wbjournal.com | August 5, 2019 | Worcester Business Journal 3
Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-6595) is
published bi-weekly, 24x per year, including 4 special
issues in May, September, October, and December by New
England Business Media. 172 Shrewsbury St., Worcester,
MA 01604. Periodicals postage paid at Worcester, MA.
Copyright 2019. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please
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PO Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894.
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A division of:
Worcester Business Journal
WBJ
F
or a business looking to cultivate
a large fanbase in Worcester,
the headline was extremely bad.
"Pawtucket Red Sox 'celebrate'
Pride Night by insulting LGBT
fans with Sean Spicer and free Chick-fil-A,"
wrote LGBT magazine Boston Spirit.
On July 18, the Pawtucket Red Sox held
their Pride Night, while at the same time
hosting dignitaries from the Independence
Fund, a nonprofit helping wounded veter-
ans. To represent the veterans fund, Sean
Spicer, Rhode Island resident and former
press secretary for President Donald
Trump, threw out the first pitch.
LGBT fans in the stands were under-
standably appalled by having the former
mouthpiece of a hateful presidential
administration playing such a prominent
role. Coupled with the PawSox long-run-
ning promotion giving fans a chance to
win a free sandwich from Chick-fil-A –
whose strong religious beliefs oen run
afoul of the queer community – fans were
outraged in Worcester and Rhode Island.
Boston Spirit ran its article on July 22,
and the PawSox were slow to react. Two
days aer the Spirit article ran, a prom-
inent member of the Worcester LGBT
community told me he was convinced the
inclusion of Spicer was intentional.
Of course, it wasn't. Less than an hour
aer I mentioned the Spicer issue to a
PawSox representative, PawSox President
Charles Steinberg called me to say every-
thing had been an unfortunate, inadver-
tent mistake. e team didn't know Spicer
was going to be included in the Indepen-
dence Fund ceremony until a week before,
and PawSox officials didn't put two-and-
two together about Pride Night. Steinberg
said the team was working on engaging
with the Worcester and Rhode Island
LGBT community and issuing an apology.
at apology eventually arrived the fol-
lowing Friday, a week aer the game.
With the announcement of the team
coming to Worcester, the PawSox have
an incredible amount of goodwill built in
the Central Mass. community. e team
should not take this for granted, especially
since the city is borrowing $101 million to
build the baseball stadium. at's a lot of
money for a city with many responsibili-
ties – schools, police, fire, keeping the tax
rate in check – so it behooves the PawSox
I N T H I S I S S U E
not to give potential fans reasons for dis-
trust before they even arrive in Worcester.
e PawSox are working to make things
right, but the team can only make so
many mistakes before it becomes a major
problem.
- Brad Kane, editor
W
Join the challenge Start your team Lead the fight
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Sunday, Sept. 22, 2019
NEWS & ANALYSIS
DEPARTMENTS
4 Central Mass. In Brief
5 Flash Poll
12 Focus on Hospitality & Tourism
15 The List: Top tourist attractions
16 The List: Largest hotels
18 Know How
19 Movers & Shakers
20 Photo Finish
21 Opinion
22 Shop Talk: Julie Bovenzi, Truth.
12 Military destination
The American Heritage Museum brings
dozens of rare war collectibles to Hudson.
19 Congress must approve
Canada, Mexico trade deal
Viewpoint opinion columnist James T.
Brett says New England's economy is
strongly tied to our neighbors in the north
and south.
Be smart, PawSox
Editor, Brad Kane,
bkane@wbjournal.com
News Editor, Grant Welker,
gwelker@wbjournal.com (Real estate,
higher education, health care)
Staff Writer
Zachary Comeau,
zcomeau@wbjournal.com
(Manufacturing)
Contributors
Susan Shalhoub, Livia Gershon,
Sarah Connell
Research Director,
Stephanie Meagher,
smeagher@nebusinessmedia.com
Research Assistant, Heide Martin,
hmartin@nebusinessmedia.com
Production Director, Kira Beaudoin,
kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com
Art Director, Mitchell Hayes,
mhayes@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Matt Majikas,
mmajikas@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Christine Juetten,
cjuetten@wbjournal.com
Senior Special Accounts Manager
Mary Lynn Bosiak,
mlbosiak@wbjournal.com
Marketing & Events Manager
Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com
Distribution and Database Coordinator
A Guide to STUFF, a publication
of New England Business Media
Patty Harris,
pharris@nebusinessmedia.com
COO, Mary Rogers,
mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Manager, Valerie Clark,
vclark@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Assistant, Rae Rogers,
rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Collections Manager, Raki Zwiebel,
rzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
Human Resources, Jill Coran,
jcoran@nebusinessmedia.com
Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton
pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com
Associate Publisher, Mark Murray
mmurray@wbjournal.com
President, Joseph Zwiebel
jzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
