PAWTUCKET --- Lou Schwechheimer, the longtime general manager who helped transform the Pawtucket Red Sox from bankrupt minor league franchise to Rhode Island cornerstone, has died. He was 62.
Schwechheimer passed away Wednesday afternoon from complications related to COVID-19. The PawSox and the Wichita Wind Surge, the Triple-A affiliate of the Marlins for whom Schwechheimer served as owner and managing partner, each issued statements announcing his passing.
"Minor League [...]
PAWTUCKET --- Lou Schwechheimer, the longtime general manager who helped transform the Pawtucket Red Sox from bankrupt minor league franchise to Rhode Island cornerstone, has died. He was 62.
Schwechheimer passed away Wednesday afternoon from complications related to COVID-19. The PawSox and the Wichita Wind Surge, the Triple-A affiliate of the Marlins for whom Schwechheimer served as owner and managing partner, each issued statements announcing his passing.
"Minor League Baseball has lost a legend and a visionary," PawSox chairman Larry Lucchino said in a statement. "In all of our many years with the Red Sox, both Boston and Pawtucket, we found Lou to be so likable, so devoted to this game, and so full of friends in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and all of New England."
Schwechheimer enjoyed a legendary run with Pawtucket that eventually led to enshrinement in the International League Hall of Fame. Ben Mondor bought the club out of bankruptcy in 1977 and hired Schwechheimer the next year. He and long-time club president Mike Tamburro served as Mondor’s able lieutenants, turning the PawSox into a hit both at the box office and in the community.
"This is the saddest of news," Tamburro, now the club’s vice chairman, said in a statement. "I feel like the PawSox helped raise him. He was more at home at McCoy Stadium than in his own home."
Schewechheimer was hired by Mondor and Tamburro as a 20-year-old college intern from the University of Massachusetts. He was named vice president and general manager in 1986 and took home I.L. Executive of the Year honors in 1987 and 1992. The PawSox won Governor’s Cup titles three times during Schwechheimer’s tenure in 1984, 2012 and 2014.
Pawtucket’s on-field success dovetailed with its rise at the turnstiles. The franchise oversaw a ballpark renovation completed in time for the 1999 season. Expanded grandstands, a grass berm in left field and a new patio beyond the wall in center were among the features that helped draw the next generation of fans to the stadium. The PawSox set a franchise attendance record in 2005, welcoming 688,421 fans.
"He was here morning, noon, and night, and there were nights when he even slept here," Tamburro said. "Every member of our business community, and tens of thousands of fans, knew him by name. He had remarkable interpersonal skills."
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