Given that John Henry, the owner of the Boston Red Sox, also possesses the Boston Globe, one might assume he frequently engages with the media and routinely speaks with reporters.
However, nothing could be further from the truth.
In a candid email exchange with Fangraphs’ Jason Schwartz, Henry shed light on why he has distanced himself from public interviews with Red Sox journalists since the onset of the pandemic.
“I viewed engaging with the media as not particularly productive,” Henry explained in the email. “Why? The Red Sox already have a baseball chief, CEO, manager, and chairman addressing the public regularly. There are ample front office voices available every day.”
Henry’s last interaction with reporters dates back to February 2020, shortly after the Red Sox made headlines by trading Mookie Betts to the Dodgers in a monumental deal.
Rather than Henry, the Red Sox’s front office of Sam Kennedy, Tom Werner and whoever the president of baseball operations is has been fielding questions from the media instead.
Henry was not among those to speak when the Red Sox let Xander Bogaerts walk in free agency in 2022, nor when they traded franchise icon Rafael Devers in June 2025.
Even faced with renewed calls to speak to the media after Red Sox manager Alex Cora was fired this April, he chose not to.
“I know that local media are frustrated that once again I’m not taking questions from them, but I had a long, close relationship with Alex [Cora],” Henry wrote. “I’m not going to discuss why these changes were made. It would be a disservice to Alex and others. This is a very emotional time for my family who loves Alex and his family.”
The Fenway Sports Founder was tabbed as a savior when it came to print media as he purchased the Boston Globe for $70 million in 2013 and turned it into one of the world’s most iconic news publications.
Though it appeared Henry helped save a dying industry with the purchase, he’s since caused a stir by not answering “hard” questions on the Red Sox and transactions they’ve made.
“The owner’s silence isn’t golden,” The Athletic’s Brittany Ghiroli wrote, “it’s cowardly and speaks volumes about how one of the sport’s most iconic franchises has become rudderless.”