Donation To Scott Brown Pokes At Yankees-Red Sox Rivalry

This weekend, Fenway Park will celebrate it’s 100th birthday with the 2012 renewal of one of the most bitter rivalries in sports. Before the Yankees arrive in town, though, a donation to Scott Brown’s campaign is stirring up passions on both sides:

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown may be rooting for the Red Sox [team stats] against the Yankees this week, but the head of the hated Pinstripes is going to bat for Brown.

Randy Levine, president of the New York Yankees, donated the maximum $2,500 to the Massachusetts Republican’s re-election campaign last month, according to newly released campaign finance records.

That’s right, the commander of the Evil Empire is helping to pay for all those Brown ads championing his support of the Red Sox.

It’s one thing to be bipartisan, Senator, but this is taking it a little too far. There’s no compromising in baseball.

“We’re happy to accept Randy Levine’s donation,” Brown campaign spokesman Colin Reed said. “The way Scott Brown looks at it is, this is their way of paying us back for Babe Ruth.”

The Babe for Brown? Somehow I don’t think Sox fans — even those who love Brown — would take that deal.

Levine is the embodiment of everything we hate about the Yankees. He’s described as arrogant and brash, and is the chief henchman of the Steinbrenner family, according to reports. Oh yeah, one of his chief goals every year is to destroy the Red Sox.

Brown, meanwhile, is openly trying to win over the hearts of Sox fans — and voters — in his tough re-election fight against Democrat Elizabeth Warren.

Politics is one thing and, while I like Scott Brown, he needs to remember that there is no bipartisanship in baseball. He can ponder that thought while watching his Sox lose this weekend.

Photo via Buzzfeed

FILED UNDER: 2012 Election, Congress, Sports, US Politics, , , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Tillman says:

    It’s one thing to be bipartisan, Senator, but this is taking it a little too far.

    Politics as team sport, meet team sports. I hope your clash is fruitful and unpredictable.

  2. Tsar Nicholas says:

    Indeed, the only thing on earth that I despise more than the Red Sox, hmmm, now I’m drawing a blank.

    Concerning Scott Brown, I can’t really fault him for taking Levine’s dollars. Money is to politics what water is to life. Shit, if I were running for office I’d gladly take John Henry’s money. If someone called me on it I’d point out that I hate the Red Sox with a passion, but that in politics, as in love, opposites can and do attract.

  3. Neil Hudelson says:

    Indeed, the only thing on earth that I despise more than the Red Sox, hmmm, now I’m drawing a blank.

    The yankees?

  4. John Burgess says:

    Until last year, the NY Times owned a piece of the Red Sox. It was through their ownership of the Boston Globe. They still own the Globe (last I looked), but forced a sale on the Sox shares because, as we know, the Times is hemorrhaging cash.

    And just to correct Neil a little bit, in Boston, that NY team is not ‘the Yankees’. They’re ‘those MF Yankees’.