Bosox Brass Bride Shaking Things Up In RSN
Via the Boston Herald –
Boston Red Sox’ principal owner John Henry’s new bride is calling the shots when it comes to the team’s development plans at Fenway Park.
Sources tell the Herald that Henry benched Janet Marie Smith, the team’s vice president for planning and development, just weeks after his June wedding to Linda Pizzuti.
“Janet Marie was told to go because Linda’s taking over the whole damn place,” said one person familiar with Smith’s exit. Another source said, “Janet was thrown under the bus and everything is a mess as a result of the young bride. The Chinese symbol for conflict is two women under one roof.”
Smith, 51, recently ended her eight-year stint with the Sox. She is credited with sparing the storied ballpark from the wrecking ball, installing Monster seats and improving the 97-year-old stadium.
The 30-year-old bride worked for her family’s Boston development firm, which is transforming a former raincoat factory in the Bulfinch Triangle into luxury condominiums.
A third source said the conflict centered on factors that have been brewing within the Sox organization since Henry bought the team in 2001 for $660 million and hired Smith to restore the park.
In one camp were Sox staffers who praised Smith for encouraging Henry to buy properties around the ballpark to keep developers from building apartments or offices that could tower over Fenway.
These Smith boosters, including Larry Lucchino, the team’s president and chief executive, backed the “preserve and protect” mantra, saying it was worth it to spend cash to spare the area around the park from unfettered development and to ensure that shadows were not cast on Fenway.
But others within the organization wanted the Sox to maximize the property the team purchased under the name of New England Sports Ventures.
There’s no truth to the rumor that Hank and Hal Steinbrenner buried an Alex Rodriguez jersey into Linda Pizzuti just before her wedding to John Henry…
…that said, any disharmony that Henry’s trophy wife can bring into the Red Sox organization is still music for this Yankees fan’s ears…
I hope John Henry signed a pre-nup because his new bride sounds like a handful.
I intend to follow her on Twitter to see if she’ll spout the same sort of nonsense that her husband does.
http://twitter.com/linda_pizzuti
Ha, checked out her twitter out for two seconds and see she is dropping the “sexist” card after an article slamming her was written. Well, of course.