Can’t get enough of the Red Sox, now that Salem’s Class A baseball club is owned by the American League’s fabled Boston Red Sox? Try the new made-to-scale replica of historic Fenway Park’s outfield wall, named “Scotts Mini Fenway.” The Scotts lawn care folks have partnered with the local club to build a wiffle ball field that has an outfield wall that looks just like Fenway Park – including the fabled Green Monster in left field.
Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium / Lewis-Gale Field “just got even better,” said Salem Mayor Randy Foley. Youngsters who get antsy watching the Carolina League Red Sox can come back and sign up to play wiffle ball behind the stadium.
“Kids are always looking for a place to get away from the game,” said Director of Sales Dennis Robarge, as he manned a table at a Red Sox open house last Saturday, when Scotts Mini Fenway made its debut before a night game. “We’ve gotten a lot of good feedback,” noted Robarge, a former president of the Roanoke Dazzle pro basketball team.
Now, “they can just go play and be kids. We decided to create a space here in the ballpark where they can go do that,” added Robarge. “Everybody gets to go out and have a little fun.” Mini Fenway is around the corner from the Kids Zone, which features several inflatable attractions for smaller fry bored with baseball.
Scotts Mini Fenway was built near the Salem-Roanoke Baseball Hall of Fame building, which was almost two decades in the making after annual fundraising banquets. Since ballpark personnel will be close by for the wiffle ball field, Robarge said they will open the Hall during games for people that want to see the plaques and memorabilia honoring those who have made a difference in the game of baseball locally.
Robarge said Mini Fenway would become “a nice bridge between the stadium and the Hall of Fame … we’re getting more traffic [there].” It’s open mainly on the weekends; some parents who drop their kids off at the wiffle ball field can bide their time at the HOF. “We can staff the Hall of Fame as well,” said Robarge.
Hall President Charlie Hammersley sat down with Salem Red Sox officials to work out the details. Getting more people into the facility was always a challenge, as was staffing it.
Robarge has heard tales but not seen anyone hit a wiffle ball over the Green Monster yet, but adds that “our staff does a fair amount of wall banging themselves. It’s been a lot of fun.”
By Gene Marrano [email protected]