BOSTON -- A few minutes before the start of the Red Sox game at Fenway Park on Sunday night, Dave Dombrowski stood along the first base line as part of a ceremony to honor club employees. When introduced by the public address announcer, Dombrowski waved his right arm slightly. There was barely any acknowledgement from a crowd still filing in, and comprised of more Yankees fans than usual near the end of a lost Red Sox season.
But by the end of the night, Dombrowski's standing was the dominant issue in the building, when the Red Sox abruptly announced his departure with a year remaining on the contract of one of baseball's most accomplished executives.