Red Sox owner fined $500,000 for criticizing MLB

[March 03, 2011]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Boston Red Sox owner John Henry has been fined $500,000 by Major League Baseball for publicly criticizing the sport's revenue sharing rules.

Henry told Boston radio station WEEI on Tuesday that the commissioner's office punished him for comments he made to The Boston Globe in November 2009.

A person familiar with the fine confirmed that Henry was docked $500,000 not long after the comments were made. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the penalty publicly.

After the 2009 season, Henry said seven "chronically uncompetitive teams" received more than $1 billion in revenue sharing and wondered who could think that was a good idea besides those clubs.

[Associated Press; By MIKE FITZPATRICK]

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