BALLPARK HISTORY

Ballparks are full of history. They each have thier own distinct features, The bricks and ivy in Wrigley, monument park and the mystique of Yankee stadium, the warehouse at Camden, the green monster at Fenway, and more, but when you go to a park its more than to see the game, its to take in the environment. As much as I dislike it, part of going to Turner is listening to the fans do that tommohawk chant. I also enjoy seeing the statues or plaques of players who have contributed to all that history.

Each ballpark also gives you a different perspective of the game. What might be a HR at one park is just a fly ball in another. The site lines, angles and views of a game vary from park to park, even if your sitting in the same general area. Also the in game extras , like the mascot races, or singing the stretch at Wrigley, Sweet Caroline at Fenway, or the 7th inning God Bless America at Yankee stadium.

Another great thing about parks is visiting the local bar near the stadium. Harry Carays and Murphy's in Chicago, Pickles in Baltimore, Hockeytown Cafe in Detroit, Hooters in Anaheim, Rock Bottom Brewery in Denver (and Cinci), Harpoon Brewery in Boston, and Billys sports bar in the Bronx.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Fenway Park, 2013

 #24


This was the 2nd park of 3 on our trip. The best way to enter the park is through Yawkey Way. This place is awesome. It's like a pregame party in the street. The whole street is blocked off and you can go in and out of the stadium if you want. 


The concourse behind right field is pretty wide open for such an old park. It has a really old school look to it. 
The park was packed this day, plus this was the first day after they caught the second idiot that bombed the Boston Marathon. It was pretty charged up. 




Fenway Park

The classic view of the press box and facade. And a close up of it. 

Fenway Park


Fenway Park

While at fenway, you have to get a picture of the green monster. Well, why not get a picture of both. I would have loved to get a shot of Shawn with Wally, but no such luck. 

Fenway Park

This was our view of the monster from our seats. We were the first section to the right of it. There was a HR over it in this game and we had a great view of it. 


As I said, this was the first home game since the troubles and the city was shut down the day before. We were headed here from the Hall of Fame and were concerned about not being able to see a game. We were listening to news and eventually they lifted the ban and said to go back to normal the next day, even though they hadn't caught him yet. They got him a few hours later. The pregame ceremonies were very emotional and Big Papi charged the crowd up more with his pregame speech. 

The tradition of singing "Sweet Caroline" was something I was looking forward to. Well, it got even better when before the song, Neil Diamond came out to lead the crowd in the song. He was inspired by the way the city pulled together. 


Ted. Any questions?

After we left, we somehow ended up basically walking around the whole park. It worked out well for us because there are a lot of cool plaques and flags around the park to look at. I was sure to point out the 2004  World Series banner to Shawn. 





A couple of shots from the game. It was a tight game and it looked like Boston might lose until the the bottom of the 8th down 2-1 with 2 outs. Daniel Nava stepped up with 2 on and hit a 3 run shot. The crowd went wild. KC managed a solo shot over the monster in the top of the 9th, but it wasn't enough.
 Final score Sawx 4 Royals 3.  


So one disappointing thing about this trip was that Sam Adams brewery cancelled all tours that weekend due to the issues. I understand, but it still sucked. I can't complain considering 24 hours before that, we thought we might not be able to even enter the city. We did get to go to Harpoon brewery that evening after the game, and lets just say we made up for our loss!


One note, it was great listening to the Boston accents through the day, and the more they drink, the more it comes out. Shawn and I were using them all the way home and the people in Philly probably thought we were crazy, but who cares. 

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