My Day at Fenway with Red Sox Nation

This past weekend I was able to visit historic Fenway Park for the Red Sox opening series versus the Milwaukee Brewers. For me, Fenway signified a place that has long been on my bucket list and to make the trip even more amazing I got to see my beloved Brewers play.

While the pomp and circumstance of opening day at Fenway following a World Series championship would have been the ideal choice for my first “sawx” game, the ticket prices on stubhub.com made it hard to get in the building for less than $200 a person. So after three days in Cape Cod with my wife, we traveled into Boston on the last day of our trip for a Saturday night game at Fenway.

After many delays that Saturday morning we finally arrived at the Yawkey Street stop on the Number 18 bus. As I got off the bus Fenway was in sight, a dream was about to come true.

As we walked up to the Fenway Park the neighborhood and surrounding area breathes Red Sox. The entire area is filled with team stores, food vendors, bars  & restaurants making the neighborhood feel like one big game day party. We went straight the Red Sox ticket office to purchase our tickets for the 4 pm stadium tour. The Red Sox host a stadium tour every hour on  the hour leading up to three hours prior to game time. This last tour, the 4pm that day, is the batting practice tour.

As you enter the stadium you are taken back in time through not only the history of the Red Sox but baseball history. After a  stop in the concourse our guide lead us into historic Fenway, an experience I can only equate to entering Lambeau Field for the first  time when I was just a 13-year-old boy. This feeling comes over you as the brightness of this perfectly manicured green grass hits your eyes. The sounds and sights of baseball excite me like no other sport but on this day they had even more meaning. These were new sites and sounds, this was Fenway!

Our guide sits us down in the loge section of the stadium,right behind home plate, as Red Sox catcher David Ross takes batting practice. After a great amount of information on the history of Fenway, some cute quirks of the park she tells us “you are sitting in the oldest seats in baseball”. These seats are the same seats that grandfathers have passed down to their children to only be passed on to their children. This unique experience, sitting in these historic seats, is one that many have had before me but to finally join the group was powerful.

After you head down the stairs onto the field, yes onto the field for a picture you are quickly escorted back off the field toward the Green Monster

The tour ends on top of the Green Monster. You check out the field, batting practice and all the site lines from the high above Fenway on the icon “monster”. I will say that the view is amazing, almost as amazing as the batting practice home run  that Mike Napoli hit out of the stadium into the parking garage.

After the tour my wife and I ventured throughout the shops around the stadium before entering right around 6 pm.

The game, well you know the story. The Brewers win in the 11th on a Logan Schafer RBI double  to score Khris Davis.

Red Sox nation is unique, very knowledgeable but what defines them most is their passion. I have sat at many games in at Miller Park in which the Brewers were down 6-1, like the Red Sox found themselves this night. The difference on this night was the fans, these guys didn’t stop cheering for their team. Their knowledge of the game and the moment, especially when the Red Sox were trying to come back  was impressive. Throughout the game they continued to cheer and bring life to their team. Now they can be rude and obnoxious and with a Brewers jacket and hat on that night I was a great target for the obnoxious.

Still, it didn’t matter the experience and more importantly the Brewers win made the night perfect.