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The plaintiffs claim the clubhouse manager molested them when they were boys working for him during spring training.
By ALICIA CALDWELL, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 3, 2002
WINTER HAVEN -- He was a poor kid from the neighborhood, just 8 years old, when he got the offer of a lifetime.
Hey there, the guy on the golf cart called out. Want to catch balls for the team?
The team was the Boston Red Sox, which played spring training games in his hometown of Winter Haven. The guy, it turned out, was the clubhouse manager. Leeronnie Ogletree didn't hesitate, not knowing the price he and other boys would later allege they paid for the privilege of working there.
"Within two days, this guy was touching them," said Larry D. Hardaway, a Bartow lawyer, who related the encounter in a telephone interview.
Hardaway is one of the lawyers who filed a federal lawsuit against the clubhouse manager and the ball club on behalf of Ogletree and six other Central Florida men. The complaint alleges that when they were children, Donald James Fitzpatrick sexually molested them repeatedly for varying stretches of time between 1971 and 1991. The Red Sox knew, or should have known, about it, the lawsuit alleges.
The Red Sox unequivocally deny knowing of any such improprieties. The team issued a statement in November saying team officials are cooperating with the criminal investigation, which is being conducted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Polk County State Attorney's Office.
"From the first moment that the Red Sox became aware of allegations made against Donald Fitzpatrick in 1991, we immediately relieved him of his duties, conducted an investigation, determined that no one in the organization had any knowledge of the alleged behavior, and obtained his resignation," said the statement issued by Elaine Weddington Steward, Red Sox vice president and assistant general manager.
The Boston Globe reported that in 1991, just before the Sox were to play the Angels, a former team aide leaned over the Sox dugout with a sign accusing Fitzpatrick of molesting him. Fitzy, as he was called, left the team four days later, never to return.
Fitzpatrick, who lives in Massachusetts, is 72 years old and reportedly in poor health. A man who answered the phone at Fitzpatrick's home said to call his lawyer. Fitzpatrick's lawyer did not return phone calls for this story. But in a written response to the lawsuit, Fitzpatrick denied all allegations of impropriety.
The human wreckage that is detailed in the lawsuit is substantial. The allegations also leave some questioning the integrity of the team.
"It took everybody by surprise," said Winter Haven Mayor Charles Richardson. "How much should they have known? How closely should they have monitored their employee? At some point in time, you find yourself asking, 'Who do you trust?' "
The Red Sox no longer train in Winter Haven.
The lawsuit alleges that all of those singled out for special attention by Fitzpatrick were African-American boys. Hardaway said they were vulnerable -- kids who had the least in the way of material possessions, and were less likely to be believed by authorities if they ever stepped forward.
Hardaway, who represents six of the seven men who filed the lawsuit, said his clients were not willing to be interviewed for this story. Neither was Ogletree, who had been represented by Hardaway but recently switched lawyers. He is now represented by Ellis Faught of Brandon, who also declined to comment.
But Hardaway and the lawsuit describe some of the special attention and items the boys received in working for Fitzpatrick.
They were allowed to take home broken bats, balls and even jerseys. The boys could sell them for substantial amounts of money.
"Some kids would make more in a day than their parents would in a week," Hardaway said.
Fitzpatrick paid the boys to help him pack players' bags and clean up the locker room. Eventually, something else became part of the routine: He would watch the boys shower and change, and he would kiss and fondle them. The molestation included performing oral sex on the boys.
Most of the boys are related to one another, Hardaway said, and their family members would come to the games. They never knew, he said.
"None of this happened in open view of anybody," Hardaway said. "He would catch them after the game, in the locker room, alone."
The boys believed the only way they could continue to rub elbows with professional ball players was to allow the abuse to continue, the lawsuit alleges.
Those who filed the lawsuit -- Myron Birdsong, Terrance Birdsong, Walter Covington III, Eric Frazier Jr., Willie Earl Hollis, James A. Jackson and Ogletree -- allege that they have suffered depression, humiliation, thoughts of suicide and self-destructive behavior as a result of the molestation. The legal action asks for damages in excess of $3-million.
And as prepared as the men might have believed themselves to be for their abuse to be made public, they've suffered even more since the lawsuit was filed, Hardaway said.
"These guys have strong constitutions, yet some of their best friends are nagging them and joking with them about sex," Hardaway said. "There's a lot of embarrassment, and there's a lot of stress that comes with this."
-- Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report.