Went to my first game of this baseball season last night. Fenway Park has never looked better. They've added a new food section under the right field grandstands and its a very good addition. Its got a decent, though not great, selection of food and attractive tables with umbrellas to stand at. Simultaneously looks like its been there forever and yet is new and clean. The food selection still relies too heavily on hot dogs, peanuts and beer but you can get chicken cesear salads and, shockingly to we long time Fenway Faithful, you can actually get a frozen daquari there. What a change.

What hasn't changed of course are those wooden seats - still a tight squeeze and no cupholders.

Prices are really high - the highest in major league sports I think I read - $4 for a diet coke, $3.75 for a small hot dog, $7.50 for that chicken cesear salad. Parking was $30 for a no-block lot (that's up from $25 for the same lot last year).

But the Sox won 9-3, Pokey hit a home run on his birthday, there was a tribute to Ray Charles, and all in all it was a great night.

Bennnie, here's a bit of trivia about those wooden seats: They are the oldest and smallest seats in any major-league ballpark...and are still there, because the park would lose 4,000 of its capacity if the replaced them with larger seats. And, at 35,000+ capacity, the Red Sox owners aren't about the make the smallest-capacity major league stadium any smaller!
(Info courtesy of our Fenway Park tour guide two weeks ago.)

Hey Bennnie, you got to see a great game. I've been to Fenway 6 times this season, and they lost FIVE of them. And this is a team that has only lost about 9 games at home I was there the night Ortiz hit the gamewinner in the 12th inning though.

The new seats on the green monster are far more comfortable than the sucky ones in the grandstands. I think the new RF roof seats are similarly more spacious.

I have always thought Fenway was a dump. Went in April to a Sox-Yankees game and although I froze, was very impressed with the improvements in the ball park - in some cases, even nicer than Yankees stadium. I think the new owners have done a great job.

china cat - Have you considered not going anymore? ;-) For the sake of the Nation?

Will they EVER update their World Series rings?

Do you know off hand if they give tours of Fenway when the Sox are on the road?

We've done Wrigley and Yankee Stadium and they were total blasts especially when you think that you're walking down the same ramp or sitting in the same dugout as Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, Banks, Santo et al.

Kal,

Yes, they do give tours....memories of the Splendid Splinter, Yaz, Conig, George Scott's tater's, Spaceman, Piersall, Dr. Strangeglove, the other Dimaggio, Fiske, et al...

http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/NASApp/...lpark_tour.jsp

The Red Sox give tours every day. In fact, since the team isn't playing at home, there are more tours. Also, one advantage of the tour on travel days is that you've a better chance of getting onto the field level.
It's an interesting tour, especially the stop atop the Green Monster!

Thanks all!

I still have a mouse pad w/ a pic of me in the on deck circle at Wrigley and we got a great shot of Mrs Kal standing on the CF warning track facing the infield at Yankee Stadium.

Hmmm...What next?...Me in front of the Green Monster making a "Yaz" up against the wall?

You can take the little boy out of the ballpark but yah can't take the ballpark out of the little boy!

Boston in '05!

bennnie,
I think next time I go to the park the scanners will reject my ticket. I'm on the persona non grata list. And I have 6 more games to go to.

I've never been on the tour, but I chatted with someone who went, and they really enjoyed it. they didn't get to go out on the field though, or into the clubhouse. I think they went up on top of the monster, and into the pressroom. Not sure where else.

Some details about the tour:
*Major league baseball forbids entry into the clubhouse or training room during the tours.
*On game days, chances are that you won't be able to go on the field (well, actually, on to foul ground), as the ground crew will be preparing the field for the game.
*You do visit the following: the top of the Green Monster, the press box, the luxury seating areas.
*The tour lasts 60-75 minutes.

china cat = I'm jealous of the number of games you'll be attending this year. Hopefully they'll win the next bunch or Larry Luccuino may personally escort you from the building. Forget the Curse of the Bambino, its been renamed the Curse of China Cat.

I'll have to look into that tour. My kids would love it.

:-?
I wonder if I was breaking the law when I was in the Cub's and Yank's lockerrooms?
The Yanks requested that you didn't take pics but I think the Cubs let you take some.

The Yanks kept you on the warning tracks for the walk from their dugout out to Monument Park. I really took my time and soaked it alllll in, too.

Wrigley let you go out on the field but you had to stay off the infield as it was covered up anyway.

Most people high tailed it to the ivy walls...with the tour guides yelling "Do NOT pick the ivy!" They let you wander around for about 5-10 mins.
I must have shot 2-3 rolls of film.

Maybe if the BoSox were more "tourist friendly" any curse would be lifted? :-"

Major League Baseball:
One of the few venues where you can spend $60 on beer and still be
way under the "legal limit"...

R5

R5,
Speak for yourself. I'm a cheap date!

You know how I smuggled about 72 oz of beer into Candlestick Park one time?

I kept my mouth closed.