I had been to Fenway Park three times for three different sports since starting the blog (hockey in 2014 and baseball and football in 2015). I didn't pay for tickets for any of those games thanks to John. But John doesn't work there anymore. So Jon and I had to buy tickets. My recommendation was standing room only because the only actually seats that weren't totally ridiculously priced were way out in the bleachers. I think we made a good call. I don't expect to be back at Fenway Park anytime soon, but I'd go with the standing room only again in the future. The only thing is where to stand. Our tickets were for home plate standing room. Nobody seemed to be checking the tickets so you could probably just go with the cheapest tickets. There are areas marked for standing room and some aren't good. I think there were third base and home plate standing room areas that were against the outside wall of the stadium. But we were directly behind home plate for most of the game. And we had a little ledge for leaning on and putting food and drinks. People sitting in seats right in front of us probably paid a lot more for a view that was hardly any better and they didn't have anywhere to put food and drinks (old seats with no cup holders). The bad thing was the overhang above us that made it impossible to see balls hit too high. There were three home runs that landed from left field to left center and we didn't see any of them land. If they had been hit to right or right center, we would have been able to see them land. Late in the game, we went up to the right field roof and stood there. We stood in an area that was marked "No Standing," but nobody seemed to care. I have to say that it was a pretty bad view of the game, but a good view of Fenway Park. We must have been well over 400 feet away from home plate (we were a long way from the Pesky Pole, which is 302 feet away).
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| Our view for most of the game. It's right behind home plate, but that overhang was annoying. |
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| Jon and me on the right field roof |
The pitching matchup was Doug Fister against Mike Pelfrey. The Red Sox went up 2-0 in the first, but gave up three runs in the second. That was all the White Sox got. The Red Sox tied it in the third and added three in the fifth. The final was 6-3. Chris Young went nuts with two home runs and a double. Eduardo Nunez also hit a home run. According to my MLB Ballpark app, the Red Sox are now 8-1 with me in attendance. It's possible that I'm missing some games from the old days at Yankee Stadium or possibly even a game with the Mets at Shea Stadium, but I think that's accurate.
To drink I had a Summer Ale (of course) and to eat I had a Fenway Frank. The Fenway Frank was pretty solid, but I'd take a Dodger Dog over it. And I think Sam Adams beers taste better in Boston. Maybe it's just a psychological thing.
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| We came across the statue of Ted Williams after the game. He finished with 521 home runs. He missed three full seasons serving in the Marines during World War II. He played a total of 43 games in 1952 and 1953 because of the Korean War. If not for all that missed time, he would have been the second player to hit 600 home runs. |
After the game, we walked to the Prudential Center. Inside, there's a shopping mall with a chapel. That's where I went to mass before the Notre Dame-Boston College game in 2015 and I went to a 5:30 mass. I didn't go to the vigil mass on Saturday and I put in a lot of effort to figure out when/where to go to mass on Sunday. We were leaving early enough that I couldn't go in New York. I found lots of possible late Sunday options in Boston, but some of them don't exist during the summer. But St. Francis Chapel in the Prudential Center has now come through for me twice.
After that, we were off to the Beantown Pub. I've been there with John before. It's right across the street from where Sam Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Crispus Attucks are buried. I had another Summer Ale, clam chowder, and grilled cheese. I had thought about some other options for food. There's Union Oyster House, which claims to be the oldest restaurant in America, but that was closed for the weekend because of fire. There's Doyle's, which Kyle and I went to. It was the first place in Boston to serve Sam Adams. And our trolley driver said that it had the third best clam chowder in the city and burgers that were better than Five Guys (this guy was amazing, he was right out of a Saturday Night Live skit). But Doyle's was a little out of the way. There was the Barking Crab, which was on Man vs. Food. But I looked into making a reservation and they were all booked. But the Beantown Pub got the job done. John had suggested checking out the bar at the Parker House Hotel which is right by the Beantown Pub. We looked at it after dinner and it appeared to be closed (it was a Sunday night).
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| Clam chowder and Summer Ale |
So that was my trip to Boston. We went back to the hotel and watched the Dodgers beat the Mets again on Sunday Night Baseball. I have Fenway Park ranked as my top ballpark. But Dodger Stadium is really close. And yes, I'm totally biased. I give Fenway a clear edge over Wrigley Field. It's hard to compare Fenway to more modern ballparks. The history and the weirdness definitely helps Fenway. What doesn't help Fenway is how expensive tickets are. You're going to be paying a lot of money if you want a good seat. Standing room only is a good option, but you can get good tickets cheaper than that at Dodger Stadium (possibly a lot higher up). When I was there last month, we sat way up high, but we were right by home plate and it was a great view. Anyway, I think a Dodgers-Red Sox World Series would be a great World Series in terms of stadiums. Both have a ton of history. You get the weirdness of Fenway Park and the symmetry of Dodger Stadium. Both are beautiful in different ways.
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