Worcester Red Sox to Enshrine Lucchino, Augustus, and Gedman as Inaugural Members of the WooSox Hall of Fame

Worcester, MA – Larry Lucchino, the current Chairman of the Worcester Red Sox, Ed Augustus Jr., the former Worcester City Manager, and Rich Gedman, the former Boston Red Sox catcher and current WooSox hitting coach, have been selected as the inaugural 2024 WooSox Hall of Fame inductees.

The WooSox Hall of Fame was established in February, 2024 to recognize the outstanding careers and contributions of former or current WooSox players, managers, coaches, broadcasters, and executives as well as others who have been instrumental in the history of the Worcester Red Sox and Worcester baseball.

The first-ever WooSox Hall of Fame class was chosen by a 17-person panel, which includes club executives, print & broadcast media members, and business & community leaders. Details on events surrounding the WooSox Hall of Fame, including the induction ceremony at Polar Park this season, will be announced at a later date.

Larry Lucchino, who was inducted in the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2016 and the San Diego Padres Hall of Fame in 2022, was the WooSox Chairman & Principal Owner from the club’s inception in 2021 through 2023 after serving in that same role for the Pawtucket Red Sox from 2016-2020. He has remained as the WooSox Chairman following the sale of the team to Diamond Baseball Holdings in December of 2023.

After exhausting all options to keep the Pawtucket Red Sox in Rhode Island, Lucchino secured the franchise’s New England future with a commitment on August 17, 2018, to bring the team to Worcester for more than 35 years. The agreement, made with the City of Worcester – under the direction of fellow WooSox Hall of Famer Ed Augustus - and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, led to the creation of an innovative downtown ballpark in the city’s resurgent Canal District.

Opening to rave reviews on May 11, 2021, Polar Park was Lucchino’s fifth ballpark project, following Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Petco Park in San Diego, Fenway Park in Boston, and JetBlue Park in Lee County, Florida.

The Inaugural Season in Worcester was an unqualified success, with the WooSox leading all 120 teams in Minor League Baseball in many business categories and winning the highest awards for both community outreach and Latino outreach. In the second year, 2022, the WooSox led all 120 teams in tickets sold with more than half a million. And in 2023, the WooSox again led all teams in tickets sold (becoming the only Minor League franchise to sell 500,000+ tickets each of the past two years) while Polar Park was voted the “Best Ballpark in Triple-A” by fans of Ballpark Digest.

Lucchino served as Boston Red Sox President/CEO during an historic 14-year period, 2002 through 2015, in which the club won three World Series, saved and enhanced Fenway Park, established the Major League Baseball record for consecutive sellouts, and created the Red Sox Foundation, a philanthropic powerhouse.

Committing to “field a team worthy of the fans’ support,” the Red Sox in Lucchino’s tenure played October Baseball seven times in 14 years. Vanquishing the proverbial “Curse of the Bambino,” the 2004 club did what had never been done before—overcoming a 3-0 deficit, against no less than the archrival New York Yankees, whom Lucchino famously dubbed “the Evil Empire”—to win the pennant. The Red Sox then swept the St. Louis Cardinals to win the club’s first World Series since 1918, ending an agonizing 86-year wait. The World Champions of 2007 and 2013 also etched in stone this historic era, with the latter club helping to heal a wounded city after the Boston Marathon bombings to embody the strength and resilience that supported the new phrase, “Boston Strong.” The World Champions of 2018 continued this legacy of championships won in the last 20 years.

While serving as the President of the Baltimore Orioles (1988-93), Lucchino revolutionized ballpark ambiance and architecture by creating Oriole Park at Camden Yards, which fulfilled his pioneering vision of a traditional, intimate, old-fashioned downtown ballpark with modern amenities. Later as the President and CEO of the San Diego Padres (1995-2001), Larry spearheaded the political and design efforts that created Petco Park in San Diego. More than a ballpark, Petco fulfilled its promise as a catalyst for massive redevelopment in downtown San Diego.

Born in Pittsburgh, Lucchino was an All-City League basketball player and second baseman on the Pittsburgh city championship baseball team. He graduated with honors from Princeton University and then graduated from Yale Law School. At Princeton, he was a member of two Ivy League championship basketball teams as well as the 1965 squad that made it to the Final Four.

The avid sportsman has the unique distinction of earning five World Series rings (Orioles, 1983; Red Sox, 2004, ’07, ’13, ’18), a Super Bowl ring (Washington Redskins, ’83), and a Final Four watch (Princeton, ’65).

Lucchino has been active in numerous civic and charitable efforts. He is currently Chairman of the Jimmy Fund, the philanthropic arm of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which has helped to save his life three times: first from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1985, second from prostate cancer in 2000, and third from cancer in the kidney area starting in 2019.

With each of his major league clubs, Lucchino was instrumental in creating a charitable foundation (the Orioles Foundation, the Padres Foundation, and the Red Sox Foundation). He also expanded the depth and reach of the PawSox Foundation, and on January 28, 2020, he established the WooSox Foundation in Worcester.

Larry Lucchino was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in May 2012, the National Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame and the Taylor Allderdice High School Hall of Fame in November 2013, the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in May 2016, and he was inducted in the San Diego Padres Hall of Fame in July of 2022.

Ed Augustus Jr., the former Worcester City Manager from 2014-2022, worked closely with Lucchino for more than three years to bring the Boston Red Sox Triple-A affiliate from Pawtucket, RI to Worcester, MA. Ed is currently the Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities after being appointed to that newly created post by Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey in June of 2023.

An experienced, results-driven executive, Augustus has spent more than 35 years in public service, building effective teams and bringing people together to have a positive impact on communities.

Before joining the Healey-Driscoll Administration, Augustus served as City Manager of Worcester, where he led the state's second-largest city through a revitalization that became known as the Worcester Renaissance. Under his administration, the gateway city saw a wave of new development, infrastructure improvements and new housing that attracted statewide attention and restored pride to residents.

As City Manager, Augustus also spearheaded the $240 million landmark redevelopment of Worcester’s Canal District and Kelley Square, including leading negotiations to relocate the Boston Red Sox Triple-A affiliate (now the WooSox) to the city and construction of multi-use Polar Park that has drawn rave reviews and attracted nearly two million visitors in its three years of existence.

Born at Worcester City Hospital, Augustus graduated from St. John's High School in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts in 1983. He went on to Suffolk University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, and then received a Master of Arts from Johns Hopkins University in Political Science.

Before joining the City of Worcester, Augustus served as Director of Government & Community Relations for the College of the Holy Cross, state senator for the 2nd Worcester District, chief of staff for Congressman Jim McGovern, and chief of staff to the assistant secretary for Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs at the U.S. Department of Education under President Clinton’s administration.

As the secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, Augustus leads the state’s mission to create more homes and lower housing costs for Massachusetts residents. The executive office also distributes funding for community development initiatives, oversees the state’s public housing and operates homelessness prevention and housing stabilization programs.

Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer Rich Gedman, who grew up around the corner from Polar Park on Lafayette Street in Worcester, MA, was the first hitting coach in WooSox history in 2021 and returns for his fourth year with his hometown team in 2024. This will also mark his 10^th season as Red Sox Triple-A hitting coach (dating back to Pawtucket in 2015) which is easily the longest tenure of any Red Sox Triple-A hitting coach in franchise history.

Gedman was elected to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame (Class of 2020 along with David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez) and was officially enshrined prior to a game at Fenway Park during the 2022 season.

In his three seasons with the WooSox, “Geddy” has helped players such as Triston Casas, Jarren Duran, Connor Wong, Wilyer Abreu, Bobby Dalbec, David Hamilton, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Enmanuel Valdez produce fine offensive seasons and all earn promotions from Worcester to Boston.

2023 Worcester Red Sox batters broke the all-time Boston Red Sox Triple-A record for Most HR in a season belting a total of 215 home runs to beat the 1996 PawSox who owned the previous Red Sox Triple-A mark with 209 HR. Last season the WooSox also established a new Red Sox Triple-A record for Most Stolen Bases in a season with 197 SB.

The 2023 WooSox – who had their final two games of the year canceled due to rain at Lehigh Valley - fell just 7 runs shy of setting a Red Sox Triple-A record for Most Runs Scored in a single season (WooSox finished with 834 runs scored while the record remains 840 set in 1996 by the PawSox). The WooSox did establish new Sox Triple-A records for Most Walks (WooSox had 721 walks in 2024) and for Most Hit By Pitch (85 HBP last season). And the WooSox tied the club record for Most Triples in a season with 36 to match the 1996 Pawtucket Red Sox.

Rich began his professional baseball career in 1977 when he was signed by Boston as a non-drafted free agent out of St. Peter-Marian High School in Worcester. He played 13 major league seasons with the Red Sox (1980-90), Astros (1990), and Cardinals (1991-92), batting .252 with 88 home runs in 1,033 games. He was named an American League All-Star in 1985 and 1986 and on April 29, 1986 he caught Roger Clemens’ 20-strikeout performance against the Mariners.

Gedman played for Boston for 11 seasons from 1980-1990. In 906 career games with the Red Sox he hit .259 with 83 HR & 356 RBI. His best years came in 1985 (.295/18/80) and 1986 (.258/16/65). During that 1986 post-season Rich played in all 14 of Boston’s playoff games hitting .357 with a HR in the ALCS vs. California and adding a homer in the World Series vs. the Mets.

Rich ranks fourth in club history in games caught (858) behind only Jason Varitek, Carlton Fisk, and Sammy White. In 2012 he was one of 40 players recognized on the All-Fenway Park Team.

“Geddy” has been a hitting coach in the Red Sox minor league system since 2011 when he worked for the Lowell Spinners (Short-Season A). In 2012 he served in that same role for the Salem Red Sox (High-A), and in 2013 & 2014 he was Portland’s hitting coach. His coaching career began as bench coach for the North Shore Spirit of the Can-Am Independent League before he became manager of the Worcester Tornadoes in that same league from 2005-2010.

Rich and his wife Sherry currently live in Framingham, MA and have three grown children: Michael, Marissa (a former professional hockey player), and Matt (a former infielder in the Red Sox system who played for Salem in 2013 and 2014).

The inaugural WooSox Class of 2024 joins members of the Pawtucket Red Sox Hall of Fame that was established in December of 2015. Eleven members were enshrined starting in 2016 through the PawSox final year of 2020: Owner Ben Mondor, 3B Wade Boggs, OF Jim Rice, Manager Joe Morgan, C Carlton Fisk, 1B Mo Vaughn, President Mike Tamburro, OF Fred Lynn, RHP Roger Clemens, INF Nomar Garciaparra, and C Jason Varitek.