I am happy to say I was able to attend the Open House in Fenway Park yesterday commemorating the 100 year anniversary of the ballpark. Jane and I entered Fenway at Gate E and found ourselves right behind these seats well back of third base but just to the left of the Green Monster. It really is heavenly coming from ground level and walking into the magic of Fenway. This was as close as I ever got to the Green Monstah and the scoreboard. The crowd snaked along very slowly. People wanted to get the chance of standing right in front of the Wall and go inside the scoreboard room and take pictures.
Over 54,000 people roamed around Fenway, lining up to go places fans aren't usually able to go like the Dugout, the Green Monster, the warning track, the scoreboard (the only manual scoreboard in baseball) and more. A Boston Herald reporter asked me why I came and I said, "my uncle tried out to be a Red Sox player in the early 1940's, I come from a family of die-hard Red Sox fans, my uncle wrote an article about the day my grandfather took him to a double header to see Ted Williams tip his cap, I still have my uncle's baseball and cap, and I came as the third generation of Sandler red sox fans." I had to call Aunt Ruth to find out when Roby tried out for the team. She said he was in his late teens. He didn't make the team so he became a Professor of English instead.
View across the field - fans climbing and walking all over Fenway.
I watched the emotional and moving Opening Ceremonies of today's game against the Yankees which is being played at the same time on the same day as 100 years ago. The players are wearing the same uniforms they wore 100 years ago. They had almost 200 past Red Sox players, Carleton Fisk, Carl Yazstremski, Luis Tiant, Dennis Eckersley, Johnny Pesky, Bill 'Spaceman' Lee, Kevin Millar, Jim Rice, and the current Red Sox color analyst and former 2nd baseman, Jerry Remy to name a few. Can't forget Jim Lonborg who pitched us into the playoffs in 1967. I remember we got the day off from school ! Only in Boston, only at Fenway....
Over 54,000 people roamed around Fenway, lining up to go places fans aren't usually able to go like the Dugout, the Green Monster, the warning track, the scoreboard (the only manual scoreboard in baseball) and more. A Boston Herald reporter asked me why I came and I said, "my uncle tried out to be a Red Sox player in the early 1940's, I come from a family of die-hard Red Sox fans, my uncle wrote an article about the day my grandfather took him to a double header to see Ted Williams tip his cap, I still have my uncle's baseball and cap, and I came as the third generation of Sandler red sox fans." I had to call Aunt Ruth to find out when Roby tried out for the team. She said he was in his late teens. He didn't make the team so he became a Professor of English instead.
1 comment:
Glad you made it to this 100 year ceremony. I would have loved to be there!
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