The Worcester Red Sox (Class AAA; International League) are partnering with ANC on the videoboards and displays at Polar Park, the team’s new home opening in 2021.
All in all, Polar Park will sport high-def full-color videoboards in left field and right-center Field, as well as a large, traditional, electronic alphanumeric scoreboard on the Worcester Wall in right field, plus a pair of LED Matrix boards behind first and third base.
The left-field board will be 40 feet high and 70 feet long, down the left field line, and will primarily focus on the hitter and lineups during innings of WooSox games.
The right-center board, on the FlexCon Porch, is 11 ½ feet high and 41 feet long. During innings, it will primarily track pitching, focusing on the speed of pitch, type of pitch, and pitch count. Between innings, it will focus on parent team Boston Red Sox, providing information about the parent club, including updates on games when played concurrently.
Keeping fans informed about essential game information as they circumnavigate the park, LED color matrix boards behind first base and third base will be 2 ½ feet high and 60 feet long. Each will provide the count, the score, the inning, and more.
In addition to providing statistical information and notes about the players, the videoboards will provide entertainment pregame, postgame, and between innings of WooSox games (as well as during many other events at the year-round venue). The club is also planning innovative interactive programming that will further connect fans to the players and to each other. The WooSox will use ANC’s proprietary scoring system that is also used in Major League Baseball.
“We will use technology to inform, entertain, and involve fans even more in the Polar Park experience,” said Red Sox Hall of Famer Larry Lucchino, Principal Owner and Chairman of the WooSox. “In a city known for its inventions—from modern rocketry to the monkey wrench—we hope to write the next chapter of ballpark presentation.”
Lucchino and WooSox President Dr. Charles Steinberg first introduced a “Pitcher’s Board” to fans of Major League Baseball 25 years ago when they were with the San Diego Padres. \In 1995, the Padres were the first to display the speed of each pitch, and in 1996, installed a board that included the speed, the type of pitch, and the pitch count (including balls and strikes totals). When they joined the Boston Red Sox in 2002, they were among those who overhauled the electronic scoreboard system (including the creation of a Pitcher’s Board) while preserving and enhancing the manually-operated iconic scoreboard on the Green Monster.
“Today’s news is yet another milestone on our path to Polar Park,” said City Manager Ed Augustus, Jr. “It reflects our pursuit of a technologically advanced ballpark with an integrated system of five scoreboards, videoboards, and LED matrix boards. This is going to be a great ballpark for baseball fans, and a great venue of which the City of Worcester can be proud.”
Renderings courtesy Worcester Red Sox and ANC.
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