Long before David Price took issue with Dennis Eckersley, or chicken and beer became a 2011 subplot, Boston was a contentious place to play baseball. Passionate fans and a scrutinizing media are not unique fixtures of the last decade.
No one experienced this more than Ted Williams.
From 1939 until 1960 (though in reality it extended years beyond that), Williams rarely got along with reporters. And his feelings toward fans were always complicated. Arguably no incident better demonstrated this than the time he contemptuously spat in the direction of Fenway Park fans who booed him on August 7, 1956.