Today we have another guest author, Kim Greiner, daughter of Mother Chic and sister to Deb and Julie.
I have a confession to make. I wasn’t a baseball fan. Yes, that’s right; America’s favorite pastime was not mine. The game just simply is too slow for me. You’ll be glad to know I’ve been converted. It started when my daughter played softball this year. The games were fun and she was really into it. Not like when they’re younger and they don’t even know it’s time to run in and the inning is over. They actually made double plays and slid home in close calls. That started it, but what really changed it was Fenway.
We vacationed in Massachusetts this summer. My husband has family there. In the past we lived in upstate New York and were able to see them more often. Of course like everyone in the state, they are avid fans. You can imagine when they won the series we got a call to make sure we were watching. So my husband decided while visiting there we would all catch a game. “Oh, boy. I thought this was my vacation too.” But I knew everyone would love it and he was able to get tickets.
Now, unlike a lot of sports complexes I’ve been to, there aren’t acres of parking lot spaces and you walk up to the stadium. No, Fenway is right in the heart of the city. We weaved in through traffic and managed to find a spot amidst the brownstones where the attendant lived up a couple floors and crammed us in so tight everyone but the driver gets out because you can’t open the doors later.
So we set out on foot through the streets to the stadium. As you head down in the mix with thousands of others, there are bars and restaurants and vendors everywhere. You can smell the dogs. It’s more like a street party. I definitely recommend going early. You want time to mill around, grab a dog and a beer and watch the performers.
Once inside the stadium we headed off to our seats. Now mind you, they’ve remodeled parts of the stadium, but our seats were still in a section yet to be ripped and renewed. I was so glad. Instead of the standard plastic chair, it was the old wooden slat chair with years of layered paint. I could just imagine what it must have been like in the early 1900s sitting there. It’s such a part of history. They have a single seat painted red indicating the place where Ted Williams hit his 502-foot home run in 1946. I wish I could have gone and sat in it and looked back toward home plate. What a feat in the days before protein drinks and scientific workouts. That skill, talent, and sheer desire is amazing.
I was also impressed by the crowd. Oh, the beer flowed like you wouldn’t believe, but poor behavior is simply not tolerated. Bostonians are great people. They’re not as reserved as Midwesterners and I like that. It definitely was a place you could take your family and have a good time. In between innings they would play a popular song and the entire crowd would sing and of course with the traditional 7th inning stretch “Take Me Out To The Ballpark”. We were even treated to a winning game.
Well, we’ll go back. But this time, I want a seat on the Green Monster!
