Off to Fenway!

I'm headed to Fenway this morning for the home opener - and since I was at the last home game of the 2012 season, I'm pretty much picking up where I left off. Hopefully the Red Sox can keep up the momentum from yesterday's blowout (and from winning the first two series of the season) and defeat the Orioles.

Today's game is sure to be a sellout, but the team is understandably braced for the sellout "streak" to end within the next few home games. Though the team is doing better early on than expected, it's difficult to sell nearly 40,000 tickets to midweek night games in April - it's somewhat less than balmy in this part of the country when 10pm rolls around.

If any of you will be at today's game and want to say hello, I'll be wandering around the park with my obnoxiously large camera from the time that gates open until the festivities start (reportedly at about 1:30), and thereafter in my seat in the bleachers. And as always, you can tweet me!

Five Minute Musings

1. I haven't had the chance to see Knuckleball! yet, but now I can't wait for this "sequel."  The spoof from MLB.com's Fan Cave features RA Dickey, Phil Niekro, and old friend Tim Wakefield as a crime-fighting trio.  The video (above) is just about ninety seconds, and it will probably be the best minute and a half of your day.
2. I don't know if you caught this story from Boston.com, but it features Manny Ramirez, Johnny Damon, and Kevin Millar jumping into the jacuzzi with Pedro Martinez before a game in 2004.  There's also an aside from Pedro about strategic signing of the inside of the Monster "so Manny doesn't pee on it."
3. As you know, my roommate and I went to the final home game of the season and unveiling of the All Fenway Team last week.  The whole thing was incredible, and since we temporarily commandeered dugout-side seats (until an usher kicked us out) I was able to take some great photos.  If you want to check them out, there are some posted on the Tumblr attached to this blog, or you can Like this blog on Facebook and see the full album.
4. Ben Cherington as good as said that Bobby V. won't be returning next season. No one is surprised, but what's next? Varitek is headed to the front office (and as I said in my last post, I don't think it would work - at least right now), and the All Fenway Team Manager is said to be interested in managing in Cleveland.  Who do you want to see in the role next season?
5. With the playoffs drawing closer, and the Red Sox so far out (and for so long) I've been thinking about whiuch team(s) I want to support through the postseason.  Yes, I'm a Red Sox fan, but I'm also a BASEBALL fan, and I need to have a few rooting interests. I've gone with the Rangers the last couple Red Sox-less postseasons (mostly because I love Ian Kinsler), but I have some other ideas this time around.  Are you going to hop on a postseason bandwagon? Boycott the playoffs entirely? Let me know in the comments!

Fenway Park 2012 - the final game

Last year, I attended the last Red Sox home game at Fenway Park.  It was September 21, and in the midst of the greatest September meltdown in history, they lost to the Orioles.  As I was leaving the park, I didn't think anything of it (although it stands as one of just three losses that I've witnessed live at Fenway Park).  I figured the Sox would take a few of the remaining six games, and that the Rays would lose enough of theirs for us to make the playoffs.

Boy was I wrong.  I won't rehash my feelings about Game 162 again (i'm sure most of you have similar memories), but I would like to compare how I felt going in to last year's last home game and how I feel going into this year's last home game.

I was offered the tickets just last week, and since I knew I wasn't working on Yom Kippur, I accepted them knowing that the Red Sox had already been mathematically eliminated from postseason play.  I hope the Red Sox win tonight - because I always hope the Red Sox win.  Even if it makes no difference in the fact that this has been a failed season.  Even though the win-loss record will be abominable with or without one more in the win column.

I also would really like to see the Rays miss out on the Postseason, since it was their late-season drama that helped to oust the Red Sox last season.  I know you can make the argument that the Orioles beat us  in Game 162 and gloated too much, so I should want THEM out instead, but I don't see it that way.

Orioles fans have put up with a lot since their last postseason berth in 1997, and I would like to see them go all the way.  The Rays, on the other hand, have had a lot of luck recently, and if I have to sit out the postseason (again) I'd like them to, as well.

A Red Sox win tonight would pull the Rays further out of contention and be a final bright spot in the 100th year of Fenway Park operations.  Tonight, more than most nights, I want the Red Sox to win.

Today at Fenway: Celebration of the life of Johnny Pesky

As I'm sure you all know by now, Red Sox legend Johnny Pesky passed away a little over a month ago at the ripe old age of 92.  The Red Sox have planned a formal Celebration of Life for Pesky scheduled for this very evening at Fenway Park, and the event is free and open to the public.

After today's afternoon Orioles game, the park will be reopened at 6pm.  The formal ceremony is from 6-7, but the park will remain open until 9pm, and fans will have the option to walk around the warning track and view exhibits about Pesky's illustrious Red Sox career.

From the Red Sox release about the event:

While the formal portion of the ceremony is set to take place between 6-7 p.m., fans are welcome to stay until the park closes at 9 p.m. Both current and former Red Sox players will be in attendance.

In addition to hearing stories about Pesky’s 70-year career, fans will have the opportunity to walk on the warning track and see displays that illustrate his life as a player, coach, manager, broadcaster, ambassador, patriot, husband, father, and friend. Fans will also have the opportunity to write personal messages that will be given to his family and become part of the Nation’s Archives at Fenway Park.

Will I see any of you there?

Happy 100th Birthday to America's Most Beloved Ballpark!

One hundred years ago today, the Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Highlanders on the very first Opening Day at Fenway Park.  There's been a lot of turmoil between now and then, but Fenway remains the center of baseball in Boston.

I know there are a lot of fans feeling jaded about the Red Sox lately, given the way last season ended and the way this one has begun.  People are feeling more attached to the nostalgia of Fenway than to many of the players on the team - and even that feeling has been cheapened by the never ending attempts to monetize the 100th Anniversary. You can buy bricks, shirts, hats, fan photos, and who knows what else.

But aside from the shameless attempts at profit, there's something magical about Fenway Park. You can sit in the same (uncomfortably small) seat your grandfather sat in and watch baseball on the field where Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, and Jim Rice used to patrol.  There's something special about a manual scoreboard and the lack of between-innings gimmicks that own the day at many other MLB parks (ahem, Yankee Stadium, I am looking at you).

Yes, the prices are much higher than they used to be, and the players are (as a rule) overpaid - but Fenway Park has remained relatively static through the years. Sure, there are seats on the Green Monster now, and many of the once-wooden seats have been traded in for plastic, and there are more video boards than in yesteryear. But the Park is a living piece of history. According to team officials, it has about 40-45 more years of safe occupancy, and then the Red Sox will have to move out forever.

I'm sure they'll get a shiny new ballpark, where all of the seats face the infield, and where there aren't any beams to obstruct your view, and with a capacity much larger than what we're used to.  I don't know about you all, but I fully intend that when the time comes, I'll be that crotchety old lady who won't shut up about the way things were better "in my day."

That's what is so special about Fenway: this IS the ballpark of your grandparents - with a few small changes. It's creaky and old - but it's ours.

Sadly, I'll be missing the festivities this afternoon - both live (because I couldn't afford tickets) and on television (because I said I would work Trinity baseball before I checked the timing). Oh well, that's why NESN invented Sox in 2 at midnight... I can stay up until 2am on Spring Weekend, right?

Happy Jackie Robinson Day!

I'm headed to Fenway this morning to see the Red Sox battle the Rays - and keep hopes for a sweep alive.  It will be my first time at the park since Game 81 of last year (which ended in a Red Sox loss), and I could not be more excited about the fact that today is Jackie Robinson Day across MLB.

I'm taking a couple of sports related classes this semester (Baseball as American Culture and History of US Sports), and so we've obviously talked quite a bit about Robinson, both as an incredibly talented baseball player and as an amazingly strong and resilient human being.

Robinson took more abuse from fans, opposing teams, and even coaches, than any of us will ever understand - he not only paved the way to end segregation in baseball, but he was a beacon of hope to African-Americans all over the United States.  The best book I've read on Robinson is called Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and his Legacy, by Jules Tygiel.  If you're interested in reading about Robinson's journey, or about Dodgers' mastermind Branch Rickey, this is the book for you.

The Red Sox in particular have cause to reflect on Jackie Robinson today, because they were the last MLB team to integrate, when Pumpsie Green debuted in July of 1959, TWELVE YEARS after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.  The Sox remained a notoriously racist organization far beyond Green's tenure on the team, and this fact was a big part of some terrible Red Sox teams - even when the Red Sox were ready to bring in African-American and Latin players, said players wanted nothing to do with an organization with that kind of reputation. (For more reading about this topic, check out It was Never About the Babe: The Red Sox, Racism, Mismanagement, and the Curse of the Bambino, by Jerry M. Gutlon.)

Of course, the Red Sox aren't discriminating against non-white ballplayers these days, but it's important to understand the scarred history of the franchise, because it all led up to today.

Today, every player in Major League baseball will wear 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson, and all that he stood for.  It's a meaningful and important sight, and I feel privileged to have tickets on this day specifically.

Of Hit-streaks and Nostalgia

Yesterday afternoon, in the eighth inning, Dustin Pedroia came to the plate hitless after his previous three at-bats (he did, however, have a walk).  The crowd, aware of his 24-game active hit streak, got to its feet and cheered, and were then rewarded when Pedey took a neck-high 3-2 offering from Greg Holland and deposited it in the Monster Seats, successfully extending his streak to 25 games.

The longest such streak in the majors this year belongs to Pedroia's close friend, Andre Ethier, with 30 games.  One can only imagine the ribbing Ethier will get if Pedey manages to notch hits in the next 6 games.

The most special part of the situation, in my opinion at least, was the fan reaction, and Terry Francona agreed: "I do think our fans are pretty special. They do react to things like that. It's part of what makes Fenway so great," he said. "We don't need to have President races or mustard racing ketchup. Our fans like our baseball. I actually really think that's cool. Nothing against mustard."

 This is part of why I find Fenway Park so special - we don't need the gimmicks that other teams depend on to draw and keep fans.  The new Yankee Stadium, for instance, felt to me like I was in a shopping mall and a baseball game broke out - it was plastered with technicolor ads and gimmicks, there were games and giveaways every half-inning on the scoreboard, almost like a minor-league stadium.

While Fenway does have a big new high-def scoreboard, it also hangs onto nostalgia with it's manual scoreboard under the very same Monster Pedroia homered into yesterday, as well as the same wooden grandstand seats in which your father and grandfather might have sat.  And the fans are just as knowledgeable and vociferous as they were when Teddy Ballgame was swatting homers from that very same batters box.

Religion: Boston Red Sox

 "Fenway Park is a shrine. People go there to worship." -Bill "Spaceman" Lee

I just got totally validated by a NESN commercial.  [Add that to the list of things I never thought I would have a reason to say.]  You've probably all seen it, they show a bunch of shots of fans at Fenway, and say things like "This isn't a fan club, it's a Nation," and "being a Red Sox fan is something you're born with," blah blah blah.

But then comes a statement that I will agree with until the day I die: "it's more than devotion; it's like a religion." [Possibly slightly misquoted. But that's the gist.]  I'm a secular person.  I haven't been to a church (in the traditional sense, at least) since I was a small child, and I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

On Facebook, my religion is listed as "Boston Red Sox," and though some people might think that's downright blasphemous, I think sports fandom often falls within the realm of religious.  One of Webster's definitions for religion is as follows: a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.

If you look at it objectively, the "cause" for Red Sox fans is the team, and we certainly follow them with ardor and faith.  Personally, I know more about the Red Sox (and baseball generally) than many church-goers know about their religious tract of choice, and I while some people wear a cross around their neck, I wear a Boston "B."


Hopefully my more religious readers won't be offended by this post; please know that was not my intention.  But for those of you who find themselves feeling out of place at traditional churches, you can come with me to Fenway - my personal Baseball Mecca.

Fenway Park Tour, 2010

This Sunday, my friend Steph and I took an impromptu trip to Boston. We thought we were going to see our college field hockey team play in the NESCAC Finals, but our athletics website had a a typo, and it turned out that they weren't playing after all.

So there we were, sitting on Tufts' campus with nothing to do. We were watching the first half of the Tufts/Bowdoin game when I remembered that I hadn't redeemed my Red Sox Nation Fenway Park tour for 2010. Steph and I promptly decided we would leave at halftime and head to Yawkey Way.

I always forget that you can park on Yawkey Way when it's not a game day...

When we arrived, there was a bigger crowd than I had initially expected, but I was okay with that. Steph had never taken a Fenway tour before (she's more of a Pats fan), and the only time I'd taken one, I had gotten the handicapped accessible version (which did allow me to see a lot of the hidden areas of the ballpark), so we were both pretty excited.

Our tour guide was an older gentleman named Steve who referred to his 2004 and 2007 World Series rings as "chick magnets," and continually made jokes about the group of Canadian Naval officers on the tour, referring to them as "the whole Canadian navy."

When we reached the first stop on the tour, the EMC Club level, we were greeted with a view of the latest renovations, this time to the right field grandstand and right field box sections:


Last year, Tom Werner, John Henry, and co. replaced the damaged cement under the left field side, as well as painting the wooden seats and fitting them with springs so they retract by themselves when you stand up. This winter, the right field sections get the same treatment: the seats have been removed so that the cement can be repaired, and they will be returned in time for Opening Day. As I'm sure you all know, Fenway Park is the oldest Major League ballpark still standing, and it also boasts the oldest seats: these same wooden ones, installed in the 1930's.

The tour then moved through the park, and we were ushered through the Red Sox Hall of Fame:


Steve was quick to share that the late, great Ted Williams is a member of several different Halls of Fame: the Red Sox HoF at Fenway, the Baseball HoF in Cooperstown, the Fly Fishing HoF in Livingston, New York, and the Marine Corps. HoF at Quantico.

The tour moved on, through the bowels of the old ballpark, and on towards the Green Monster seats.



Of course, I'm much too poor to buy those tickets, so getting up on the Monster during a tour is the only time I'll sit there. That said, it is quite a view.

The tour wrapped up over in the left field infield grandstand seats, where Steve regaled us with anecdotes about the team's and park's history. I have to admit, I was dissappointed that the organization is still perpetuating the myth that Harry Frazee financed No, No, Nanette with money from selling Babe Ruth, when it's simply not true. Sure, it's a cute story, but spreading misinformation isn't going to do anything for Sox fans' reputation for being somewhat informed.


That aside, I was happy simply to be at Fenway Park once more, since I haven't been since returning to school in August. I also won't be seeing any games until at least late May, since my study abroad program is keeping me out of the country until then, so it was definitely nice to get a chance to bid the park adieu for now.

Oh, and I made sure to yell "SIGN V-MART" in the general direction of the front office on my way out.

[All pictures in this post were taken by me (Kayla Chadwick), but can be reproduced so long as you credit me as the photographer.]

Take me out to the - SHHHH!!!!

Yesterday was the epitome of a perfect summer afternoon. I was at the ballpark with two of my friends, it was a beautiful day, and the Red Sox were beating up on the Royals. All was as it should be. Or so I thought.

Part way through the game, the child seated in front of us turned around and dropped a bomb, "Excuse me, but could you please be quieter?"

Needless to say, we were floored. I know that the three of us are hardly quiet, but we were careful to keep our conversation appropriate and inoffensive; none of us were drinking, so that wasn't the issue. We assured the boy that we would keep it down, mostly because we didn't know what else to say - who expects things to be quiet at Fenway Park?

Please, use your "inside voices."

Throughout the game, whenever we spoke, even when it was cheering for the team, or singing along to "Sweet Caroline," this eight-year-old kid would turn around in his seat and glare at us. I'll be the first to call out obnoxious fans at games, and I assure you that we were being perfectly reasonable: our noise was due to enthusiasm about the game (more on that in a post later - I have to fill me Sox-less evening with writing), but he seemed to be personally offended by our enjoyment.

I put this to you, dear readers... have you ever been asked to be quiet - QUIET - at a ball game? What were the circumstances?

He still loves us!

Forget the way it ended. Forget the pouting, the injuries, and the most shocking midseason trade in my lifetime.

And for god's sake, forget this cover ever happened...

For all the drama leading up to his 2004 departure, Nomar Garciaparra still loves us.

I was at the gym today when ESPN's Baseball Tonight came on the television, and to my delight they had our old friend Nomar as a guest. Mostly they talked about Brandon Webb's rehab, the remaining free agents (Johnny Damon is still out there), and the imminent start of Spring Training, but they did a quick question and answer session at the end of the program.

The first question posed to the former Sox shortstop was this: "What has been your favorite park to play in?"

Nomar smiled. The captions were a little behind on the gym's TV, but I was pretty sure I knew what he was going to say, so I smiled, too. Sure enough, a split second later the verdict flashed on the screen: "FENWAY." He went on to give props to Wrigley for its history, but returned again and again to the effect the fans have on the atmosphere at Fenway Park. "There's nothing like it," he said, and in my limited experience of other parks, he's quite correct. Other stadiums (I'm looking at you, New York) have scoreboards that tell fans when to cheer and clap... you'll see a lot of things at Fenway Park, but that's not one of them.

Red Sox fans are, for better or for worse, some of the most knowledgeable and passionate in the game, and Nomar is just the latest player to recognize us as such. I don't know about the rest of you, but I was extremely pleased to see Nomar reiterate his love for us (because, let's be fair, things were a little tense by the end of his tenure here). Since #5 left us, we've had a literal parade of shortstops, some good, some bad, but none with the same ties to the fans that Nomar had.


I hope Garciaparra finds a team this season. I hope he comes to Fenway (in anything but pinstripes, not that they have use for him) so we can show him the love once more... and because he loves Fenway as much as Fenway loves him.

Five Minute Musings

I've been really bad about updating the last few days. My apologies, I made my trek home from Hartford Friday, went to the Sox game Saturday (more on that in a second), did the whole Mother's Day thing Sunday, and went to the doctor's yesterday. Today, I have a meeting with a stockbroker (seriously), but I figured I should squeeze in time to write. This edition of FMM will center around ballpark etiquette, paritcularly the bad behavior I noted during my trip on Saturday.

1.) Don't drink to excess, especially at a day game. Saturday's start time was 3:40, sort of an awkward half day/half night game dictated by those idiots over at FOX. Beyond the usual idocy of having a beer an inning (that adds up to around $60), I was sitting in an alcohol free section, and a set of parents with their children were asked to leave with their drinks, so they left their 8ish-year-old children sitting alone while they went off to finish boozing. Keeping it classy.

2.) Don't boo the Red Sox players. Julio Lugo really got it hard on Saturday, as most of the Tampa Bay hits in their big inning found holes on his side of the diamond. In all fairness, there was at least one that should have been an out, but he deserves the support of the fans regardless. When you support the Red Sox, you support all of them, through the bad times and the good. Sure it's fine to pick favorites (I sure do), but booing your own player makes you look no better then a fairweather fan... and if you're a fairweather fan, stop taking up seats at Fenway so the real fans can get in.

3.) Keep your cellphone conversations short, or go talk in the concourse. I didn't pay these obscene ticket prices so I could hear you gush about little Johnny's fist word. Is there really no better time you can think of to talk to your mother in law than in the third inning with two on and nobody out? There was this one really obnoxious girl behind me on Saturday who spent a good two innings on the phone catching up on gossip with her girlfriends, screeching and yelling and giggling at the top of her voice. Don't be that girl.

4.)Don't scream obscenities - be more creative! There was one man on Saturday who was absolutely vulgar, especially towards Mr. Lugo (I think he had also been violating #1). There are children at the games, and beyond that, spouting swear words makes Sox fans look ignorant of the game. Lambast BJ Upton about his dismal OBP, not about what his mother may or may not have been doing last night, and the heckling is rather more acceptable.

5.) Try to limit your bathroom/snack/phone breaks. No one likes having to stand up and have you squeezeby them in those crowded rows at Fenway. I'm not saying you shouldn't go to the bathroom, but maybe if you had 2 beers instead of 4, you wouldn't have to get up every half-inning. Also, most food in the concouses is available from the vendors walking around. One to three times is expected (though I try not to leave at all - I don't like to miss anything!!), but more than four or five is really annoying.

There you have it - my Fenway Five. We all pay ridiculous amounts of money to be at the park, and it's a shame when someone else ruins your experience. Even a blowout like Saturday's can be fun if you decide it will be... heck, we got to witness Julio Lugo's first homerun of the season!