A Lee County Commissioner charged with exploring options for City of Palms Park, the former spring home of the Boston Red Sox, says there might be interest out there from MLB teams, but any move would be an extreme long-shot. Commissioner John Manning says he’s heard second-hand that two teams — one currently training in […]
Tag Archives | boston red sox
Remembering Winter Haven’s spring-training heritage
Though it’s unlikely spring training will ever return to Winter Haven in central Florida, the city can look back on a several MLB teams training in the city. Here’s a look at the history of spring training in Winter Haven. The News Chief laid out the history of spring baseball in Winter Haven, which began […]
Jeter be gone!
Tired of talk about Derek Jeter, surely the most overrated player in baseball today? If you’re a Chrome user, you can install an extension that wipes out any reference to the Bronx Bomber on almost any Web page, removing the starting All-Star shortstop from your life. The extension can be found here. Predictably enough, it […]
NY Times sells part of Red Sox, Fenway stake
The New York Times Co. has sold half of its stake in Fenway Sports Group (FSG), the holding company that controls the Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park, most of New England Sports Network (NESN) and other sports entities. According to the company, it has sold 390 of 700 Class B units for a total of […]
Beer and baseball combine in unusual way
Here’s something you don’t see every day: a Boston Red Sox fan snares a foul ball using nothing but his wits, sharp reflexes and a cup of beer. The video tells all: Choosing between a beer and a ball is always a hard decision. It brings us back to the days of Met Stadium and […]
Lee County to move forward with City of Palms Park aquatic conversion
Lee County will move to the next stage of negotiations with the National Swimming Corp. to covert City of Palms Park, the former spring-training home of the Boston Red Sox, to a natatorium after county commissioners realized pro baseball was not in the facility’s future. The proposal has the company paying $18.2 million to convert […]
Future of City of Palms Park still under debate
Though many in Fort Myers would like to see another MLB team train at City of Palms Park, that’s not happening any time soon, and Lee County is struggling to find a future use for the ballpark — with an outdoor pool again at the top of the list. It’s no secret Fort Myers and […]
Crunching the 2011 Florida spring-training numbers
Attendance at Grapefruit League games at Florida spring-training facilities was slightly higher in 2011 than in 2010, but overall attendance been a little down since record numbers were set in the middle of this decade. A total of 1,571,196 fans attended Florida spring-training games this past spring. That’s higher than last year’s tally of 1,427,627 […]
Fenway mixer: More booze at the ballpark?
The Boston Red Sox are asking the city for permission to serve more mixed drinks at Fenway Park this season, but allegations that the team has not been sufficiently diligent in preventing alcohol-related incidents will be addressed at a hearing today. The hearing, before the Boston Licensing Board, will address allegations that the Red Sox […]
Forbes: It’s the Yankees and the 29 dwarves
It’s not even close: in the magazine’s annual evaluations of Major League Baseball franchise values, Forbes prices the New York Yankees at an astounding $1.7 billion — some 86 percent more than runner-up Boston Red Sox and far outpacing the average franchise value of $523 million. Still, you’ll be surprised by the most profitable team […]
Lipman returns as Voice of the Fisher Cats
Bob Lipman returns in 2011 as the Voice of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Class AA; Eastern League), and he’ll be joined by former Red Sox pre- and postgame host Dick Lutsk on flagship station WGIR-AM 610. Lipman, a two-time New Hampshire Sportscaster of the Year, enters his eighth consecutive season as a Fisher Cats […]
A guide to spring-training practices
Die-hard spring-training fans aren’t content with just sitting in the stands and watching a game: they want to watch a practice and get close to the players. It’s a great experience, as long as you know what you’re in for: most teams train on practice fields, not the ballparks, and so the creature comforts are […]
The Week That Was: Feb. 13
The first signs of the 2011 season emerge in the grille of a truck headed for spring training, and an old, historic ballpark — or what’s left of it, anyway — may get a little TLC. Here are the most popular stories of the past week on Ballpark Digest, as measured by page views. It’s […]