How the Red Sox will enforce the lifetime ban against fan who used racial slur

Brian Hines
Contributing Writer

After the Adam Jones incident at Fenway Park last week, the club faced another racial slur problem on Wednesday. Calvin Hennick reported a "middle-aged white man" to security after he used a racial slur to describe the performance of the national anthem. 

The anthem was sung by a Kenyan women, while Hennick was sitting next to his six-year old son and father-in-law, both whom are black.
"The Red Sox organization will not tolerate the use of racial slurs at Fenway Park, and we have apologized to those affected," the team explained in a statement. "There is no place for racial epithets at Fenway Park, in baseball, or in our society. The Red Sox have turned the matter over to the Boston Police Department, who will further investigate with their civil rights unit and determine whether it merits further action."

A fan was banned from Fenway Park for using a racial slur last week.
Photo Source: Unknown
After reporting the fan to security, the man was removed from the stadium and given a lifelong ban from Fenway Park. The team has the right to ban any fan "engaging in intolerant behavior."

But since the ban was placed, many question how the Red Sox will be able to execute a permanent ban from Fenway Park. Fans who are banned must sign off on the agreement that doesn't allow them in the stadium, but not allowing entrance to one individual could come as a challenge.

With over 37,000 people entering Fenway Park at a time, having security patrol the area is not an effective method. Facial recognition technology has not made its way into ballparks, but the team can match up the individual with a list of ticket purchases.

“We informed this person verbally and in writing, and we’ve also flagged their credit card from being able to purchase tickets from the organization moving forward,” Red Sox spokeswomen Zineb Curran said. “Key security personnel are aware of who the individual is. What we’re not doing is posting this person’s picture and name at every gate. That’s not something we’re doing. We know this isn’t a perfect or infallible system. And we recognize that enforcing it will be a difficult thing to do. But if the person is willing to take a risk and come back to the ballpark, there are actions that can be taken if they’re caught.”

If the individual is found inside Fenway, trespassing charges could follow.

Major leave baseball continues to search for new ways to enforce bans from stadium and review fan-behavior policies.