"BEN MONDOR IS ROLLING OVER IN HIS GRAVE"

That's the message on the T-shirt I created to protest the carpet-bagging current owners of the soon-to-be-formerly-known-as Pawtucket Red Sox.

Mondor owned the Pawsox until his death a few years ago. The former mill-owner retired to a life leading the Pawsox and keeping his promise to keep the team in the city. His estate sold the team to a group that included former Boston Red Sox part-owner Larry Lucchino. Lucchino is big on building stadiums, or, more accurately, getting desperate municipalities to pay to build them and then wringing the last buck out of his municipal gift. Worcester, Mass., is his latest mark.

It seems Rhode Island wasn't desperate enough for his tastes. The state actually expected the new team owners to invest in their team. But that's no way to steal money that could be used to - I dunno - improve some of the worst, least-funded schools in the country or maybe create jobs that pay better than minimum wage.

There's every reason to believe Worcester will regret handing the farm over to the likes of Lucchino and his millionaire pals. In the meantime, the memory of Ben Mondor and what he did for Rhode Island means nothing to them.

So get a T-shirt to wear to one of the last games the Pawsox play at McCoy Stadium. Let 'em know that the blame for Rhode Island losing its Pawsox rests solely with them.

Go to the "Place an Order" page on this site (www.thomring.com) to order one, or visit Stillwater Books, right on Main St. in Pawtucket, to pick one up.

Oh, and one more thing. I found yet another book about minor-league baseball that listed McCoy as "one of the finest stadiums in minor-league baseball." It was published in 2007. That's what I've found in - gee - just about every book or website I'veĀ gotten my hands onĀ over the years that rates minor league stadiums.

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