Tornado warning
Posted by Carl on January 30, 2008
And no, I’m not referring to today’s local meteorological events - next up on our continued team profiles is Worcester. Hard to believe, but the team was named after a particularly destructive tornado which touched down in Worcester, Massachusetts on June 9, 1953. Hard to believe because it killed 94 people. And to think we were worried about the team name here in Ottawa…
Worcester joined the Can-Am League in 2005, winning the league championship right out of the gate with a three game sweep of Les Capitales de Quebec. Quite a feat, and well deserved for a city that had been without pro baseball for 75 years. In 2007, they finished with a record of 43-51 but fourth in attendance with an average of 2,267 fans over 53 home games. The Tornadoes make their home in Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field, which is located on the campus of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. The stadium was constructed in just over three months - no small feat, retrofitting a 100 year old facility to seat 3,000 people in a completely open air environment. Notables who made appearances at Fitton Field include Casey Stengel, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig.
The city population is pegged at just slightly shy of 176,000 and is a little more than 40 miles from Boston. Competition for the sports entertainment dollar include not just the Red Sox, but the “New England Surge” (an indoor football team) and the “Worcester Sharks“, an AHL hockey team affiliated with San Jose of the NHL.
The team has local radio coverage of its games (WTAG 580) and appears to have good exposure at “Worcester Love” - a “video guide to Worcester county” (see vid below).
We may have to add Fitton Field to our list of Can-AM parks to visit this summer. Ottawa visits Worcester in June (13-15) and again in August (22-24).
More later - if time permits.
January 31, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Pretty extensive tour of Fitton Field, great photography and story:
http://www.digitalballparks.com/CanAm/Fitton1.html
February 1, 2008 at 12:55 am
I really liked that the “kids fun zone” was located where mom and dad could still watch the game. I’m hoping there’s a way to do that in Ottawa. One thought I had was to locate the activities and even the bullpens on platforms up in the seating area (since we won’t be needing all 10,300 or so seats), but that may be cost-prohibitive. Still, it may be fun to sit in and around the bullpens/fun zone…….Looks like some fun cities to visit in the league, Boston area, Atlantic City, Quebec….