Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.

Sox fans come out to see trophies

Jerry Korona and his son Zachary were among the more than 2,000 people who came to pose for a photo with the Red Sox World Series trophies last week. Reminder Publications photo by G. Michael Dobbs
By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



CHICOPEE They came dressed in their game day finest, carrying cameras and wearing expressions of anticipation.

The two Red Sox World Series trophies came to Chicopee on Wednesday and residents turned out in force at the library on Front Street for the chance to have their photos taken with the icons of the "Red Sox Nation."

Over 2,000 people lined up for the daylong event. Red Sox personnel who accompany the trophies for such appearances politely but efficiently kept the line moving throughout the day.

The staffers would usher the fans from the line to behind the trophies, take their cameras from them, snap a photo and begin the process again.

Mayor Michael Bissonnette explained that the day after the Red Sox win, the city requested an appearance. City officials learned the previous Friday the trophies would be available.

Classes from near-by schools turned up for the chance to see a little piece of history up close as well as a parent with her three-week-old child.

Occasionally one of the Chicopee police officers on duty would remind a fan they couldn't touch the trophies.

Bissonnette said a positive side effect to the appearance was an up swing in applications for a library card that day.

Although most people came in their Red Sox garb, there was one young man who wore a new York Yankees hat as he posed for his photo, and the Red Sox staffer who took his picture, noted he said, "Thank you," unlike some of the other fans.

Denise Bresnahan of Chicopee said she was waiting for her husband to end his workday in order for the two to them to "run here."

Seeing the trophies was "very nice," she added.

Bissonnette said, "It [Chicopee] is the capitol of Red Sox Nation today."