Terry Francona regrets the firestorm that erupted over his decision to stay away from the 100th anniversary celebration of Fenway Park, saying it "got a little too public" and that he wishes he'd handled it differently.
"I'm not comfortable going back there," he told Michael Kay Thursday on Kay's ESPN Radio show in New York. "But I wish I would have kind of kept some of the reasons to myself. I'm a little disappointed in myself for that."
Francona said, in an interview with Dan Shaughnessy in the Boston Globe earlier this week, that he was still hurt by the story published in the Globe last fall that detailed some personal, off-the-field problems he was having, and that he felt the story was leaked by someone in the Red Sox organization. ("What hurt me was that somebody wanted to hurt me.") He also said he had an argument with Red Sox president and CEO Larry Lucchino during a phone conversation Monday when Lucchino called to urge him to attend next Friday's ceremony.
"It was kind of a private conversation with Larry Lucchino the other day . . . and I should have kept it to myself," Francona told Kay. "I let my emotions get the best of me, and that's not good."
"I wish I'd have handled it a little differently. I think I'm smarter than that, especially having managed in Boston all those years. I wasn't very happy with the way I handled it."
What's difficult, he admits, is balancing the animosity he feels towards management with the affection he still has for many people in the organization and the fans.
"I was actually treated really well in Boston," Francona said. "Being the manager there is tough. You're going to get yelled at, talk radio's going to have their way with you because everybody's smarter than the manager, but when I look back on it, I was treated great. And since I've been gone, I've been treated even better.
"This is nothing against the fans. I just have to do what I'm comfortable with, and right now I'm not comfortable going back. And, like I said, it's a shame. But that's how I feel."
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