By most accounts, rookie Shelley Duncan has positively changed the culture of the Yankees’ clubhouse with his jovial demeanor.
New York Yankees right fielder Shelley Duncan, shown on the field before Sunday’s game, said the autograph he gave a young fan was a joke that backfired.
Yet this weekend, that same demeanor brought Duncan some unwanted notoriety.
While he signed autographs before Friday’s series opener, Duncan exchanged playful banter with some Red Sox [team stats] fans. In keeping with the spirit of those conversations, he wrote in the notebook of 10-year-old Griffin Whitman,
“Red Sox Suck! Shelley Duncan.”
“It’s not always Yankees fans that have us sign stuff. I try to rile ’em up and be fun. I don’t expect anybody to make a big deal about it. Nobody ever has before.”
While Red Sox pitcher and Boston native
Manny Delcarmen said he has never offered such an epithet to a fan, he does sometimes exchange playful barbs, particularly when offering autographs to Yankee loyalists.
Griffin Whitman, 10, holds the autograph he received from Yankee outfielder Shelley Duncan prior to the Sox and Yanks game Friday at Fenway Park.
“You look at them and you say, ‘You’re wearing Yankees stuff but you want my autograph?’ ” Delcarmen said. “I grew up here in Boston. When a Yankees fan asks for an autograph, I’m like, ‘Whatever.’ I still sign for them.”
"Red Sox Suck" by Shelley Duncan
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