Fenway Park (Part 1) 7/22/2004
It's important to understand that this whole tour of the country started quite by accident. We didn't decide to start it one day, it just kind of evolved..
My daughter, Breanne, was (and continues to be) a huge fan of Nomar Garciaparra.. well in the summer of 2004, the Red Sox were embroiled in a pennant race with the Yankees again, and there was talk of Nomar being traded before the trade deadline. None of my kids at this point had ever been to a major league baseball game, but we had been going to some minor league games of our local Tri City ValleyCats who are a single A short season Penn League team and an affiliate of the Houston Astros.
Well, being as the Red Sox were Breanne's favorite team and Nomar was her favorite player, I thought it would be cool to try and get her to see a game before Nomar moved on to another team.
Luckily, the twins birthday is July 19th.. so I decided that for their birthday i would get them each tickets to see a game of their favorite team. At that time, Justin liked the Yankees and Breanne liked the Red Sox. Being that I hadn't planned ahead, i needed to cruise the internet for tickets.. Luckily the Yankees still had tickets available for games in August in the bleachers (more on that trip later), but the Red Sox had sold out. I was forced to go to the 'grey market' and try and find tickets.. luckily I was able to get 5 seats in the bleachers for a game on July 22nd, just before the trade deadline. Now my only hope was that Nomar would not be trade before the game we were to see.
Justin and Breanne had a very nice party and were both excited that they were going to get to see a 'real' game by their favorite teams. Breanne was especially excited because she was going to get to see her hero, Nomar..
As the day approached, due to another game being rained out we were going to see the first game of a double header. Now i had two concerns, not only was I worried that Nomar wasn't going to be traded, i also had to worry about even if he wasn't traded, would he play in the game we went to?
Fenway Park is a three hour drive from our home, so we set off in the morning. On the way over we picked up from the local talk radio that indeed Nomar was going to play in the first game of the doubleheader but not the second.. i breathed a sigh of relief.. I guess karma intended for us to be there.
I've been to Fenway numerous times and in 1986 used to live near Symphony Hall about half a mile from Fenway, so I'm pretty used to getting around Boston's streets.. If you aren't familiar with Boston's notorious streets, you should use the mass transit system known locally as the "T". Fenway is near the Kenmore Square stop. I navigated us to my usual parking garage no problem. We walked to the park across the 'Fens' after which Fenway is named.
We strolled around outside the park to try and take it all in.. we took some pictures near the Ted Williams Statue, which is located near the 'back' entrance to Fenway, near the bleachers.. we walked around the park and strolled up and down Lansdowne Street to Yawkey Way. Yawkey way (named after the former owner of the Red Sox) is closed off during game days and is actually inside the park as the gates located on either end that you must pass through with your ticket before you can get onto Yawkey. It didn't used to be like this, but it's a nice touch..
Yawkey Way is typically setup like a street fair with food and beverage vendors on either side of the street and a gift shop across from Fenway. One place to check out are El Tiante's to see is former Red Sox great Luis Tiant is around.. The local cable network, NESN, also broadcasts from one end of Yawkey Way, if you get there early enough you can see some of the announcers doing the pregame..
If you are looking for a sausage, I usually recommend the Sausage Guy on Lansdowne St just outside the gates.. I'm a vegetarian, so I don't indulge myself, but I've never heard anyone complain about the Sausage Guy and it's cheaper than inside the park.. take that for what it's worth..
So it is getting near game time and we head inside.. It's late July in Boston and it's brutally hot. Our seats are out in the right field bleachers and in the direct sun. My kids at this point are complaining about the heat.. we stick it out for the pregame and some of the first inning, but by then everyone is starting to feel scorched.. We get up and head back underneath the stands and watch from a few places.. Eventually we find a place to stand behind first base in the back where it's shady and the kids can see..
Nomar is playing, but the Red Sox are taking a beating. The Orioles are taking it to them. The Red Sox called up Abe Alvarez to pitch in the spot start and he's getting hit pretty hard. We walk around take some pictures.. try and keep the kids entertained. We head over to the gift shop and make a few purchases.. I buy Dylan a baseball with the Red Sox logo, Justin a Red Sox hat and Breanne a little stuffed bear with a Red Sox logo on it. Little did I know that with this one purchase I had begun a tradition, but more on that later..
Towards the end of the game we find some seats that were vacated by fans leaving early and we watch the end of the game. The Red Sox wind up losing 8-3 and it was never even close. A few days later the Red Sox play the Yankees and Varitek and Alex Rodriguez go at it which seems to ignite the team and carries them through the rest of the season.. on July 31st, Nomar is traded to the Cubs for Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mietkiewicz among others.
On the way we stop at a little Italian Mom and Pop restaurant just off the Mass Pike and have a nice dinner and drive home listening to the night game on the radio.. In the end, the day was a success.. we got to see Nomar play for the Red Sox for one of the last times ever.
Pictures from 7/22/2004
My daughter, Breanne, was (and continues to be) a huge fan of Nomar Garciaparra.. well in the summer of 2004, the Red Sox were embroiled in a pennant race with the Yankees again, and there was talk of Nomar being traded before the trade deadline. None of my kids at this point had ever been to a major league baseball game, but we had been going to some minor league games of our local Tri City ValleyCats who are a single A short season Penn League team and an affiliate of the Houston Astros.
Well, being as the Red Sox were Breanne's favorite team and Nomar was her favorite player, I thought it would be cool to try and get her to see a game before Nomar moved on to another team.
Luckily, the twins birthday is July 19th.. so I decided that for their birthday i would get them each tickets to see a game of their favorite team. At that time, Justin liked the Yankees and Breanne liked the Red Sox. Being that I hadn't planned ahead, i needed to cruise the internet for tickets.. Luckily the Yankees still had tickets available for games in August in the bleachers (more on that trip later), but the Red Sox had sold out. I was forced to go to the 'grey market' and try and find tickets.. luckily I was able to get 5 seats in the bleachers for a game on July 22nd, just before the trade deadline. Now my only hope was that Nomar would not be trade before the game we were to see.
Justin and Breanne had a very nice party and were both excited that they were going to get to see a 'real' game by their favorite teams. Breanne was especially excited because she was going to get to see her hero, Nomar..
As the day approached, due to another game being rained out we were going to see the first game of a double header. Now i had two concerns, not only was I worried that Nomar wasn't going to be traded, i also had to worry about even if he wasn't traded, would he play in the game we went to?
Fenway Park is a three hour drive from our home, so we set off in the morning. On the way over we picked up from the local talk radio that indeed Nomar was going to play in the first game of the doubleheader but not the second.. i breathed a sigh of relief.. I guess karma intended for us to be there.
I've been to Fenway numerous times and in 1986 used to live near Symphony Hall about half a mile from Fenway, so I'm pretty used to getting around Boston's streets.. If you aren't familiar with Boston's notorious streets, you should use the mass transit system known locally as the "T". Fenway is near the Kenmore Square stop. I navigated us to my usual parking garage no problem. We walked to the park across the 'Fens' after which Fenway is named.
We strolled around outside the park to try and take it all in.. we took some pictures near the Ted Williams Statue, which is located near the 'back' entrance to Fenway, near the bleachers.. we walked around the park and strolled up and down Lansdowne Street to Yawkey Way. Yawkey way (named after the former owner of the Red Sox) is closed off during game days and is actually inside the park as the gates located on either end that you must pass through with your ticket before you can get onto Yawkey. It didn't used to be like this, but it's a nice touch..
Yawkey Way is typically setup like a street fair with food and beverage vendors on either side of the street and a gift shop across from Fenway. One place to check out are El Tiante's to see is former Red Sox great Luis Tiant is around.. The local cable network, NESN, also broadcasts from one end of Yawkey Way, if you get there early enough you can see some of the announcers doing the pregame..
If you are looking for a sausage, I usually recommend the Sausage Guy on Lansdowne St just outside the gates.. I'm a vegetarian, so I don't indulge myself, but I've never heard anyone complain about the Sausage Guy and it's cheaper than inside the park.. take that for what it's worth..
So it is getting near game time and we head inside.. It's late July in Boston and it's brutally hot. Our seats are out in the right field bleachers and in the direct sun. My kids at this point are complaining about the heat.. we stick it out for the pregame and some of the first inning, but by then everyone is starting to feel scorched.. We get up and head back underneath the stands and watch from a few places.. Eventually we find a place to stand behind first base in the back where it's shady and the kids can see..
Nomar is playing, but the Red Sox are taking a beating. The Orioles are taking it to them. The Red Sox called up Abe Alvarez to pitch in the spot start and he's getting hit pretty hard. We walk around take some pictures.. try and keep the kids entertained. We head over to the gift shop and make a few purchases.. I buy Dylan a baseball with the Red Sox logo, Justin a Red Sox hat and Breanne a little stuffed bear with a Red Sox logo on it. Little did I know that with this one purchase I had begun a tradition, but more on that later..
Towards the end of the game we find some seats that were vacated by fans leaving early and we watch the end of the game. The Red Sox wind up losing 8-3 and it was never even close. A few days later the Red Sox play the Yankees and Varitek and Alex Rodriguez go at it which seems to ignite the team and carries them through the rest of the season.. on July 31st, Nomar is traded to the Cubs for Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mietkiewicz among others.
On the way we stop at a little Italian Mom and Pop restaurant just off the Mass Pike and have a nice dinner and drive home listening to the night game on the radio.. In the end, the day was a success.. we got to see Nomar play for the Red Sox for one of the last times ever.
Pictures from 7/22/2004
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