Opening Day at Fenway Day #3 “Almost the Perfect Day?”

I had been looking forward to this day for months.  Opening day at Fenway Park sounded like an awesome experience.  The night before we made a plan.  After awakening we would head downstairs for breakfast.  Then, take a leisurely walk around the area and finally head to the park for the game.  Postgame plans were deferred until later.

I usually get up much earlier than Patrice so it was my job to make sure we got up in time to get downstairs before breakfast ended at 10:00 AM.  When I awoke I took a look at my watch and much to my surprise it was 6:54 (plus 3 hours for the time difference made it 9:54).  Quickly I got up and alerted Patrice, “Honey it’s almost 10:00 AM, get up, we need to go downstairs for breakfast.”  To which she replied, “What are you talking about?  It isn’t even 7:00 AM yet”.  Oops, I forgot, I had already set my watch ahead.

A couple of hours later we headed downstairs and much to my surprise encountered a number of Pirate fans.  Of course we were outnumbered by the Red Sox boosters.  One group of 4 guys had flown in from Texas for the game.  They were all trying to hit every MLB park like we are trying to accomplish.  One had already completed the feat.  One other had two left (Fenway being one) and the other two were lightweights just getting started.

After breakfast we started to explore.  We quickly realized this day was for the committed fan.  Or shall I say a fan that should be committed?  First look at the cost of parking (see below).

In addition to the cost of parking (I was told it was $90 closer to the park.) there were those who were interested in more than just baseball.   We saw people lining up to get into bars, and I don’t just mean one bar.

In addition to the “fans” we saw a local weatherman reporting the forecast (sunny and no chance of rain) for NBC.  We also saw a female sportscaster practicing for her news segment.  Then closer to the park we found a series of statues honoring Red Sox heroes like Carl Yastrzemski, Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky and of course Ted Williams.  I felt a bit stupid not thinking of naming this the “Ted Williams Tour” since the “Splendid Splinter” was from San Diego (where we just left) and played 19 seasons with the Red Sox here in Boston.  I tried to make up for my faux pas by having our picture taken in front of one of his statues (he is also depicted in a second statue with 3 of his teammates).

We also saw today’s guest of honor, Tom Brady, arrive.  He was slated to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.  I didn’t realize it was him but his name was buzzing around and I did manage to get a picture of his car (see below) but didn’t get a view of the Boston Deity himself.

I not only didn’t know it was Tom Brady, I had to read the logo on the car to realize it was an Aston Martin.

We finally made our way to the will call area and were surprised to see the number of people on line.  After getting our tickets we then had to go through security, much like you experience at airports, to enter the stadium.  See the sign below for what you must remove from your pockets.

Inside the park I saw some things you just don’t see at Dodger Stadium or many other of the modern ball parks today.

We even had some in game entertainment other than baseball when, what looked like a teenager ran on to the field from the right field area before he was finally tackled in left field, taken from the field and handed to the police.

We enjoyed the traditional rendition of “God Bless America” and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” before the Sox half of the 7th and then a Red Sox tradition of “Sweet Caroline” before the Sox half of the 8th.

After the game we headed back to the hotel and then bundled up for a nice walk to one of our favorite restaurants in Boston, The Union Oyster House.  Patrice and I were dressed very warmly for the cold Boston night but we came upon this young lad heading home after shopping at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Sorry to write so much, but it was a special day.  The forecast calls for rain today so I probably won’t be writing as much.  One other note, why wasn’t it a perfect day?  Well, the Pirates came out on the short end opening day.  But as they say, no one ever clinched the pennant in April.