PAWTUCKET, R. I. (AP) — The Pawtucket Red Sox are going from “Play Ball” to “Bon Appetit.” With the minor league baseball season on…
PAWTUCKET, R. I. (AP) — The Pawtucket Red Sox are going from “Play Ball” to “Bon Appetit.”
With the minor league baseball season on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox has found another use for its home field. Starting next weekend, “Dining on the Diamond” will allow PawSox fans and others just longing for a taste of baseball to sample typical ballpark fare on the McCoy Stadium infield.
“For a baseball romantic, this is the best restaurant in the world,” team President Charles Steinberg said. “It was an emotional, sentimental experience for those who have tried it so far.”
Minor league ballparks have long been a laboratory for some of the wackiest promotions in sports, giving away everything from toilet seat cushions to vasectomies to funerals. During the coronavirus shutdown, other teams have rented out their stadiums on Airbnb or offered them for high school graduations.
PawSox promotions beyond the usual cap and bobblehead nights often involve playfully stoking the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry.
But the team is taking this seriously.
Twenty picnic-style tables have been spread out across the infield dirt, from first base to third, a minimum of 14 feet apart (exceeding the state requirement).
