PEABODY — The City Council unanimously voted to award a special permit to former Red Sox draft pick and Peabody High legend Steve Lomasney, which will allow him to bring his business, The Show Baseball and Softball Academy, to the vacated T.J. Maxx building on Lowell Street.
The location at 635 Lowell St. will be the new home of The Show; it will consist of roughly 8,000 square feet of turf space along with five batting cages, a parent viewing area, restrooms and a small retail area for the purchase of The Show team apparel as well as baseball and softball hard goods.
The facility will primarily be used as a baseball and softball training facility for the teams and players on The Show’s team rosters, but Lomasney also plans on running baseball and softball clinics for the city of Peabody at the surrounding towns.
Lomasney opened up the hearing by clarifying that he is no longer affiliated with the Peabody Sportsplex, which is located on Newbury Street. He initially received a special permit from the City Council in 2017 to operate his business at the property, but he has since decided to move on for a number of logistical reasons.
There were no objections to the permit among the city councilors; several praised Lomasney for his work in sending a number of high school players off to college.
Lomasney was a star at Peabody High in Massachusetts and grew up rooting for the Red Sox, who drafted him in the fifth round of the 1995 MLB Draft. Five years later, Baseball America ranked him as the top prospect in Boston’s farm system.
But in 2001, while playing for the AAA Pawtucket Red Sox, Lomasney was struck in the right eye by a line drive during batting practice. He suffered a choroidal rupture and never saw the ball the same way as a hitter. He could still catch, though, and teams valued him for his wisdom. He hung around the minors through 2006.
After leaving professional baseball, Lomasney offered individual lessons as a coach with the Steve Lomasney Baseball Academy in Peabody, where he worked out of a warehouse on Foster Street. He then joined the staff as a coach at Legends Baseball in Middleton in 2008.
Then in 2011, Lomasney opened The Show, a 10,000-square-foot facility with plenty of room to utilize seven full-size practice areas. It is located off Route 93 on River Road (Exit 45) in South Lawrence. The Show also does a lot of work at the New Balance Training Facility in Salem, N.H. and the Granite Fields indoor facility in Kingston, N.H.
The Show is a baseball and softball skill development coaching facility that provides an opportunity for youths to join teams that participate in competitive leagues, tournament teams, and college showcase teams.
The Show offers private lessons and group clinics to participating members and the general public by professional instructors that include a roster of ex-professional ball players.
Since Show New England’s inception, the program has had five athletes drafted to the MLB and seen more than 100 athletes commit to college programs.
