Tombstone
Born: February 7, 1973 – The Pawtucket Red Sox relocate to Bristol, CT1Flaum, Dave. “Red Sox Sign Lease With City of Bristol”. The Courant (Hartford, CT). February 8, 1973
Moved: October 1982 (New Britain Red Sox)
First Game: April 21, 1973 (L 12 -8 vs. Les Aigles de Trois-Rivieres)
Last Game: September 1, 1982 (L 2-1 @ Lynn Sailors)
Eastern League Champions: 1975, 1978 & 1981
Stadium
Muzzy Field (4,200)21977 West Haven Yankees Program
Opened: 1939 (grandstand)
Ownership & Affiliation
Owner: Joe Buzas
Major League Affiliation: Boston Red Sox
Attendance
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Source: The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.), Lloyd Johnson & Miles Wolff, 2007
Background
Bristol, Connecticut hosted the Class AA farm club of the Boston Red Sox in the Eastern League for ten seasons from 1973 to 1982. It was a Golden Age for the Red Sox farm system and a parade of future Major League stars came through ancient Muzzy Field on their way to Fenway Park, including eventual Hall-of-Famers Jim Rice (1973) and Wade Boggs (1978 and 1979).
The owner of the Bristol Red Sox was legendary minor league operator Joe Buzas. Buzas, who played a single season with the New York Yankees in 1945, bought into his first minor league club in 1957 and reportedly owned as many as 82 different teams during a five-decade career. Buzas brought the team to town from Pawtucket, Rhode Island, where he’d owned the club from 1970 to 1972. In 1973, the Red Sox shifted their Class AAA farm club from Louisville, Kentucky to Pawtucket, which meant Buzas needed to find a new home for his lower-level Eastern League team. Buzas chose Bristol’s Muzzy Field, which last hosted pro baseball in 1950 when the short-lived Bristol Owls (1949-1950) of the Colonial League went out of business.
Move To New Britain
The Bristol Red Sox had winning seasons in nine of their ten summers in Bristol, including Eastern League crowns in 1975, 1978 and 1981. Attendance was never strong at Muzzy. In their best season at the box office in 1981, Bristol drew 77,066 fans, or just over 1,000 per game. The worst year at the gates was 1976 when only 38,637 showed up for nearly 70 openings.
In October 1982, Buzas signed an agreement to move the ball club to New Britain, Connecticut after that blue collar city agreed to build Beehive Field for the team. Pro baseball has not returned to Bristol, Connecticut since the Red Sox left in 1982.
Bristol Red Sox Shop
In Memoriam
Team owner Joe Buzas passed away on March 19, 2003 at age 83. Hartford Courant obituary.
Downloads
1975 Bristol Red Sox vs. Thetford Mines Miners Roster Sheet
1975 Bristol Red Sox vs. Thetford Mines Miners Roster Sheet
Links
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2 Responses
It’s Bristol, CT not RI!!!!
Thanks Beth! Corrected