I would like to surprise my husband with tickets to a Red Sox v. Yankees game in Boston next May. Tickets are starting to appear on ebay and are selling for about $100/ticket. According to the Red Sox website, the face value of these seats are $44-$70.

Tickets to individual games are not yet available through the box office. If I wait for the box office to open, and try to purchase at face value, am I taking a big chance at losing out on tickets all together? Is $100/ticket reasonable for this event (in advance - I know prices will increase as the game gets near)?

We'll be coming from Colorado, so any advice you have about the game, area, festivities, etc. is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Red Sox V Yankee tickets are as hard to get as hens teeth., it is an age old rivalry. Good Luck..

SSJ,
You have three options:
1. Camp in line outside Fenway 2-3 days before the box office opens
2. Make fast friends with some corporate honcho in the 600 club
3. Pay the scalper's uplift on eBay.

Buy an extra pair for me!

Red Sox Yankees tickets were always difficult to get - above poster lists only reasonable means - and got even more difficult when team started to sell mini-packets of tickets (we bought packet with 4 Sunday games which included Yankees and Arizona). They do this by packaging them with 2 games against very undesirable teams (last year it was Tampa).

Without igniting a debate about whether or not to tear down Fenway, be aware that many tickets you can actually buy, even from scalpers, that are not at an outrageous price, are in areas of the ballpark that make viewing a game uncomfortable. In addition to small seats, with miniscule leg room, many of the seats in right field face the outfield and one must twist their neck and body to see infield. This gets physically tiresome after a while. Also, there are obstructed view seats in some areas - that means a big post blocks the batter and pitcher.

Now that you are forewarned, it would not be a good idea to wait until box office opens - people camp out for days to buy tickets. Boston is a great city and even with above annoyances, we go to several games a year in crummy seats and have a good time. It sounds like a great gift and hope you enjoy the city and the game.

If the seats are in the $44-70 range then I don't think you would be getting an obstructed view. Check out the view of the seats from the Red Sox website. Right field grandstand seats are the worst. Left field generally has a better view.

Another way to try to get tickets to wait until the Red Sox open up their website for sales but the likelihood of getting Yankee tickets is slim.

re: fenway

did you ever think of getting tix at yankee stadium? hands down the most hallowed place in sports, adn the seats are much better than in fenway. i guess it all depends on whether or not he's a yankee fan or a bosox fan (i am, as you can see, the former)

but seriously even boston fans admit how bad fenway is. just a thought

I'm a diehard Redsox fan that HATES fenway. Awful site lines and just not a nice place to go to a game. I dont know why sox fans are so attached to it b/c they hav'nt won a thing there in 84 years(whos counting?). At least the celtics and bruins won championships at the old garden.Not the sox.Tear it down and put a great retractable roof stadium in south boston on the water.

I'm with you Doc. Fenway is a dinosaur. I for one don't think it is a coincidence that the Sox haven't won a World Series there since 1918. We've had different owners and different players yet we don't win. The only consistency is the damn park. Enough already with the history - I want to win!!!!

Safeco Field is the best ball park I've been to and I would love to see our own version there in Southie. But it ain't going to happen in my lifetime. Bud Selig saw to that when he allowed the team to be sold to the Hollywood types and not the local guy that owns the land in Southie.

Bennie..is'nt it funny that some of our memories include sox left fielders watching balls sail over the wall? Now the owners want to put seats on top of that thing.

Another vote for "Fenway is a dump". Seriously, if you are coming all the way from Colorado, head to the Bronx and see the teams play there. Yankee Stadium is no Coors Field but it does have the monuments and, oh yeah, a team that is capable of winning games in the Fall.

Doc - I know what you mean. I love to sit in Sec 31 & 32 right there by the wall. Seats are usually the last to go because its the family section and you are not supposed to drink there. Its great to watch the balls fly over the wall. But I have to say if they put seats up there I would first in line to buy a ticket. I would think that that view would be great. And once I sit there once, they can tear the whole place down.

Bennie..Went to the game last year when nomar hit four homers over the wall and sat in 31.You are right about those seats.I'm afraid if they put seats on the wall,the wall and park might be there to stay for a while. they will bandaid the park until it looks like the bigdig site.

Doc - I also am starting to buy tickets for the Norwich Navigator/Portland Sea Dogs games in July. It should be a mini version of the Red Sox/Yankee games - hopefully without the fighting in the stands.

bennie..I have been to portland numerous times to see games,great park and not that hard to get to.Great move to make them part of sox minors. Pawtucket is ok also,but I think portland is a nicer trip and park.the sox need a championship to hold up against the yankees.Those "yankees suck" shirts just make no sense.

From what I've read putting additional seats is a done deal. We were there for both events of the Ted Williams Tribute and it was so overwhelming to see families with their children walking around the outfield and touching the Green Monster..Fathers taking pictures with their sons and trying to tell them stories, sitting in the famous seat in the bleachers..some of the fathers themselves don't or didn't know or ever see Ted williams play. Saw several fathers outfitting their toddlers in the stores across the street in baseball uniforms of their favorite player... If they tear Fenway down then the new field will be colorless... There is nothing like walking up the runway at Fenway and seeing that green monster...it brings a tug at your heart..Oh by the way... Parrot Pop played there when on the B.U. Baseball team with Harry Agannis...now that is history, the Golden Greek. The new owners really seem to want to help the fans...not act like they are an annoyance...now if the tickets weren't so expensive..

Parrot mom..Glad you enjoy fenway and parrot pop got to play there. I think the owners know they can't make any real $$$$$ until they have a new park. And the current fenway will keep ticket prices high because it is so limited.look at the new $200 seats behind the plate. I disagree that a new fenway would be colorless.Have you been to camden yards or jacobs field? great ballbarks and put fenway to shame.

I want to second the recommendation to go to Yankee Stadium rather than Fenway.

I have been to Fenway at least 25 times and other than the FIRST time each experience has been progressively worse.

Last year my brother and I went to NYC to see the Yanks play. Yankee Stadium, while far from state of the art, is a gargantuian improvement over Fenway.

Fenway has a certain mystique based largely on the fact that fans are so close to the action and the way the grass radiates green.

However, from the perspective of comfort and magnificance, Yankee Stadium blows it away.

MM

Thank you all for your help. Don't worry -- we'll be heading to Yankee Stadium in the near future. It's just that we will be in the Boston area this time and, while we've been to Fenway and taken a tour, we've never seen a game there. I really appreciate your replies and memories!

Yes, if they were going to build a new stadium I believe they were thinking of goingi n the direction of the "Camden Yards" type facility...Unfortunately, they are making the tickets so expensive (aren't they the most expensive in the country) that the average family cannot afford to go. there are many sites that they could build near the waterfront, but there has been so much opposition. then again, isn't it great to have a baseball team right in the middle of Boston and convenient for public transportation,. The best thing that has happened today is that Sean McDonough has signed a contract to broadcast the games inspite of being offered more $$ by the Mets.. You know this has nothing to do with travel...lol...lol

SSJ,
Try to get the seats. I bring my son's senior league every year to Yankee Stadium to see Yanks-Sox because it's the only way to get the tickets. Yankee Stadium is neat, historical and convenient. But Fenway is a shrine. It is magical, intimate, and the way to experience a big league ball game.
The sight lines in many sections suck, all the seats are cramped, and on a starry night, or bright afternoon, you can leave the world behind and really get lost in the grand game of baseball at Fenway Park.
Go for it!