BOSTON — As the list of potential purchasers of The Boston Globe leaked out, the newspaper’s longtime sportswriter and columnist Bob Ryan said his only thought was: please, let it be anyone but John Henry.

“This was the last circumstance anyone would want,” Ryan said Saturday of Henry’s purchase of The Globe and other media properties from The New York Times Company for $70 million. “It’s nothing anyone would wish. It’s scary, to say the least, for all involved.”

The news that Henry, the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox, was acquiring The Globe, New England’s largest newspaper, resonated most profoundly in its sports department, where this reporter worked for many years.

“We don’t know what the new situation is going to be in terms of hierarchy, but I would hope to be able to continue to cover the Red Sox the way we always have, “ the sports editor, Joe Sullivan, said.