A team executive says they have every intention of coming, but have been overwhelmed in planning the celebration in Boston.

01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, October 30, 2004

BY KEVIN McNAMARA
Journal Sports Writer

PAWTUCKET -- The Red Sox are coming to Rhode Island. Just not yet.

Reports of a parade in Rhode Island tomorrow were snuffed out by club officials yesterday. The team is overwhelmed with planning today's massive celebration in Boston, where anywhere from 3 to 5 million fans are expected to flood the streets for a glimpse at the World Series champions.

Jeremy Kapstein, the Red Sox' senior adviser on baseball projects, said yesterday that the club has every intention of holding a celebratory event in Rhode Island. When? Soon, is all the club can say right now.

"The understandably large scope of the planning necessary for the Boston World Series celebration makes it impossible to execute the kind of event [in Rhode Island] on Sunday that the people of Rhode Island deserve," said Kapstein, who was born and raised in Providence.

Kapstein encouraged all Red Sox fans to attend the event today in Boston. The parade will be carried live on NESN.

"The Boston event belongs to the people of New England and the fans in Rhode Island take a back seat to no one," said Kapstein. "We know that Rhode Island's Red Sox fans have loved our team for many, many years and generations. They been with us long before we won the World Series."

The Red Sox are likely to act fairly quickly in setting up visits to some, or all, of the six New England states. Most of the players do not live in the area and have been away from their families since spring training. Kapstein said that the Red Sox, with the assistance of members of the Pawtucket Red Sox front office, will use time to plan a top event.

As a teenager, a young Kapstein kept statistics for Chris Clark on Providence College basketball radio broadcasts. In 1961, he sat on the team bus as it drove home from New York after winning the National Invitation Tournament. He says he vividly recalls the crowds that famously lined Route 6 from the Connecticut border to downtown Providence and would like to create similar memories "for all our Rhode Island fans, young and old."

"An event of this kind has to be appropriately planned and produced. We want a memorable event," he said. "Whether it's Westerly or Woonsocket, every Red Sox fan in Rhode Island is important to us and we want them to have an opportunity to enjoy this and participate and have a lifelong memory."