Fenway Park gives Adam Jones standing ovation

Fans in Boston showed Adam Jones their support after Monday’s incident.

Coming to the plate for his first at-bat of the game on Tuesday, Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones received a heartwarming welcome from the usually hostile Boston Red Sox fans at Fenway Park. After an unfortunate incident Monday night in which a Boston fan shouted a racial slur at Jones, Tuesday’s Fenway faithful showed they won’t stand for that kind of discrimination.

While Jones prepared to take his first at-bat of the game in the top of the first, Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale stepped off the mound to give the fans time to acknowledge the opposing player.

The standing ovation may have been spurred on by Boston’s own Mookie Betts, who tweeted on Tuesday that Sox fans should show their support for Jones:

In case you missed it, here’s a clip of Jones’ standing O.

Unfortunately for the Orioles, Jones struck out on the plate appearance, as Sale sent all three Baltimore batters down on strikes in the first inning.

Jones told reporters after Monday’s 5-2 Orioles win that a fan had yelled the derogatory slur at him during the game, and later added that he’d had a bag of peanuts thrown in his direction. Sports Illustrated has his telling quote:

“I heard the N-word,” Jones said in his media scrum. “It was not clever. It was stupid and ignorant.”

Jones also mentioned that it wasn’t the first time he’d heard similar remarks at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox organization publicly apologized to Jones on Tuesday and condemned the fan’s actions. Team president Sam Kennedy asserted that the team does not tolerate racism, and that they’re reviewing the incident.

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The fact that such an event occurred is disappointing to say the least, but it is nice to see the Boston crowd standing with a rival player against racial discrimination.