Ever since its founding in 1970, the Pawtucket Red Sox have been a mainstay in the state of Rhode Island.
Until recently, that is. On August 17, the announcement became official that the Pawtucket Red Sox would be leaving McCoy Stadium to adopt a new ballpark in 2021. However, this park will be stationed in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Having been the Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox since 1972, and a minor league affiliate since 1970, there have been many owners who have talked about the idea of moving to another area to play minor league baseball. In fact, as recently as 2017 there were talks of moving the team to Providence.
Even though those talks fell through, the state of Rhode Island had plenty of opportunities to keep the Red Sox around, it just didn’t do it.
Former Red Sox CEO, and current PawSox Chairman Larry Lucchino, was asked of moving to Worcester and he said, “We are eager to build an innovative, family-friendly ballpark that reflects the love and appreciation of baseball and that unifies Central Massachusetts and the Blackstone Valley Corridor.”
Rhode Island officials tried to keep the team around, as they decided to put up $38 million into a new stadium in a surrounding area back in June, but just couldn’t seal the deal. Worcester came in and snagged the Red Sox minor league club, and have a deal in place to construct Polar Park (sponsored by the Polar beverage company) by March of 2021.
It’s a huge loss to the state of Rhode Island to no longer have the Pawtucket Red Sox around. But the city of Worcester just got a big win, and should be absolutely thrilled to add an attractive site for people to go see on a nightly basis.
