The Dennis Eckersley-David Price feud will not have a happy ending.
“Ultimately, this comes back to the dude doesn’t like me,” Eckersley said Wednesday. “And I get it. And it’s cool, let’s move on.”
He was asked if he would want to talk to Price again.
“No. Why would I want to talk to him?”
Eckersley, in his first public comments about the showdown on a Red Sox plane, opened up on WEEI radio about the aftermath of Price telling him to “get the f–k out of here” in late June.
The Red Sox star pitcher had his breaking point with the NESN analyst after Eckerlsey said, “Yuck,” when he saw the rehab stats of Boston pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez. In a confrontation first reported by the Boston Globe, Price stopped Eckersley in the middle of the plane and screamed at him, after which several of his teammates applauded.
“I was humiliated, to be honest with you,” said Eckersley, a Hall of Famer who said he had not given his side previously in hopes it would blow over. “… It was just an awful feeling. I didn’t quite know what to do. I’m just glad there’s distance here [from when it happened]. … I want it to go away, I really do.”
The Red Sox were flying from Boston to Toronto to begin a road trip.“It was difficult at first. I was on that road trip,” Eckersley said. “That was the first game of that road trip. … Trying to not have it have anything to do with your broadcast. You know, you’re only human. [It was difficult] especially when [Price] had to pitch.”
No one wearing a Red Sox uniform ever apologized to the 62-year-old. Price, sidelined since late July with a left elbow problem, challenged Eckersley after the story became public, saying critical analysts should show their faces in the locker room.
“Everybody wants to be talked about positively. Everything positive,” Eckersley said. “And it’s not that way. I’ve gotta do my job. And I can’t just be here with flowery-type commentary.”