“Blue Bloods” follows the Reagan family, which has been protecting the people of Manhattan for generations. Patriarch Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck) is the Big Apple’s police commissioner, and his children have taken on different roles to help protect New Yorkers. That includes Danny (Donnie Wahlberg), an NYPD detective and Frank’s eldest son. Danny is known for his tough exterior and is unafraid to confront criminals and sometimes even his family. While Danny and the rest of his family work to stop crime in its tracks, “Blue Bloods” makes sure to pay homage to the city that is at the center of each episode, which includes shooting in New York City, though it was nearly filmed in Toronto.
New York City is a vibrant place known for many things, including Broadway, the Empire State Building, its famous New York-style pizza, and intense traffic. But there’s one other thing for which New York is recognized: sports. And Donnie Wahlberg has voiced his opinion on Danny’s New York baseball allegiance.
Wahlberg’s reasoning has to do with baseball history
While “Blue Bloods” is based in and filmed in New York City, it is well-known that Donnie Wahlberg grew up in Boston, the home of the Red Sox. The team’s rivalries with the New York Mets and New York Yankees — especially the Yankees — are no secret, either. According to History, the Red Sox entered their infamous drought after the team’s owner traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees following the 1919 season. The Sox wouldn’t see a World Series title for more than 80 years, not until they became champs again in 2004.
Wahlberg, taking into account the storied rivalry between the Yankees and the Red Sox, made one very urgent request to the writers behind “Blue Bloods” in the earliest days of the show. “I’m beggin’ them to let me be a Mets fan, the writers. I think they want him [Danny] to be a Yankees fan,” Wahlberg said during an interview with CBS News. “But out in the streets, it’s great. You know, it’s a lot of fun. I think since the Red Sox won the World Series, New Yorkers have lightened up with torturing us Bostonians.”