BOSTON — On Monday night, from the bleachers of Fenway Park, someone hurled racial slurs at Adam Jones.

A day later, nothing could be done to reel back the disgusting taunt meant to dehumanize the Orioles outfielder, who is black.

But the response it provoked seemed to show that a vast majority of players and fans wouldn’t stand for such bigotry.

They were unified in their condemnation. 

Visiting an opposing ballpark is never easy, Jones said. He doesn’t think it should be. It’s called home field advantage for a reason.

But there’s a line, and on Monday, at least one person leaped well past it.

“We understand that we’re the road team, and that the fans don’t need to welcome us,” he said. “It’s all part of the competitive edge for the fan base to tell us opponents, ‘You suck. Ha ha, you struck out’ — various things on your performance, which is completely understandable in the lines of just how sports work and how fan bases work. 

“I just heard that all night and was something that caught my attention — the n-word. I get certain reactions when someone says something clever versus really, really stupid and ignorant.”

Jones said he doesn’t want to let a single person define an entire group of fans.

But Boston, he noted, has a past.

“There’s a long history of these kind of incidents in Boston,” he said, citing as one example Celtics star Bill Russell’s struggles with racism.

Jones said he believes talking about such incidents — a bag of peanuts was also hurled at him, along with the epithets — is a step forward.

“Nothing’s at rest when it comes to race, let’s be honest with ourselves. It’s all about having a conversation,” he said. “Once you have the dialogue, that means you can work towards something.”

By talking about what he heard in the Fenway Park outfield, Jones did just that.

Red Sox owner John Henry sat down and chatted with Jones and Orioles manager Buck Showalter yesterday. Henry was said to personally apologize to Jones for what happened.

It was a topic of conversation in the Red Sox clubhouse, too.

News of the slur was dispiriting for Jackie Bradley Jr. who, like Jones, plays centerfield. Bradley is also black.

“You know, it’s very unfortunate that in this particular time that we still have to deal with those certain things, and it’s disheartening, it really is,” Bradley said. “I was in that same outfield at the same exact time A.J. was. So what made it any different that he was called out a name, and I wasn’t?”

Mookie Betts took to Twitter, urging fans to give Jones a standing ovation.

Chris Young added his thought provoking two cents:

“You’re asking me because I’m a black player,” he said. “I get it, but everybody is affected by this. You shouldn’t just be talking to the black players about it. We’ve been talking to Rick (Porcello) about it. We’ve been talking to the white guys about it. This affects everybody. We’re all a team. 

“Nobody approves of this, know what I’m saying? Everybody should feel the same way about this, no matter if they’re black or white or Hispanic or whatever,” he said. “Everybody should feel the same way about this situation.”

At 7:10 p.m., the fans joined the discussion.

When his name was announced, Jones was greeted with cheers. Realizing what was happening, Sox pitcher Chris Sale stepped off the rubber. As fans got to their feet, the applause built — and built and built.

The Sox and Orioles are embroiled in a bitter feud — Sale threw a pitch behind the next batter. But for a moment last night, that didn’t matter.

On Monday, an idiot did something abhorrent.

Last night, a nation of fans responded accordingly.

Chris Mason is the Red Sox reporter for CNHI Sports Boston. You can contact him at CMason@northofboston.com.