FORT MYERS
Monday was Red Sox Truck Day, with boxes and boxes of gear and supplies arriving at JetBlue Park ahead of the team coming down from Boston for spring training.
The boxes contain over 20,000 baseballs, over 1,000 bats, hundreds of gloves, uniforms and literal red socks, and cases of bubble gum and sunflower seeds.
The trucks of Red Sox gear were unloaded with surprising speed. Shawn Smith, general manager of Florida operations for the Boston Red Sox, says the day is an important one because it lets people know that, yes, it’s real, it’s happening: Get excited, because baseball is back.
“Baseball—we are in the full swing of things here,” Smith said. “This is the first day that we really start to feel the Major League season get underway in pursuit of our 10th World Series championship, so all of our equipment is starting to arrive today. We are unpacking everything, whether it’s uniforms, baseballs, some of the players’ personal items, and so forth, that we are going to be ready when the guys report here on Feb. 13 to get ready and get things going.”
The first spring training game at JetBlue Park is on Feb. 26 against the Tampa Bay Rays.
WINK NEWS