brendan halpin

Yesterday I traveled to scenic Worcester, Massachusetts, to watch the Worcester Red Sox (The Boston Red Sox’ AAA affilliate) play the Buffalo Bisons.

It was a beautiful day for baseball, and even counting the cost of driving 35 miles to Worcester and paying to park, it was still cheaper than going to a Red Sox game 3 miles from my house. Every seat in Polar Park is a great seat, and the atmosphere was fun. 4 mascots, because why not? Mascot race! Baby race! Kids trying to do things on the field on order to win stuff! The vibes were positive and family-friendly, and though the WooSox (doing business as the Wicked Worms of Worcester for the penultimate time! Catch them on September 5 vs. the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Rail Riders and say goodbye to this particular alter ego!) lost 6-3, everybody I went with had a wonderful time. (Baseball purists such as my friend Eric might object to the incessant stimuli—song snippets between at-bats, the aformentioned races and such between innings, etc. But I loved it!)

And, of course, I have some notes, mostly involving concessions.

First, Polar Park is named for the company that makes the best seltzer in the best array of flavors, and yet only black cherry and raspberry lime were represented at the park! There should be seltzer freakin everywhere, in seasonal flavors, Polar Park exclusive flavors, and all the flavors you can get at the supermarket. Absolutely baffling to me that they aren’t making more of this connection.

More importantly, though—while the ticket prices were minor league, the concession prices were definitely major league. I paid 6 bucks for a bottle of black cherry seltzer, which was outrageous enough, but it was even worse in view of the fact that they were selling 12 oz cans of Coors Light for 5 bucks. It was 85 degrees out, and the cheapest beverage at Polar Park was beer. This just feels irresponsible to me. But also—$8.50 for a slice of pizza. I could go on, but the point is that the cost of food and drink at Polar Park makes it a pricey day at the ballpark despite the relatively low ticket prices. Perhaps that’s why there were so many empty seats on a beatiful summer Sunday afternoon.

Also—have you ever been to Worcester? I have a lot of affection for non-gentrified cities, but it’s clear just from driving around town that this city is hurting. Fun fact: I parked in the train station garage, and as I walked down the steps, I encountered a guy smoking crack. And then I went for a delicious lunch of vegan jerk tofu at the Worcester Public Market. My point here is that Worcester is a cool city, and poverty and addiction are pretty visible, and so the high prices at Polar Park make it seem like it’s not really for the community it’s in, despite the Worcester-themed mascots.

Still, I had a great day at Polar Park, and if you get the ten-dollar weekend commuter rail pass, you can take the train from Boston to Worcester and back for the same price as parking. If you live anywhere near Worcester, it’s worth the trip!