By Bonnie Adams, Managing Editor
Sutton – Each spring, Worcester County Sheriff Lewis Evangelidis welcomes his office’s reserve deputies to a dinner and swearing-in ceremony. This year, at the event held April 14 at Pleasant Valley Golf Club in Sutton, the guests received a very special treat – the chance to meet and have their photo taken with Pedro Martinez, the iconic former Boston Red Sox pitcher.
After dinner, Evangelidis and Martinez took part in a question and answer session with Martinez sharing, in his warm, humorous and honest way, stories of life in his native Dominican Republic as well as tales from the MLB.
And to his, and everyone else’s delight, Martinez was sworn in as a reserve deputy as well.
After three guests drove up bidding in an auction to just over $6,000 on an official Martinez baseball shirt, the pitcher agreed to donate two more, so each bidder would receive one. The Sheriff’s Office in turn made a donation of $5,000 to the Pedro Martinez Foundation (pedromartinezfoundation.com), which helps children in need in the Dominican Republic.
