Sports
Braintree Welcomes World Series Trophy
The Red Sox have brought a World Series trophy to Braintree three times in the last 10 years.
After the Red Sox won the World Series for the first time in 86 years in 2004, the trophy came to Braintree Town Hall.
The visiting line stretched out the auditorium, down the hall and into the parking lot – six people across and 100 yards long.
"People were in tears," Mayor Joseph Sullivan said. "People truly couldn't believe it."
On Tuesday, the line was a bit shorter to visit the 2013 World Series Trophy, but the joy remained. Families piled into the Town Hall auditorium to see (but not touch) the trophy and to pose behind it for photographs.
Sullivan was director of the Massachusetts Lottery back in 2004, and with then Treasurer Tim Cahill set up a sponsorship with the lottery that underwrote the Red Sox trophy's visits to all 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts.
After the 2007 win, the trophy arrived in Braintree with Wally the Green Monster, and residents enjoyed a family day.
This year, former recreation director Bill Hedlund, now an ambassador at Fenway Park, tipped off Sullivan to a potential visit. The mayor said that no matter how many times the trophy makes the rounds, it will always provide a lift.
"I don't think it will become commonplace," Sullivan said. "Everybody loves the Red Sox."
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