Re: Kerry’s Sports Gaffe

Just for the record, my point was a sincere one. Politicians have to go to picnics with firemen and cops and all sorts of union guys. Particularly Democrats and particularly in Massachusetts. Kerry was Lt. Governor of the state. You would just think that he’d have his lines memorized about his favorite Red Sox player. One reader tells me that Yost was a manager of the Sox in the 1950s, so maybe that explains the gaffe in the sense of his recollection. Here’s one explanation from a reader that might work:

Jonah and gang,

As a veritable baseball addict, I find it entirely possible to have a favorite player who doesn’t play for the home team. Growing up, my favorite team was the Minnesota Twins but my favorite player (as a boy) was Reggie Jackson. As I’m sure even you are aware, Reggie Jackson never played for Minnesota. Even more obviously, lots of kids not in Chicago or LA will still name Jordan or Bryant or Magic Johnson as their favorite players.

Yost was actually a Senator (the baseball kind) during Kerry’s youth. So it’s very possible that Kerry accurately remembered fond memories of Yost – just playing in the road uniform. I remember having similar feelings about Michael Jordan when the Bulls would play the Wolves.

This isn’t to say Kerry doesn’t fudge the truth or split hairs too much. But the passage Gammons writes does not say that Kerry believed Yost was a Sox (Sawx?) player. He writes only that Yost was Kerry’s favorite, and that Kerry liked the Sox.

And this reader suggests that Gammons has it in for Kerry: