“In the beginning...” (from Genesis 1:1)
My wife’s brother, Donnie, works at Boston’s Fenway Park. Donnie has worked there since 1996 doing construction, renovations, repairs, and lots of “miscellaneous”. This past Saturday, Tim McCarthy from our church (and from Moody Optical in Ashland) and I went to Fenway Park. Not only did we attend the 3:55 game and watch the Red Sox beat the White Sox 11-2, but we were given a PRIVATE Fenway Park tour by Donnie at just after 10 a.m.
There were a couple of tour groups visiting the Park at the same time. The great thing about Donnie’s tour is that we got to go all sorts of
places that virtually nobody gets to go, including down on the field and INSIDE the scoreboard! There is SO much I could write about that I hardly know where to begin. For one thing, the “dirt areas” on the field area are really not dirt at all. The “dirt” is actually very finely ground red bricks. Originally, very fine ground stone was used, but the present owners like the finely ground red bricks (presumably for the “Red” Sox). The “ball”, “strike”, and “out” lights on the scoreboard are really red and green traffic lights. The national leagues figures have to be changed by hand. The numbers are on very heavy metal plates. A number of players have autographed the wall area inside the scoreboard.
My wife’s brother, Donnie, works at Boston’s Fenway Park. Donnie has worked there since 1996 doing construction, renovations, repairs, and lots of “miscellaneous”. This past Saturday, Tim McCarthy from our church (and from Moody Optical in Ashland) and I went to Fenway Park. Not only did we attend the 3:55 game and watch the Red Sox beat the White Sox 11-2, but we were given a PRIVATE Fenway Park tour by Donnie at just after 10 a.m.
There were a couple of tour groups visiting the Park at the same time. The great thing about Donnie’s tour is that we got to go all sorts of
places that virtually nobody gets to go, including down on the field and INSIDE the scoreboard! There is SO much I could write about that I hardly know where to begin. For one thing, the “dirt areas” on the field area are really not dirt at all. The “dirt” is actually very finely ground red bricks. Originally, very fine ground stone was used, but the present owners like the finely ground red bricks (presumably for the “Red” Sox). The “ball”, “strike”, and “out” lights on the scoreboard are really red and green traffic lights. The national leagues figures have to be changed by hand. The numbers are on very heavy metal plates. A number of players have autographed the wall area inside the scoreboard.
Speaking of the “wall” we went to the seating area atop the “green monster”.
The “green monster” is 37 feet high. It is made of wood with metal inside. The original wall was built in 1947. The present wall is NOT the original wall. The present wall, a virtually exact copy of the original (which was starting to deteriorate) was built around 5 years ago. As a kid, I can remember Fenway Park being forest green. In fact, it WAS forest green in the past. Today a lighter shade of green is used.
I did not know that the present Fenway Park is actually 3 buildings
immediately adjacent to each other. One of the adjacent buildings was originally built in 1914 and was mainly an auto storage garage. There was an elevator lift to bring the cars to the various levels. These other buildings have largely been incorporated into Fenway as luxury seating areas, etc. Speaking of luxury seating areas, we got to go into the Coca-Cola luxury suite. There are a number of luxury suites. Each costs a mere $300,000 per year! There’s also a luxury “high end” elegant restaurant! We also visited the “Budweiser” area at the opposite end of the park which was large and impressive. Incidentally,Coca-Cola is one of a number of corporate sponsors. That makes it difficult for Donnie because as long as I’ve known him, he’s been addicted to Mountain Dew
(a Pepsico product!). I guess he just has to keep Mountain Dew away from work.
Donnie has had pleasant and unpleasant experiences at Fenway. Do you
remember the female concert goer (stoned out of her mind) who climbed up onto an overhang, fell, and was badly injured. Donnie was present. He says the worst part was NOT watching her fall but rather listening to the sound of her hitting the ground. It’s a miracle she lived!
The “green monster” is 37 feet high. It is made of wood with metal inside. The original wall was built in 1947. The present wall is NOT the original wall. The present wall, a virtually exact copy of the original (which was starting to deteriorate) was built around 5 years ago. As a kid, I can remember Fenway Park being forest green. In fact, it WAS forest green in the past. Today a lighter shade of green is used.
I did not know that the present Fenway Park is actually 3 buildings
immediately adjacent to each other. One of the adjacent buildings was originally built in 1914 and was mainly an auto storage garage. There was an elevator lift to bring the cars to the various levels. These other buildings have largely been incorporated into Fenway as luxury seating areas, etc. Speaking of luxury seating areas, we got to go into the Coca-Cola luxury suite. There are a number of luxury suites. Each costs a mere $300,000 per year! There’s also a luxury “high end” elegant restaurant! We also visited the “Budweiser” area at the opposite end of the park which was large and impressive. Incidentally,Coca-Cola is one of a number of corporate sponsors. That makes it difficult for Donnie because as long as I’ve known him, he’s been addicted to Mountain Dew
(a Pepsico product!). I guess he just has to keep Mountain Dew away from work.
Donnie has had pleasant and unpleasant experiences at Fenway. Do you
remember the female concert goer (stoned out of her mind) who climbed up onto an overhang, fell, and was badly injured. Donnie was present. He says the worst part was NOT watching her fall but rather listening to the sound of her hitting the ground. It’s a miracle she lived!
I was struck by how much WATER Fenway Park uses. On Saturday morning, crews were hosing down everything outside, and I mean EVERYTHING. I also learned that the INDIVIDUAL lights on the light towers are EACH specifically aimed at an exact spot. Inspectors from M.L.B. come once a year to check that the lights are aimed EXACTLY right AND they measure the exact height of the grass!
Tim and I were not able to visit the Red Sox clubhouse because the players were there at the time. We DID get to see just about everything else, however. Saturday was like watching an episode of “Main Streets and Back Roads” on Chronicle, OR like watching a special episode of “Greater Boston”. The exciting thing is, this wasn’t T.V.- we were really there!
I almost forgot to tell you why I led this piece off with “In the
beginning...”.
It’s because that’s the only verse about baseball in the entire Bible. You
know, “In the big inning...”
Tim and I were not able to visit the Red Sox clubhouse because the players were there at the time. We DID get to see just about everything else, however. Saturday was like watching an episode of “Main Streets and Back Roads” on Chronicle, OR like watching a special episode of “Greater Boston”. The exciting thing is, this wasn’t T.V.- we were really there!
I almost forgot to tell you why I led this piece off with “In the
beginning...”.
It’s because that’s the only verse about baseball in the entire Bible. You
know, “In the big inning...”
2 comments:
Love it... Not only did you have a great time but the Red Sox won. Can't beat that
So Tim & you were out making memories on Saturday ... Memories, times in our lives that we will never ever forget ... Glad you enjoyed yourselves ...
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