Back to Beantown

After visiting 35 other states, we're glad to be back in Mass.
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You know the old cliché about getting goosebumps as you walk down the ramp and get your first glimpse of a playing field?  That was us as we walked into Fenway Park for our last game.  As much as we love other parks (and in Anna’s case, other teams), Fenway is home and will always be the closest to our hearts.

We managed to get to two Red Sox games on this last weekend of the regular season.  For the first, we stood in line on the sidewalk for hours and bought standing room tickets.  The game was great, but the fireworks didn’t begin until after the game.  That night the Sox won and they needed the Yankees to lose in order to clinch the division title.  The Sox decided to play the Yankees-Orioles game live on the jumbotron, sound and all, so everyone could watch together.  With an unimaginable comeback in extra innings (and Sox fans chanting “Let’s go O’s!”), the Orioles won and the Fenway Faithful went wild.  After some clubhouse celebration, all the players came storming out of the dugout, which led to a giant party on the field and in the park.  There was dancing, spraying fans with champagne, and beer drinking.  The sense of euphoria throughout the Fens was electric.  Even Anna had to admit, “As much as I wish this weren’t the outcome, it’s really cool to be here.”  The Sox game had ended at 9:45, but we didn’t leave the park until 3 hours later.

Almost there!
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Saturday night we threw ourselves a little party and had such a great time catching up with friends.  Though the Bell in Hand was pretty loud and rowdy, we still managed to carry on some conversations.  We also appreciated the entirely random group of people we managed to put together, complete with high school and college friends, former roommates and co-workers.

The most amazing moment of our trip came on Sunday afternoon when we went to our final game of the trip.  It was a “save the best for last” scenario, and it was more than we could ever have imagined.  A last-ditch email to Larry Lucchino, president and CEO of the Red Sox, actually garnered a response and we were able to get two tickets through him!  We picked up the tickets and walked to our seats, which were alongside the visiting dugout.  By “alongside,” we mean practically in the dugout.  By just turning our heads to the left, we were looking down the line and could see every single one the players.  We ran across the street to buy a baseball, because when you’re so close you could give a Major League player a noogie, you definitely need to be asking for autographs.  As they came and went during the game, we could hear every congratulations and consolation, see their exasperation and hear them curse, and watch them get patted on the back for a job well done.

We sat on the street waiting for tickets for a couple hours. When the guy with the sausage cart showed up and kicked us out of our curb spot, he offered us these chairs. How nice of him!
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For 9 innings, we not only witnessed the inner workings of the dugout, we also talked baseball with Ron Gardenhire, the manager of the Twins!  Yes!  Us!  Talking with the manager!  For nearly 9 innings!  (Us!)

We talked about the pace of the game, about ballparks, about big market and small market teams, about salary inflation, about the age of the Twins’ roster and the futures of some of their prospects, about The Wave, about the home plate umpire (and his tenuous relationship with that ump), about letting David Ortiz get away, about game start times…you name it, we probably discussed it.  Toward the end of the game he handed us an envelope and asked us to write down our addresses so he could send us some Twins jackets.  After it was over we shook hands and wished each other the best…it was surreal.  He was so warm and so friendly; it was an absolute joy to watch a game with a bit of his commentary.

Maggie felt right at home
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We were able to snag 8 autographs, some from relatively unknown players, but a few important ones as well (Joe Mauer, Rondell White, Michael Cuddyer).  We did not, however, get signatures from actress Glenn Close (sitting 2 rows behind us) or former Mass. gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos, who was also behind us somewhere.

One of the funnier moments of the game revolved around Fenway cuisine.  It turns out that when you’re rubbing elbows with the big wigs in the 2nd row, you get waitress service at your seat.  We chuckled to ourselves as she handed us menus featuring a lobster roll and clam chowder, and we politely informed her that we were all set.  An inning later (as Anna was unabashedly biting into her peanut butter and jelly sandwich), our buddy the security guard laughed and said, “you know you get free food in those seats, right?”  Free food?! And we were eating PB&J?!  Needless to say, those sandwiches got put away awfully fast and we proceeded to enjoy a turkey sandwich, chowder, hot dogs, and sports bars for dessert (we were shocked that these tasty ice cream treats of our childhood cannot be found anywhere else in the majors, so we had to indulge here).

Ahhh, Fenway. We missed you.
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This was the ultimate experience to end our trip.  We could not have asked for anything better!