Published on 8/18/2026

Worcester Bravehearts (Futures League) @ Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field (Worcester, MA)

Worcester's oldest current baseball team

SUMMER OF BASEBALL 2023: STOP 4

The Worcester Bravehearts are an interesting story. They came into the city of Worcester in 2014 and were the talk of the town baseball wise for a while - winning five league championships and attracting rather large crowds. However, in 2021...the WooSox moved in. There was concern that the arrival of affiliated Minor League Baseball would, in effect, kill the Bravehearts (a longer season, more seats, and a downtown location being major factors).

A few years later...I’m honestly not sure where things stand. A combination of the WooSox and other factors seemingly led to Bravehearts attendance suddenly dropping in 2022 (not helping: the team finished 7th out of eight teams). The team was able to rebound both on and off the field, and eventually, the two teams entered a “strategic partnership” (which included the WooSox stadium hosting the league’s All Star Game); however, this coincided with the sale of the Bravehearts - a move which is still up for debate as to whether it will help or hurt. One thing that did raise some eyebrows after the sale, however, was the departure of the team’s long-time General Manager (who ended up taking a job with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies of Minor League Baseball's Eastern League). One thing that kinda sorta helps the Bravehearts (for better or worse): WooSox tickets are apparently some of the priciest in all of Minor League Baseball¹.

Fitton Field itself (or Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field as that’s the official name of the baseball stadium) is actually pretty interesting: it’s on the campus of the College of the Holy Cross and hosted an independent team for a bit before the Bravehearts were founded (as well as a “100 inning game” for ALS research hosted by Rhode Island's LEAST favorite former Red Sox player). It has also supposedly hosted Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, and Ted Williams, as its history dates back to 1905 - seven years before the opening of Fenway Park.

In all honestly, there’s not much to say about the stadium: the entrance is towards the first base side of the grandstand, the stadium is more or less in the side of a hill, the concourse forms the top of the seating bowl (similar to Brockton), and there’s a picnic area near field level on the third base side. There is, however, one fun bit of “trivia”: the night before I visited for a game in 2023 (on Memorial Day Weekend), the scoreboard caught fire and was out of commission for the game (and was eventually replaced of course). The PA announcer for the game made several jokes about the scoreboard between innings (partially as he had to announce the score as well).

Worcester was, along with all ten Cape League stadiums, one of the places I visited BEFORE even living in Massachusetts: we did a week on Cape Cod in 2021, but I went up early and caught a game here². In addition to many Bravehearts games over the three years I made visits (2021, 2022, and 2023), I also saw a special "police vs. fire department" game which featured wavy foul lines and a walk-off (to date, it's actually the most recent time I've been to Fitton Field).

MERCH

Each time I visited, merchandise was sold immediately to the right of the gate. From what I remember, the stand has various layouts - some of them allowing fans to walk into them, and others not as much.

One of the reasons I ended up making many, MANY visits in 2022 specifically: jerseys. The team sold out of jerseys in my size when I had arrived on opening night, and it took almost a month for them to get restocked. In addition, I once ordered a jersey from the team only to have to give it back, as it was requested by the player's family (I did get a replacement however).

ON DECK

A stadium that had a unique quirk for the couple of years that I visited.