Truck Day Is Here! Let’s Roll.

Feb 3, 2023 - 3:45 PM

It’s a cold day in February so why are we thinking about baseball? Because it’s Truck Day! Every year the Red Sox load up an 18 wheeler with everything they need to take to Spring Training from their summer home of Fenway Park and, well, truck it down to Fort Myers, Florida.

Mike Carlucci

Every spring since 2003 the Red Sox have made it a ritual. A show, of sorts. A public event to hype up the upcoming year. But it’s been a baseball tradition almost as long as the Red Sox themselves have existed.

The haul is the same as ever:

1. 20,400 baseballs
2. 1,100 bats
3. 200 batting gloves
4. 200 batting helmets
5. 320 Batting Practice tops
6. 160 white game jerseys
7. 300 pairs of pants
8. 400 t-shirts
9. 400 pairs of socks
10. 20 cases of bubble gum
11. 60 cases of sunflower seeds

Could this stuff be shipped directly to Fort Myers? Sure, I guess. At least baseballs and sunflower seeds etc. But I always imagine that the bats, uniforms…more personal gear…is shipped back and forth anyway. Why would Alex Verdugo bring his bats to Florida after the season instead of just waiting for the Sox to send them via truck? Maybe it is all just a publicity stunt. But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it. What is the baseball season, really, other than something to enjoy (hopefully)?

Mike Carlucci

In the early 1900s, when the Red Sox were still the Boston Americans “even earlier than when there were trucks and the day was celebrated by fans, cranks and Royal Rooters at South Station when the train left Boston for the trip south and spring training.” Michael T. McGreevy, the leader of the Royal Rooters “would flee the frigid temperatures of Boston and travel by rail with the players to spring training, where they were treated like celebrities.” Scenes like this one where players would be met by fans as they departed and arrived by rail at South Station were the norm.

It may be cold - it was 20 and feeling like 0 at 8:30 AM (I braved the cold so you don’t have to!) - but this is the most unofficial start of spring there is. No matter what a groundhog has to say about it.

The journey south beings at noon so you’ve still got time to run over and see the truck if you’re in the area and bundled up like Luke Skywalker on Hoth. Rumor has it that a certain Green Monster will be there and this is probably the best day possible to wear that suit.