Worcester Red Sox get their nickname — the WooSox
Worcester’s soon-to-be minor league baseball team unveiled a new nickname, plus a logo and team apparel, at Worcester’s Mercantile Center Monday.
Named the “WooSox,’’ the Triple A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox will relocate from Pawtucket, R.I., to Worcester and begin play in Polar Park in April of 2021.
“We love that the fans actually named the team,’’ Red Sox Hall of Famer and club chairman and principal owner Larry Lucchino said in a statement issued by the team. “We asked everyone from kids in kindergarten to octogenarians at senior centers to give suggestions and reactions, and while many suggestions and debates were clever, in the end, we discovered what Worcester already knew: Nobody beats the WooSox.’’
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The Red Sox will move their Triple A affiliate following the 2020 season, marking the end of almost 50 years in Rhode Island. Pawtucket started as the Double A affiliate of the Red Sox in 1970 before becoming the Triple A team three years later.
However, after multiple attempts to build a new stadium in Rhode Island fell through, the franchise announced in August 2018 it would be moving to Worcester.
“I was the last one to think we would leave,’’ Pawtucket Red Sox president Charles Steinberg said Monday night when asked about Pawtucket. “But Worcester just demonstrated, along with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a remarkable spirit.
“They were just great to work with.’’
Monday’s “Festive Reveal’’ included a look at the latest designs for Polar Park, the 10,000-seat, $100 million ballpark being built for the team.
Among the team officials attending were Lucchino, Steinberg, WooSox hitting coach and Worcester native Rich Gedman, Worcester’s mayor, Joseph Petty, and ballpark design consultant Janet Marie Smith.
“Being a Worcester native, I can’t believe I’m a part of this, sitting here [and] imagining what it’s going to be like for Opening Day 2021,’’ Gedman said.
Steinberg said there were more than 200 suggestions for a new name, including the Diggers, Diners, and Duck Boats to the Heart Sox, Hot Sox, and Holy Sox. Fans also offered such names as the Ruby Legs, RocketMen, and Righteous Rebels, as well as the Wicked Worms, Wicked Coolers, and Wonderdogs.
“The name of the team is the Worcester Red Sox — that’s who we wanted. That’s who we are associated with,’’ Steinberg said when asked about the naming process. “But what do you call us for short?’’
Steinberg suggested some of the rejected nicknames could end up seeing the light of day as part of upcoming one-off promotional events.
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“We were amused by the Gritty Kitties, Night Owls, and Green Bananas, a reference to the unripened fruit that will soon head from Polar Park to Fenway Park,’’ Steinberg said via press release. “So some of the remaining suggestions, such as the Worcester Worcesters, the Wonderdogs, and the Wicked Worms, may yet see the light of day — or the grass and the dirt.’’
The logo includes a heart in the lead “W.’’ In addition, the centerpiece of the logo is the original “Smiley Face,’’ which was drawn in December 1963 by the late Worcester advertising executive Harvey Ball.
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