Why a neighborhood in Utah is dedicated to the Boston Red Sox
The bricks of Boston's Fenway Park are unmistakable, as are the streets that surround its hallowed grounds. While some are named after famous Red Sox players, another set of streets named after Sox stars is going viral on social media. It's a neighborhood in Herriman, Utah, where all of the streets are Sox legends.
At less than 30 years old, Herriman is a relatively new city that developers say is one of the fastest-growing in Utah. It was founded by Henry Herriman, who was born in 1804 in, of all places, Massachusetts. While it sits south of Salt Lake City, in the northern part of Herriman is a development started in 2022 by Edge Homes. The list of streets goes from Xander Lane to Fisk Drive. Edge Homes Project Manager Brandon Parr is the man behind it, and a die-hard Sox fan.
"I had the opportunity to name some streets, I was like why not incorporate my favorite team into this, and the rest is history," said Parr. "Began following the team when Wade Boggs started playing for them in the '80s, and I've been following ever since I was 6 or 7 years old."
Every day you can find him in the office with a Red Sox hat on while holding a Red Sox mug. It's hard to believe the company went along with his plan.
"Zero pushback," said Parr. "In fact, I don't even think anybody knew I was really doing it until it was done."
Parr says one neighbor even called the city asking to change Pesky Lane because they didn't like the negative connotation of the word pesky.
"I said, 'OK, we need to tell them this is a guy's last name. This is Johnny Pesky. They named a pole after him for heaven's sake,'" said Parr.
Over the last 24 hours, the neighborhood has blown up on social media with Major League Baseball referencing the neighborhood on Twitter when the Red Sox have a highlight. After Payton Tolle threw an immaculate inning, they tweeted the video with the caption, "Tolle Terrace coming soon to a neighborhood in Utah." They followed up with another version for Red Sox third baseman Caleb Durbin. When Red Sox fans caught wind, they too began sending jokes and video posts to social media.
"We looked it up online, and I've seen some of the comments and stuff. It's awesome," said Parr.
The area's discovery has some fans wondering what player's name they would want as their street.
"Carl Yastrzemski was my favorite player growing up," said Sox fan Chris Carrigan. "It's why I wore number eight in college and all of that."
WBZ-TV caught up with Carrigan before he played softball at Fenway Park for a game with MassMutual. The Worcester native was supposed to play at Fenway when he was playing for Assumption College.
"They moved the game from Fenway to Holy Cross and I was like, I never got to step on Fenway," said Carrigan. "Today I get to 40 years later."
Having been to Utah, he says Sox fans don't know what they are missing. "It's a beautiful place out there, and it is awesome," said Carrigan.
Perhaps there may even be a few more Sox streets in the future. "It might happen. It might happen. I have several projects I can throw these names in," Parr said.
