PORTLAND, ME—Neither Larry Jamieson nor Kevin Soares are from Worcester but they have a lot in common with the city’s sports fans.
Both are season ticket holders of the Portland Sea Dogs. Both are devoted fans of the Maine Mariners, Jamieson holding season tickets along with wife Doreen. He is 72, Soares, 42.
The ECHL Mariners are longtime and intense rivals of the ECHL Worcester Railers. The Sea Dogs are the Boston Red Sox’ Double-A affiliate, the WooSox its Triple-A partner.
Jamieson and Soares have both been where Worcester Red Sox fans are headed now, going into a new baseball season with their team under new ownership — Diamond Baseball Holdings.
Diamond Baseball bought the Portland team on Dec. 6, 2022, from the Burke family, which had owned it for 30 years. The WooSox were sold almost exactly a year later.
Sea Dogs fans have a full baseball season under their belts with Diamond Baseball running the franchise. The reaction, at least from Jamieson and Soares?
“The results are better than we expected,” Jamieson said, “because it hasn’t changed, and that’s better than we expected.”
Same with Soares, who said, “Not much has changed. Maybe even nothing’s changed at all.”
When Sea Dogs fans first heard the team had been sold there was a sense of shock.
“I said to myself, ‘Oh, s#@*,” Jamieson said.
“I was concerned,” was Soares’ reaction.
While the two cities share Red Sox affiliations, and therefore a lot of players, and now have the same ownership, the franchises are not exactly twins. Portland’s ownership was both strictly local and long-term. The WooSox had been in town for just three years and had a more complicated ownership structure.
Aside from the Crowley interest, WooSox ownership was not technically Worcester-based but all the partners were essentially from within 40 miles of Polar Park, which might not qualify as local in New England but is almost next-door-neighbor in the other 44 states.
In hindsight, the Sea Dogs’ sale should not have been a total surprise according to Jamieson.
“We really had no inkling,” he said, “but in retrospect, you hear things after the fact. It was kind of like, all the old guard had passed away or retired.”
With a sense of resignation, Soares said, “It seemed like it was only a matter of time.”
The Burkes had the best seats in Hadlock Field for Sea Dogs games and were easily accessible, as was team management in general. Under the WooSox original management which, like the Sea Dogs, is staying in place, fans had no trouble finding people with a hand in running the team.
“We were afraid that the entire atmosphere they have had at the SeaDogs would change,” Jamieson said. “This was family. There really is a family feel to it and we were worried that it was gonna be gone, but it was not gone.
“The second generation SeaDogs folks are cut from the same cloth as the first generation.”
Both men have been to Polar Park. Both like it. No surprise — both like Hadlock Field better.
“It’s done very well,” Jamieson said of Polar Park. “I think they did a great job on it but you don’t get the same family feel.”
“I feel Polar Park has a sort of corporate vibe to it,” Soares said.
Polar Park has been voted the best ballpark in Triple-A. It is only three years old. Construction companies can’t install the feel of “homey” along with box seats. And “homey” comes with a downside. Hadlock Field is facing some substantial upgrades, expensive ones, to maintain the standards set by Major League Baseball for its affiliates.
So, what should WooSox fans expect with their team under new ownership in 2024?
“I think that if it goes the way it did here, they should not expect any changes,” Jamieson said. “For one thing, everything is brand new there. You might see a couple of tweaks of some kind but I don’t see it happening.
“We’re into a year here now and there have been no changes so far. My apprehension was that even when nothing happened here, that new ownership is still in acquisition mode and not paying attention. Once they’ve established what they have, will the money guys then say — you have to make changes.”
One letter separates “revolution” and “evolution.” A year into Diamond Baseball, there has been no revolution in Portland. It is likely to be the same in Worcester, which would be perfectly fine with its baseball fans.
Bill Ballou covered the Red Sox for the Worcester Telegram from 1997 through 2018. He has covered pro hockey in Worcester since 1994 and currently does a weekly column for the Worcester Red Sox. Ballou can be reached at vetgoalie@aol.com
