WORCESTER—Matt Vaccaro proclaims he has “always loved baseball.” He even realized his dream of playing pro ball when he suited up and played for the Worcester Tornadoes in their first year of existence in the now-defunct Can-Am League. His manager was none other than Rich Gedman, a local baseball legend who went on to catch for the Boston Red Sox.
Almost two decades later, Vaccaro is about to walk back onto Fitton Field at the College of the Holy Cross, where the Tornadoes played, and where the team he just bought has been playing every summer for the past 10 years. Only this time he won’t be wearing a baseball uniform, squatting behind home plate, or swinging at a fast ball down the middle.
Vaccaro and his family just purchased the Worcester Bravehearts, a summer baseball team playing in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League which, in a few months, will make local history when they tie the former Worcester Ice Cats hockey team as the longest-running sports organization in Worcester’s history.
“We are honored to continue the tradition of the Worcester Bravehearts and will strive to deliver a product the city can be proud of, both on and off the field,” said Vaccaro, who will serve as team president. His father Frank is the owner. The face and voice of the Bravehearts, Dave Peterson, also known as “Peterman,” will remain as General Manager. Also sticking around is Assistant General Manager Donny Porcaro. Manager Alex Dion will also return.
“Our love for the game is there,” Vaccaro said in a telephone interview with the Worcester Guardian Wednesday afternoon.
He and Creedon officially announced the deal in a press release, a deal that allows the Bravehearts to continue their march toward history. There are still details to be ironed out.
A lease with the College of the Holy Cross – four years with options, according to Matt Vaccaro – is nearing completion. Otherwise, the sale – the financial terms of which neither Creedon nor Vaccaro chose to divulge – gives them control of all Bravehearts’ assets. The new ownership, making use of its staffing business, will use existing contracts to staff the concession stands, which they will run in-house. The Creedon family, which owns and operates the Creedon & Co. catering company, ran concessions during their ownership of the team. Creedon opted not to continue that in this deal.
Creedon, who was on the phone with Vaccaro for Wednesday’s interview, mentioned the retirement of his father last fall as a defining factor in the decision to sell the team.
“That’s our core business and we need to focus on that,” he said, mentioning his sister Julie, who continues to run the business with him. “We were operating on the shoulders of a giant. My dad founded that business in 1985.”
The family, he said, has had a relationship with the Vaccaros for a while. As Creedon notes, they’re neighbors in Shrewsbury, where they both live, and both businesses aren’t far from each other in Worcester. The Vaccaros also coach Shrewsbury American Legion Post 397 baseball and have in recent years rented out Fitton Field from the Creedons. They have hosted the Northeast Regional Tournament at Fitton Field six times and advanced to the American Legion World Series in 2017, 2019 and 2022. Some of their players went on to become Bravehearts.
Last year, Creedon said, Matt and his father approached the family about buying the team.
“I’ve known and admired Matt and Frank for a long time,” Creedon said. “They’re first class in every way. I could not have selected a better family to transfer ownership to.”
That doesn’t mean the end of owning the Bravehearts is easy for Creedon, who was quick to correct a reporter who asked him how he felt about giving up the team.
“I’m not giving up,” said Creedon, who will continue to serve on the board for the FCBL. “The Bravehearts have been something special for me and my family. We created a brand and an organization. We didn’t know what we were doing when we started. The last 10 years have been special and meaningful. Owning a baseball team in your hometown is the dream of a lifetime.”
It certainly has proven successful. The team has won three championships outright, including one in their first season, 2014, and shared another. They won back-to-back titles twice and have been named FCBL Organization of the Year four times. Peterson has won three William J. Terlecky Executive of the Year honors.
But the challenges have been many. Among the biggest was the arrival of the Worcester Red Sox, the Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. That was announced Aug. 17, 2018, four years into the Bravehearts run at Fitton Field. Some have speculated that the relationship between the Creedons and the City of Worcester possibly soured at that point, although Creedon has not ever publicly addressed it.
Peterson, in an interview Wednesday night, acknowledged the team “felt slighted, disrespected.”
Indeed, in their first few years playing at the shiny, new Polar Park, the WooSox have drawn sellout crowds and are credited with sparking new development in the surrounding area. Others see them as having contributed to rising rents and gentrification. The Bravehearts, meanwhile, played on.
Then came COVID. The Bravehearts felt the impact almost immediately. In fact, to continue playing ball, they spent one year taking their swings at Doyle Park in Leominster. They returned to Fitton Field in 2021, playing their home opener just days before then-Gov. Charlie Baker lifted the state’s COVID restrictions. And the team played on.
Now, an ownership change.
A huge part of why the team has survived, despite taking a hit from the WooSox, is the fan experience. Creedon himself was at most games and often greeted fans personally upon entering and exiting the park. He once rushed over to a young fan who was hit in the stands by a foul ball, consoling him and taking great pains to ensure he smiled again. This reporter was once approached by a young staffer as he sat in the stands with his father, who has Alzheimer’s. The young man held a camera and said he was there to take a photo of us so we could have a keepsake. That was Creedon’s doing.
Keenly aware of the atmosphere the Creedons built through John Creedon and Peterson, perhaps the only GM in sports who wears a checkered rally jacket and dances with fans in the stands to reverse their late-game fortunes, Matt Vaccaro said his family will be “heavily involved in the team.”
“I’ll be there at most games,” he said. “We want to continue to create and build on that type of atmosphere and camaraderie with the fans.”
As for the family’s plans to ensure the Bravehearts remain viable in the long term, particularly as they play in the shadow of a Triple-A team, Vaccaro said they want to put a good product on the field and give back to the community. He also dropped a bit of a minor bombshell when he said the team is meeting with the WooSox to discuss a potential partnership. Both teams, he acknowledged, have different products. The Vaccaros, who are a sponsor of the WooSox, hope to forge some sort of partnership, although Matt Vaccaro did not go into details of what that might entail.
“I think a partnership of some type will only benefit the two organizations,” he said, adding there is “plenty of room for two teams in the city.”
For his part, Creedon believes in the Vaccaros and the future of the Bravehearts.
“It’s no small feat to be the longest-running sports franchise in the second-largest city in New England,” he said. “There’s a reason sports franchises don’t last. For us to overcome all the challenges and to be flourishing is remarkable. There’s such a bright future ahead [for the Bravehearts]. I’m super proud of our history and I’m excited for the future.”
Vaccaro said his family is “looking forward to a successful run.”
Peterson, too, is confident the Bravehearts’ best days are still ahead of them.
“I care deeply about the Bravehearts brand,” he said. “I was in the room when we named the team. Working with the Creedon family was the best 10 years of my life professionally.”
The ending of that chapter, he acknowledged, is bittersweet, but the book isn’t finished yet.
“A lot of people in the city thought we were going out of business years ago,” Peterson said. “We had to fight to become the best baseball story that ever lived. We’re not there yet, but we will be. That story is being written. It has not ended.”
With more than 30 years’ experience as a journalist, Walter Bird is a former editor of Worcester Magazine, former executive editor of Stonebridge Press Newspapers, and a two-time Weekly Reporter of the Year through the New England Newspaper & Press Association. He can be reached at walterbirdjr@gmail.com
