He hated his experience in New York, but for Sonny Gray, Boston is ‘who I am’

By his own admission, Sonny Gray’s year and a half spent in New York pitching for the Yankees was a miserable one.

“I never wanted to go there in the first place,” said Gray in a Zoom call with reporters Tuesday, a week after being dealt to the Red Sox. “It just wasn’t a good situation for me. It wasn’t a great set-up for me and my family. I never wanted to go there. It just didn’t really work for who I am.

“I do appreciate my time there, because the last seven years in my life, I’ve been a baseball player, husband and everything from having that experience and going through that. I just feel like I learned so much after going through that. I just wasn’t myself. I just didn’t feel like I was allowed to go out there and be Sonny.”

Boston, however, is different, which was part of the reason he never hesitated to waive his no-trade clause when presented with the chance to join the Red Sox.

“I’m more of a Boston guy than anything,” said Gray, who wore a 2007 Red Sox World Series cap during the call. “That is who I am. Boston is a situation that works for me. I’ve been there, gone there, been around the city and the people and talking to other people, that is a situation I feel comfortable in. That’s important to me.”

Gray recalled watching the Sox on TV as a boy and being struck by how unique Fenway Park and the Green Monster were. The field at Vanderbilt, his alma mater, also features a big green wall in left field.

“They played ‘Sweet Caroline’ after the seventh inning my whole career at Vanderbilt,” he noted.

Competing for Team USA, he played several games as a amateur at Fenway.

There are other connections to Boston for Gray. At Vanderbilt, he pitched for head coach Tim Corbin, who was born in New Hampshire and still has New England roots. While at Vanderbilt, Gray roomed with Mike Yastrzemski, grandson of Red Sox great Carl Yastrzemski, and the younger Yastrzemski remains one of his closest friends.

“When I say I am more Boston than any other place,” said Gray, “there’s a lot that goes into that. Going to Vanderbilt was a very big (part) of that. Coach Corbin would always (talk about that); he was a Boston guy.

“It’s a low-rise city. It doesn’t feel like you’re surrounded by (big buildings). You can see the sky. Things like that are important to me.”

“It’s easy for me to go to a place where it’s easy to hate the Yankees,” said Gray. “It’s easy to go out and have that rivalty and go into it full-force, full steam ahead. I like the challenge. I accept the challenge. But this time around, it’s just go out and be yourself. Don’t try to be anything other than yourself.

“If people don’t like it, it is what it is. I am who I am. And I’m OK with that.”