you never saw people of color at Fenway. Duquette took it a step further with Manny Ramirez and other Latin players, and he was signing Asian players before almost anyone else in baseball."

Matsuzaka, who inked a six-year contract worth $52 million this past December, isn't the only Bostonian who stands to benefit from the much-hyped signing. By way of example, look at the appeal of former Japanese pro Ichiro Suzuki, now a six-time All-Star, who has pumped millions of dollars into Seattle's economy since he came to the Mariners in 2001. Dice-K's impact on Boston's advertising revenue, travel, tourism, merchandising, and ticket sales may dwarf that of his right arm.

The Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau (BCVB) expects that the number of Japanese visitors to metro Boston will nearly double to about 22,000 this year, injecting $14 million of new money into the local economy. A Japanese tour operator offering airfare, lodging, and game-day ticket packages at $3,000 apiece this winter sold out 350 packages in 72 hours. Stateside, multiple Boston based businesses and attractions are printing menus and guides in Japanese. "National surveys show that the highest motivating draws for Asian tourists to a U.S. city are the arts, history, educational institutions, and sports teams," says Pat Moscaritolo, CEO of the BCVB. "We consider that the grand slam of things to do in Boston."

Business as usual may never be the same.