MANCHESTER, NH – While the 2018 baseball season has long since ended, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats were still hard at work this week helping raise money for charity.
Continuing the team’s November tradition, last weekend the Fisher Cats raised $91,000 through their annual Granite State Baseball Dinner.
Presented by Northeast Delta Dental, this year’s dinner welcomed first-time guests like First Ballot Hall of Famer Steve Carlton, 2004 World Series Champion Orlando Cabrera, Big Red Machine staple George Foster, and former 1970s Red Sox staples Bill “Spaceman” Lee and Luis Tiant. The event also featured two of the only MLB first round draft picks to come out of New Hampshire: Chris Carpenter (1993) and Grant Lavigne (2018).
This year also marked the third appearance for former Major Leaguer and ESPN Baseball Tonight host Orestes Destrade, who served as the event’s master of ceremonies along with Fisher Cats on-field MC Tyler Zickel.
“What (the Fisher Cats) do as an organization is the epitome of what Minor League Baseball really is: communal and really supportive,” said Destrade. “This event was for a great cause and I’m very happy.”
Since 2007, the event has raised over $1.7 million for charity, with proceeds from this year’s event benefiting the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchock (CHaD), the Ted Williams Foundation, and the Fisher Cats Foundation.
“Great night, successful night. It’s great to have to have the support of the community and fans here,” said Fisher Cats president Mike Ramshaw.