Johnny Damon says his relationship with Red Sox fans is "better now" after leaving for Yankees
BOSTON -- Johnny Damon is one of the more unique athletes in Boston sports history. He was beloved in Boston when he helped lead the Red Sox to the ultimate high of the 2004 World Series Championship, only to become hated in town two years later when he crossed over to the dark side and joined the New York Yankees.
Damon was a fan favorite upon arriving in Boston in 2002, and hit his Red Sox peak as one of those lovable "Idiots" on the 2004 team that ended the franchise's 86-year World Series draught. Fans loved his reliable bat at the plate, speed on the basepaths, and all-out attitude in the field -- not to mention those famous long locks and caveman beard that Damon sported with the Red Sox.
But he quickly felt the full fury of Boston fans after he signed with the hated Yankees in the 2005 offseason. Damon had said the Yankees were the one team said he wouldn't sign with, but a four-year, $54 million offer changed his mind.
After that, any good that Damon accomplished in his four years in Boston was thrown at the window and those cheers he heard at Fenway Park turned to jeers when he made his first visit with the Yankees. The clean-shaven and short-haired Damon was greeted with loud boos and signs that called him "Judas Damon" and a "Sell Out."
But time heals all wounds, and with the Red Sox winning three more World Series titles (to just one by the Yankees) since Damon's departure, the anger toward the former leadoff man has lightened.
"It's definitely better now," Damon told WBZ-TV's Dan Roche in a recent 1-on-1 interview.
Damon was back at Fenway Park last season as the organization honored the 20-year anniversary of the 2004 World Series champs. Fans gave him a warm reception and really ate it up when Damon cut off Manny Ramirez's ceremonial first pitch -- an homage to Ramirez doing the same to a Damon throw in the outfield during the 2004 season.
But it took Damon a long time to get used to all the vitriol from Boston fans after he donned pinstripes.
"Joining the Yankees was tough. It was weird. Yeah" said Damon. "It took a while. Getting booed by the fans that you showed up for every day and ran into walls for ... But I understood."
Damon said there's one thing he can do to make sure Red Sox fans remember the good times and not those pinstripe years: Rock the long hair whenever he's in Boston.
"They love seeing the long hair again for sure. Every time I go back to Fenway Park or Boston, I make sure I have the hair down or the high big bun so people know I have my hair back from when I wasn't playing for the Yankees," he said. "Mostly, I have it back because my 8-year-old son, Dash Johnny Damon, has some beautiful long hair. He gets way too much attention and I want some of that attention back.
Johnny Damon never wanted to leave the Red Sox
Damon really wanted to return to Boston and the team made it sound like the feeling was mutual during Spring Training ahead of the 2005 season. But when it came time for negotiations to begin that winter, the Red Sox showed otherwise.
"I could never say anything bad about the Red Sox because they gave me four great year. But I didn't have a contract offer from the Red Sox and they were the only team that could talk to me for six weeks after the season," recalls Damon. "So no offer, and then I started talking to the Yankees. We worked out a contract. And then a couple of days later I got a DHL with the contract the Red Sox were offering me. But they never gave me a verbal offer.
"If I would have known, I would have asked them to come up a little bit, maybe four years for $44 million to show me they cared," said Damon. "It was rumored they were going to offer me that four years and $40 million in Spring Training, which never happened. They also told me to buy a house, which I did. A beautiful house in Chestnut Hill and I thought we would be there for the next four years at least. That didn't happen."
With Jacoby Ellsbury quickly rising up the Boston farm system, Damon understood why the Red Sox considered going in a different direction. He just wished there was a little more transparency from Boston, though he said other teams played the same games in free agency.
"It's very difficult," Damon said of the free agency process. "Every free agent story you hear about, or the big ones where teams are whining and dining someone -- it was never like that for me. It was always difficult. I never wanted to leave the team I was on, even when I went to the other place. Detroit was the only team that was honest with me and said we aren't going to bring you back the following year. At least I went into that offseason not worrying about it. But free agency is so difficult."
Catch Dan Roche's full chat with Johnny Damon in the video above, as the Red Sox World Series champ discusses his time with Boston, shares some advice for the team's top prospects, and also makes a pitch for his new sports drink, A-Game.
