The Boston Red Sox’s Triple-A minor league affiliate moved this summer from Pawtucket RI to Worcester MA. Formerly known as the “PawSox,” the team has been relabeled the “WooSox.” They play in a brand new ballpark, Polar Park, less than an hour from my summer home in Orange MA. I have already gone to two WooSox games. They won both.
For reasons known only to Red Sox management, but which I attribute to a deep-seated sadistic streak, the new ballpark is located in what may be the worst intersection in the entire state of Massachusetts, Kelly Square. This “square” is the convergence of 6 fairly heavily traveled streets with virtually no traffic controls to sort out the vehicular mayhem. It is every man for himself and if you are faint of heart you may spend hours waiting for an opening.
But while I expected the addition of the ballpark to raise the traffic pain from Horrible to Insane, it has not done that. Perhaps the traffic was already so bad that it couldn’t get worse. Or perhaps the fact that neither game filled the stadium to more than 50% capacity meant that we haven’t seen the worst yet. But getting in and out for both games was tolerable. Better than (the much larger) Fenway Park in Boston, home of the Red Sox.
I got free tickets to the first game courtesy of sister-in-law Kim and her employer, Worcester Academy, one of the WooSox sponsors (thanks, Kim and Worcester Academy!). These seats were out in left field, which was fine as there isn’t a bad seat in the place. The second game was courtesy of softball buddy Dave (thanks, Dave!). He got tickets directly behind home plate. These tickets were perhaps the best in the house, the proof being that we were next to the Red Sox’s Chief Baseball Officer, Chaim Bloom. Since he is in charge of the entire organization, he can sit pretty much wherever he wants.
My buddy Mike also was at this game. Dave and Mike are the two softball buddies who come to spring training in Ft Myers most years (this year being the exception thanks to the pandemic). It was great being able to attend a game in MA as the “three amigos.”
