Play ball!
That’s the call ready to signal another exciting season of professional baseball at LewisGale Field, home of the Salem Red Sox.
The Red Sox have lined up a great season of promotions and specialty nights for 2016. Fans will see the return of many popular nights, including Star Wars and Turn Back the Clock, as well as many new entertainment options at the ballpark.
Returning from last year are the season-long promotions focused heavily on the weekend. Thirty-two of the team’s 70 home games fall on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
The weekend gets started early with the long-standing tradition of beverage specials at every Thursday night home game. Fireworks will continue to be a part of “Freedom Fridays” while Saturdays will once again feature Nine Innings of Winning – and as always, kids will have the opportunity to run the bases after every Sunday home game.
In addition to the daily specials, player posters given to the first 500 fans on Friday, Saturday and Sunday home games returns, culminating with the represented player signing autographs after the Sunday game.
The Red Sox start the season with a bang on Thursday, April 7th with magnet schedule giveaways and a post-game fireworks show – the first of 13 scheduled for the season. The opening home stand includes a four-game set with Carolina followed by a three game matchup with the Frederick Keys that ends with an 11:05 am Baseball in Education day on Wednesday, April 13th. Mad Science will be on hand for a pre-game science show from 10 a.m. until the first pitch.
Other popular nights, including Double Dare, based on the popular Nickelodean game show (April 21), Star Wars night with appearances by Star Wars characters (April 23), Pink in the Park (Friday, May 13 through Sunday the 15th), Superhero night (May 21), The Mayberry Deputy (June 3), Minion night with masks for the kids depicting the “Despicable Me” munchkins (June 24), Pirate and Princess night (July 15), Beach Night (July 16), NASCAR night (July 29), Girl Scout night (August 5), Boy Scout night and the second Star Wars night coincide (August 6), Country night (August 26) and Military Appreciation night (August 27) are only a sampling of the family-friendly atmosphere at Salem Memorial Ball Park.
On the field, Salem looks to be highly competitive with a number of top Red Sox prospects expected to be assigned here this year.
There will also be a new skipper in the Red Sox dugout, as Joe Oliver takes over in his third year with the Red Sox organization. The former catcher, who finished his playing career with Boston in 2001, spent the last two seasons managing Lowell, the Red Sox Short-A team in the New York-Penn League.
Paul Abbott will return to Salem for his second season as pitching coach, and his sixth coaching season in the organization. Nelson Paulino, who enters his 19th season coaching Red Sox affiliates, becomes the new Salem hitting coach. Nick Kuchwara, in his first season with Salem, will be the team’s head athletic trainer.
For more information go to www.salemsox.com
