When Dustin Pedroia announced his retirement, many began to wonder how the Boston Red Sox would honor the second baseman.
After all, he did spend his entire Major League Baseball career with the club.
Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy on Thursday revealed Pedroia indeed will be honored at Fenway Park. When, though, still is unknown.
“We will absolutely appropriately celebrate Pedey,” he said during a town hall event with season ticket holders. “We have to do it when we have a packed house or at least have some fans back. He deserves that, and I know fans want to see him.”
It’s unclear when fans will be back into Fenway due to COVID-19, though Kennedy is hopeful they’ll be able to return in some capacity by Opening Day.
“We’d love to host fans if the health and safety experts up here and the government officials say it’s okay,” Kennedy said. “We have a plan to host fans in a socially distanced environment with all sorts of requirements for masks and hand sanitizing, things like that. We’ve seen around the country, it works, at different venues. We’re hoping to have that, but we have not engaged with the state of Massachusetts or the city of Boston.
“It’s our sincere hope to have fans back at Fenway as soon as Opening Day,” he added. “We’re cautiously optimistic, but again, that is not our decision.”
Fans were not present during the 2020 abbreviated season due to COVID-19. But now with a vaccine beginning to roll out, and some other arenas allowing fans in at limited capacity, it’s fair to be “cautiously optimistic.”
Boston’s home opener is slated for April 1 against the Baltimore Orioles.
