The Red Sox announced Wednesday that they’re offering ticket-holders the opportunity for refunds, credits and exchanges for Fenway Park games scheduled between April 2 and May 28.
“As we continue to evaluate possibilities for the 2020 season, it’s important that we provide options to our ticket buyers for games scheduled in April and May,” Red Sox President Sam Kennedy said. “We appreciate how patient our fans have been as we worked through the implications of the pandemic on our schedule. We extend our best wishes for the health and safety of the individuals and families in Red Sox Nation.”
Boston’s Double-A affiliate, the Portland Sea Dogs, also said Wednesday that ticket refunds are being offered for all games this season. That decision comes one day after Gov. Janet Mills said crowds of more than 50 will be restricted at least through July.
Sea Dogs fans are being asked to return their tickets by mail no later than Aug. 28 to receive a refund.
Also Wednesday, Minor League Baseball issued a statement saying that the season hasn’t been canceled, contrary to a report that surfaced on social media.
Red Sox fans who purchased individual tickets directly from the Red Sox will have three options:
• Receive a full refund
• Receive a credit to an account, which can be used during the 2020 or 2021 seasons
• Exchange tickets for a future game this season (fans have option to immediately select new tickets and complete the exchange online)
Season ticket-holders will have the option of receiving a full refund for impacted games or a credit toward additional 2020 regular-season tickets or for the 2021 season. Those season ticket-holders who choose a credit will receive a 10% bonus credit incremental to the total dollar amount of their season tickets for these games.
Season ticket-holders and individual game buyers will receive an email in which they can make their selection. Fans who do not make a selection will be automatically refunded.
For more information, season ticket-holders can call their season ticket account executive. Other fans can call the Red Sox ticket office at 877-733-7699.
HALL OF FAME: Derek Jeter, Larry Walker and the rest of this year’s Baseball Hall of Fame class will have to wait another year for their big moment at Cooperstown.
The Hall of Fame announced that it has canceled the July 26 induction ceremony because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Instead, the class will be included at next year’s induction festivities – along with any additional new choices – on July 25, 2021.
A record crowd of over 70,000 had been expected this summer in an outdoor field at the small town in upstate New York to honor Jeter, the former New York Yankees captain who came within one vote of unanimous election by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in January.
Jeter and Walker were to be inducted with catcher Ted Simmons and the late Marvin Miller, the pioneering players’ union head who negotiated free agency and transformed the sport.
“Being inducted into the Hall of Fame will be an incredible honor, but the health and safety of everyone involved are paramount,” Jeter said in a statement released by the Hall.
“I respect and support the decision to postpone this year’s enshrinement and am looking forward to joining current Hall of Famers, fans, staff and my family and friends in Cooperstown in 2021,” he said.
This will be the first year without an induction ceremony since 1960.
“It was a very difficult decision, but with so many unknowns facing the world, the board felt strongly that this was the right decision,” said Hall member Joe Morgan, vice chairman of the shrine’s board.
Record attendance for an induction ceremony was set in 2007, exceeding 70,000 when Cal Ripken Jr. and the late Tony Gwynn were enshrined. Cooperstown is within easy driving distance of the New York metro area, and loads of Yankees fans had already made their plans to see Jeter on the Hall stage.
The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum closed at the end of the day on March 15 because of the virus outbreak.
Jeter, now CEO of the Miami Marlins, and Walker were elected by member of the BBWAA. Simmons and Miller were chosen in December by the Hall’s Modern Era Committee.
“I fully understand and agree with the board’s decision,” Walker said in a statement from the Hall. “It is most important to do the right thing for everybody involved, and that means not putting any participants in jeopardy.”
Simmons echoed that view.
“I commend the board for making this decision under these difficult circumstances, particularly in New York, a state severely hit by the pandemic. This was the wisest and smartest thing to do, given the existing environment and the danger that this pandemic presents,” he said.
Also to be honored during next year’s Hall induction weekend: 2020 Ford C. Frick Award winner Hawk Harrelson, 2020 J.G. Taylor Spink Award winner Nick Cafardo, and the winner of the 2020 Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, David Montgomery.
Jeter, a key to five World Series titles, was on 396 of 397 ballots in voting announced Jan. 21. The only player with a higher percentage was former Yankees teammate Mariano Rivera, who became the first unanimous pick in 2019. Walker, making his 10th ballot appearance, got 304 votes – six over the threshold.
Next year’s first-time eligible players have no odds-on favorites: Torii Hunter and Mark Buehrle are among the players who will be on the BBWAA ballot for the first time.
Holdovers include Curt Schilling, who fell 20 votes short this year, and steroids-tainted stars Roger Clemens (56 shy) and Barry Bonds (57). All three will be on the ballot for the ninth time, one shy of the limit.
If anyone new is elected, it would be the first ceremony since 1949 to combine multiple classes.
The first four Hall classes were inducted jointly in 1939 on the day the Hall of Fame opened. The classes of 1946 and ’47 were inducted together, as were the classes of 1948 and ’49.
Rogers Hornsby was elected in 1942, but there was no induction ceremony because of travel restrictions during World War II.
There was no balloting in 1940, ’41 and ’43. No ceremony was held in 1950, ’58 and ’60 after no one was elected.
Since Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner became the original Hall of Fame class in 1936, the only previous years with no inductions were 1940, ’41, ’43, ’50, ’52, ’58 and ’60.
RAYS: Tampa Bay is the first Major League Baseball team known to plan furloughs of some full-time employees because of the coronavirus pandemic, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press.
Temporary cost-cutting measures will take effect on Saturday, the person said.
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