The Sculpture at the Diamond
With the impending arrival of a new baseball team at Richmond’s Diamond came plans for the removal of Connecticut, the beloved mascot of the Richmond Braves. Records of the Best Products Company, which are in the collections of the Virginia Historical Society, provide interesting insights into the history of this iconic sculpture.
Connecticut was created in the early 1980s by Paul DiPasquale, also know for his Arthur Ashe sculpture on Monument Avenue. What many people might not know about Connecticut is that he was originally intended to sit atop a liquor store at 2600 Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D.C. A dispute between the family members who owned the building, however, prevented the installation of the sculpture.