I Met Pedey Part 2: The Fenway Tour

Earlier tonight...I posted the photo blog of the Dunkin Donuts Perks Most Valuable Tour with Dustin Pedroia at Fenway. Here is a little more information about the event...in particular about the tour of Fenway Park. The Q&A with Dustin Pedroia will be in Entry 3 (I know...I like to draw things out).

I live in Upstate NY...which is about 3.5 hours away from Fenway Park. I got up at 5am...and was out on the road at 5:30am. I wanted plenty of time to get there and get lost...and to find parking. Well, I am glad I did that. Traffic was insane. INSANE. There was an accident and then just the basic "driving into Boston" traffic. My GPS went from telling me I would get there at 8:45am to 10:00am in about 5 seconds. My GPS found me a detour, but still I ended up pulling into the parking garage at about 9:55am. I was supposed to meet my "Fenway Date" Jayne at 9:45am in front of Fenway. So, I jumped out of the car...grabbed by bag and RAN down the street to Fenway. Literally. Well...maybe I jogged. You get the point.

I got there just at 10am...and we went inside. They were just saying hello to people and telling them about the plan for the day. The plan was to officially have the best day EVER!

First up...batting cages. Jayne went first. Seriously. She kicked arse. She hit every ball...and many of them she hit well. I haven't played baseball since I was in elementary school...and let's be honest, when I did...I was really bad at it. I was afraid of the ball and just all around sucked. So, I wasn't sure I would get in the cage. But, I also figured...I only live once...and got in there. And yeah, I sucked. But....I don't care. GOOD TIMES.

Next we went on a tour of Fenway. The highlight of the tour...was of course...going inside the Green Monster. It has always been a dream of mine to be able to go inside. I am so jealous of people I see at games who get to look inside and what not. Now...I have been one of those people. The nice little old man who gave us our tour...the most entertaining thing he said all afternoon..."We have 3 people who work the scoreboard from inside the Green Monster. We used to have 4, but then we traded Manny Ramirez."

Other interesting tidbits on the tour....

Even though the Monster was built in 1934...they didn't add the little window to have a TV camera until 1975. NBC was covering the World Series and wanted to be able to film home runs as they went over the Monster. So, they added this little pop out door for a camera.



So, the camera man was supposed to follow the travel of the ball as it went up up up and over the Monster. Well...Carlton Fisk. At the plate. Hits a high fly ball towards the Monster. And what does the camera man catch.....you remember the image......



Fisk wishing the ball fair. So, why didn't the camera man watch the ball go up up up....like he was supposed to? Well..as Fisk hit the ball, he got ready to follow it up, but there was a "critter" in the Green Monster by his feet, so instead of focusing on doing his job, he was trying to get the little critter away from his feet. Instead, he caught an iconic moment of Red Sox Nation. At least that is the story.

The Ted Williams Seat. The guy sitting in that seat...was Joe Boucher from Albany, NY (basically in my backyard). He came with his family for the doubleheader. Wore a straw hat and proceeded to fall asleep. Ted Williams decided to wake him up by hitting a 502 foot home run. Joe Boucher after the game...admitted he was a...gulp...Yankees fan. He also said that the baseball god's blessed him that day by him not being hurt by William's home run ball...and from that day on, he was a Red Sox fan. The headline the next day in the newspaper, "BULLSEYE- Knocks Sense Into Yankee Fan!" LOL. Joe Boucher kept to his word and remained a Red Sox fan.

The tour guide went through all the different alterations and upgrades of the park. He said that in 2012...they are hoping to have Fenway Park recognized as a national landmark. If and when that happens, it will never be able to be torn down. *crosses fingers*

He also said that the current owners are close to the end of the planned upgrades. He said that if the upgrades were a 9 inning ball game, we would currently be in the top of the 9th.

I had a great time on the tour. If I could have, I would have spent HOURS in the Green Monster. I would have looked at every single name in there. I remember JayBay telling a story of after he got to Boston...he went into the Monster and found where he signed it as a member of the Pirates. That's pretty cool.

After the tour, we had lunch. While we ate...some lucky little kids got to go back down to the batting cages and swing with Dustin. I am not a little kid...so I didn't get to do that. I guess that is acceptable, even though I think everything should be about me.

And then...Dustin showed up. This entry is long...and it's late...and the Red Sox didn't clinch on their own, so I am going to save the Dustin entry for tomorrow. I took some notes, so I'll remember what we said. So...come on back and read it tomorrow...when hopefully the Rangers will have lost and we will know for sure we are heading to the Post Season.

STAY TUNED......