A Field Trip to the Pawtucket Red Sox 2011

September 4th was a wonderful memory for the children and families of the Silk Road Center (SRC) of Cranston.  The big event was taking many of the communities children to watch the Pawtucket Red Sox (PawSox) game under the lights at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket RI.  When the idea came up, Mr. J DiLuca, an all-time Pawsox fan pointed out that the Center Fielder of the team was played by Che Hsuan Lin from Taiwan. It seemed obvious that the children of SRC would cheer for the Asian star.

The day started at 2pm in the SRC.  Mr. Early and Miss Jaclyn Chan gave a class on baseball fundamentals.  After learning about the positions and how the game is played, everyone was pumped up and ready for the game.  The group of 18 children aged between 4 to 15 and many of their parents, arrived at McCoy Stadium two hours before the game, where we were met by Mike Tamburro, President of the Pawsox team.  Mike was thrilled to see the kids and made an effort to shake each child’s hand and welcome them to the game.  Mike arranged for the group to visit the player’s locker room where the star center fielder Che Hsuan Lin met with the group, took pictures and signed autographs.  We showed Mr. Lin the cheering sign that the kids drew in Chinese characters “Jia You, Jia You” which means “Go, Go” and Mr. Lin’s Chinese name.   Mr. Lin felt a touch of home and said with a big smile “Xie Xie Niman” which means “thank you, everyone”.  After, Lin left to get ready for the game and the kids were greeted by Mr. Paw, the seven foot dog mascot of the Paw (dog paw) Sox. 

The rest of the night was like going to Disney Land.  As Mr. Early stated, “It’s not who wins or loses. It’s about how much stuff you can eat at the game.”  Hamburgers, hot dogs and French fries were on the dinner menu with cracker jacks and popcorn for desert.  Mr. Tamburro was nice enough to bring the kids baseball cards and finger foams.  Following an exciting 4-3 win by the Pawsox decided by a ninth inning double play. The kids were dazzled by the fantastic firework celebration after the game.  With the night sky in sparkling illuminations the ooohs and aaahs mixed with the booming echo of the fireworks capped the evening.   A tired but happy set of kids from SRC had their first taste of America’s Pastime and found a new team to cheer for.

                                                                                                                ----by Doris Early