Rockwell and the Red Sox – As American as Euro-centric Education
Curtis Publishing
The Rookie (The Red Sox Locker Room), 1957 Norman Rockwell
April 30, 2005
By Shannon O’ConnorContributing Writer
To commemorate the Boston Red Sox’ 84 years overdue World Championship, the Museum of Fine Arts is holding a display called Rockwell and the Red Sox in collaboration with opening day at Fenway Park. It consists of one Norman Rockwell painting, “The Rookie,” along with memorabilia from The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
Many photographs adorn the walls of the small room, including one of the first game ever played in Fenway Park on April 20, 1912, in which the Boston Red Sox played the New York Highlanders, the team that later became the Yankees. The two teams are in a line in the faded sepia photograph with the coaches in the middle wearing bow ties and knickers.
Behind that picture is one of Fenway Park on the opening day of the 2004 World Series. The color is bright and the energy from the crowd and the team can be felt through the photograph.
Carl Yastrzemski’s home jersey from 1976 is also displayed, as well as Cy Young’s home jersey from 1908. Young is considered one of the greatest pitchers of all time, the only one in baseball’s first one hundred years to win five hundred games, including three no-hit shut outs and a perfect game on May 5, 1904. His jersey is faded and yellow with age and bears the trace of a team that was a winner in its day.
There are several photographs by a man named Verner Reed. They were all taken around 1957 and portray the Red Sox from that era. They are extremely clear black and white pictures; there is one that shows some young fans sitting in the stands wearing visors looking gleeful. Another portrays Red Sox manager Pinky Higgins and Yankees manager Casey Stengel appearing as if they are having a heated discussion, and it is entitled “Who’s on First?” These photographs have never been shown anywhere before this exhibit at the MFA.
The centerpiece of the display is the Normal Rockwell painting, “The Rookie.” The picture portrays several Red Sox players, including Ted Williams and Sammy White, in the locker room and a young man simply known as “John. J. Anonymous,” who is a newcomer to the team, holding a suitcase, appearing to be nervous.
The anonymous young man was a local athlete who posed at Rockwell’s studio. He used all real models of the team members except Williams, who could not make it, so he used a photograph of him instead. The picture appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on May 2, 1957.
There are also some programs from the World Series from 1903 and 1912. The Red Sox won both of those series. The pictures on the pamphlets are very quaint and old fashioned, with curvy designs and men with handlebar moustaches who have bright eyes and look incredibly frightened. Perhaps it was because they could sense that the team’s winning streak would not last very long.
These days, the Red Sox and their beloved fans do not have a pessimistic outlook at all. The losing years are over, but will the joy of winning endure? Will the team survive intense scrutiny and criticism? Will Johnny Damon be crucified and rise from the dead to save the team once more? Nobody knows. We’re all still busy just basking in the glory of it all.
