Hungry for a new season
Pawtucket offers taste of baseball with ‘Dining on the Diamond’
PAWTUCKET, R.I. – 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). Reservations are required and all food must be ordered and paid for in advance. There are two seatings per night, with a half hour in between for trash to be emptied and the tables to be cleaned and disinfected. Diners will be required to wear masks, except when eating.
The seatings scheduled for next Friday and Saturday sold out in 88 minutes; a third date was added for Sunday. With five people per table — limited to families or groups isolating together — the al fresco eatery will serve as many as 200 diners per night.
The ballpark seats 10,031, but it’s a start.
“I think people are just excited to come out to a ballpark. They’re excited to socialize under the correct conditions,” PawSox Vice President Dan Rea said. “As the weather turns good and as people look toward summer, they want to be out and about. This is an opportunity for us to do something a little bit unique, a little bit different, but something special.
“We figured this would be a nice new business to run while we wait for the potential resumption of our season.”
For a media preview Thursday night, reporters were first directed to park in a lot with every other space blocked off. Before entering the ballpark, there was a self-screening to verify that they don’t have a fever or any other potential COVID-19 symptoms.