Red Sox, You are the Only Only Only
A customer asked about my relationship with Fenway. I started to answer in the comments but it got a little long. I thought y’all might like to know as well. So here’s my story, you won’t need to subpoena me for details. I didn’t know what to title this, so I stole from Dropkick Murphys.
Basic history: I was born in Brighton, but my parents moved to Waltham, the Watch City, when I was 2. Dad and my Uncle Dick worked at Buck Printing on Ipswich St, at the corner of Landsdowne St. It has been a nightclub-The Ark- a roller rink, an arcade/bar. I googled the address, it’s now a bowling alley and bar, Lucky Strike Fenway. You can see the old building from the Mass Pike. The Buck Printing sign on the roof could be seen from the park, before the Jumbotron days. Dad said they’d sometimes take their breaks up on the roof on game days/nights. Uncle Dick was always scoring tickets, and would take me and my brother to games when we were kids. They lost a lot back then, but we always had hope. I loved keeping score, and trying to convince Unk that we shouldn’t leave before the end to beat the crowds because they just might come back. During my college years at Northeastern, I lived in an apartment along the Green Line half a block from the Fenway stop. You could still get really cheap bleacher seats and SRO tickets. We’d get the latter, then roam around sitting in empty seats until someone kicked us out. I loved that old place, but it’s gone crazy upscale in the 40 years since I left New England Last game I witnessed was Jon Lester’s no hitter, May 19, 2008. Reminds me, I’m overdue for a pilgrimage. I try to catch games in places I’ve lived, so I’ve been to Oakland, Houston, and Seattle. Juanita Jean and I share a deep love of baseball, but sadly we never did get to one together before I left Fort Bend. About the Fran, both of my grandmothers were Frances, so it’s my middle name. I always liked it better than my real first name, but don’t tell my mother.
Welcome to the Salon, Fran! I went to a game at Fenway when my sister lived near Boston. That was a long time ago! It was a great park – not a bad seat in the house.
1Thank you Fran.That’s a delightful history. It brings back MA memories for me. I lived in the Cranberry town of Carver for 6 years from ’89 to ’95. My son still lives in N. Easton. We went to Fenway a few times over the years. My son takes his family now.He and his wife were there the year the Sox beat the Yankees. He still talks about the joyful pandemonium.
2I now live in the dreadful state of Texas. In its own way, San Antonio is a beautiful city but I’m so tired of being hot. Weeks and weeks of over 100 degrees. So I lay on the sofa and dream of Carvers cranberry bogs in the fall. To me there is nothing more beautiful than the flooded bogs with the bright red cranberries floating on the surface and the trees all gold, orange and red.
I’m glad you found employment at the Salon, Fran. I just hope you get along well with Thelma. She can be a handful at times.
I came to baseball as a young adult, when I moved to DC and discovered the Orioles (because they had Jim Palmer and he was a real hunk, sosueme). I went to a few games there; but, that required a 40-mile trip up I 95. I really believe that baseball is a city game which should be accessed by public transportation. What the Braves were thinking moving out to the far suburbs, I can’t tell you. Now, of course, we have our own team and I can jump on the Metro and go to a game.
What non-baseball fans don’t appreciate is that, during the long season, games are played every day. That became especially important to me during the Reign of Terror by the Orange Moron. At least I could spend 3+ hours every night completely absorbed into something that had nothing to do with him. And, the Nats won the World Series during that time.
3It’s Homecoming Week at the Salon! Fran, your lifelong love of Fenway is like mine with Wrigley! I also felt a kinship with BoSox fans because of our old, quirky ballparks and our shared Cursedness.
4Good to have another baseball fan at the salon. My story started when I was 8 in LA and the Dodgers moved to town from Brooklyn. There was no crazier place to see a game than the LA Coliseum. Have had nightmares about tumbling down the steps from the nosebleed section. I remember an outfielder jumping over the chain link fence to catch a fly (didn’t count, still a HR). Finally, my family with me in tow went to the Roy Campanella night with a record crowd of 93,000 + fans. I’ll never forget that experience. Too bad I only saw them for the first 2 years till we fled the smog. Still a lifelong fan.
5@BarbinDC, you made me laugh at the Jim Palmer comment. My sister and I used to say that Dwight Evans had ‘the best buns in baseball’ as observed from the right field bleachers. I hope to get to Camden Yards one of these days, my sister and one of my daughters live in Baltimore. Here’s to public transportation to ball parks. I stop short of Seattle and take light rail in when I venture north. And I still need to get to Wrigley, Primo!
6@Fenway Fran #6: My baseball buds don’t hesitate to notice certain, ahem, physical traits of certain players. What’s pathetic about the ogling is that we are all old enough to be the grandmothers of the current players!
7Barb and Fran, I’m a little more G-rated — I think Xander Bogaerts has the best smile ever. Fran, I think the playoffs are a distant, whimpering dream for the Sox this season, but just wait til next year.
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