A Yankee Fan in Red Sox Nation

I just completed my first baseball trip of the year.  I went to games at Dodger Stadium and AT&T Park.  I didn't really know how to feel about going to a Giants game.  I've always heard good things about the stadium, but they're my least favorite team in baseball.  I thought about my good friend John.  He's one of the biggest Yankee fans I know and he's been living in the Boston area for several years now.  Besides living there, he's been working at Fenway Park for the last few years.  John gave me the idea to start this blog two years ago and I asked him to write the first ever guest blog post here.  I wanted his perspective about what it's like spending time in the ballpark of his favorite team's biggest rival.  I'll let John take it away:

Opening Day 2014

When I told my mom that I got a part time job at the Red Sox she was not thrilled.  She actually carried on a bit like I joined up with the Taliban, I might as well have in her eyes.  I come from a family that has been rooting for the Yankees for four generations now and we have a strong connection to the team from the Bronx where my grandfather grew up.  So when I got the job as a Ticket Taker at Fenway in 2011, my mom got offended.

So why would a guy who cried in 2004 and who wanted to name his son Joseph DiMaggio Mullady work for the Sox? I like baseball. I know its a cheesy answer but its the truth.  I have an opportunity to work for a baseball team who wouldn't take it? I'm grateful to be able to sit down for a half hour and watch batting practice on a summer afternoon and be getting paid to be there. 

Don't get me wrong there are plenty of times when it is awkward for me or even straight up uncomfortable. When a fan comes up  to me and says, "Go Sox" and expects me to give a similar response instead they will get a blank stare. I hate hearing "Sweet Caroline" and at times I will tell the fans of other teams that I am from NY and rooting against the Sox.  When people hear that they sometimes laugh, Yankee fans will often give me a high five or a "you gotta be kidding me" look.  I hate the Sox.  But I do love working at Fenway and I try not to take the experience for granted. I've met people who have traveled from all over the U.S. and the world to watch a game at Fenway Park.  A lot of first timers will have a nervous/excited look on their face when they approach the gate. That enthusiasm is contagious.

I did not work Opening Day last year.  I felt funny taking a personal day from work and sometimes it's more work to make sub plans than its worth.  I was really shocked when my Assistant Principal encouraged me to take the day and to work the game.  With my son in day care and the encouragement from my AP I kind of felt that the decision was made for me.

Friday morning I dropped Jack off at daycare and headed into Boston for the game. I drove past the ballpark at 8:30 and there was already a line  of 15 people to get into Game On, one of the bars near Fenway.  The sign on the door indicated that they would be waiting until 11:00 before they could get in.

It was pretty clear that the Sox were going to pull at all the stops for this year's Opening Day.  One of the ticket takers said she saw rehearsal and that the 2004, 2007, and 2013 World Series Banners would be all placed over the Green Monster at some point. I saw members of the Boston Pops getting ready as I went into the locker room and I wondered what else would be in store.

At 10:00 one of the Red Sox executives for Event Operations helped pin a rose to my jacket.  All the Ushers, Ticket Takers, Security Guards were wearing a rose on their uniforms. As I was getting pinned I asked the exec if her two kids were going to the game.  She never allowed her kids to miss school for baseball games until today.  Her son was six and had been begging for weeks to be at Opening Day and letting him go was a surprise for him.

I was working Gate A on Yawkey Way, one of the busiest gates at Fenway. The line was already back up to Brookline Ave.  There is a new security measures at Fenway that required that every fan go through Security with a metal detector wand. When the gates opened up it quickly became clear that the new method would be frustrating and time consuming and not that efficient.  

Fans came in for the most part smiling and unfazed by the long security process.  Some came in dressed like they were skipping work early they looked like fans who would come in to watch a game from a different time with their suits and ties.  Some fans came as if they were coming from a costume party. I gave out Red Sox bracelets and baseball cards until I ran out.  You would never think that a J.D. Drew card could make a person so happy but the looks on some of their faces was so amazing.  I can't wait for Jack to be old enough to go to a baseball game and get excited for it. 

When it started to slow down a woman approached me and asked where the will call at Gate D was.  I told her that I would walk her down there myself and let her through my turnstile.  She told me that she needed to go to the Player's Will Call.  I asked her who she was here to see and she told me that Logan Schafer was her son.  He was an outfielder for the Brewers and that she hated Ryan Braun.  I told her I did too and she hugged me. I ended up seeing her the next day as well and we chatted for a few mins.  I showed her a picture of Jack and she said that Logan was not really pushed into baseball but he just always enjoyed it.  She encouraged me to support whatever Jack ends up enjoying and not to force him into sports.  I'll take the parenting advice from a MLB mom anytime. 

There is a Ticket Taker named Ian that I have gotten pretty close with over the past few years.  During the playoffs we snuck up to the Green Monster and had some beers. On Game 6 we ended up sneaking into a luxery suite that was occupied by Dennis Leary.  Ian was headed to the bathroom when I bumped into him in the Main Concourse.  It did not take him much convincing to sneak down and try and get a good look at the festivities.  

I was not especially interested in seeing the players get their rings, there are guys on the roster that I openly root against when I am down there.  When some of the victims from the Boston Marathon bombings came out from behind the 2013 banner to give the players their rings while the Pops preformed classical music I will admit I got chills.  It was almost like something out of a Spielberg movie the way it was done.  After the bombings Red Sox players were visiting victims at the hospitals for weeks and the team did some great things behind the scenes.  Working the first game after the Marathon I felt like I was part of something big, part of the healing process. 

A few days before Opening Day there was a fire in the Back Bay that killed two fire fighters.  The men left behind wives and children and the funerals had brought firemen from all over the U.S. to the city.  To honor their sacrifice the Red Sox had their families and the members of the fire house come in and lower the American flag to half mast.  Each member of the Red Sox players lined up and shook the hands or embraced the firemen and the families before they left. 

The whole scene was surreal to me and moving and I feel really fortunate to have been there.