Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
BROCKTON, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Brockton Rox are making their long-awaited return to professional baseball.
The announcement came down Wednesday at Brockton City Hall, with Mayor Robert Sullivan and the team's new ownership group in tow. The Rox will be joining the Frontier League as one of the now 19 franchises partnered with the MLB.
There was some star power among the new owners: Hall of Famer and Red Sox legend Jim Rice, who was also in attendance.
Rice said a big part of why he was interested in the purchase was to bring baseball to local Brockton kids.
“Bringing it back to not only Brockton, but to the young generation, to be able to say ‘hey look, maybe one day I can be on that field, maybe one day I can be at Fenway Park’,” Jim Rice told WBZ NewsRadio. But the main point, he stressed, was to keep kids out of trouble: “It doesn’t have to be baseball, it can be golf, it can be basketball it could be football, the key thing here is to get the young kids off the street, into the ballpark.”
Mayor Sullivan also believes the team will bring a positive change to the community as well, as he feels this will open more job opportunities for people.
“Yeah I mean I think it’s a game changer, number one it’s going to be hiring local residents and neighboring community residents to work the games, it’s going to be a decent season in terms of numbers,” Sullivan told WBZ NewsRadio.
The Brockton Rox were first accepted into the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball in 2002, and joined a summer college league in 2011 where they have been playing since. The team now joins the New England Knockouts as the second New England team playing in the Frontier League.
WBZ NewsRadio's Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) has more: