Mik's Mini Bat Collection: Fenway Park

At Fenway Park Mik got two mini bats. This one is green on the top half and natural on the bottom half. It says Fenway Park Established 1912.

Mik’s Food Scrapbook: Fenway Park

Mik did not have much to eat at the actual game, but where we ate before the game is still sort of in Fenway Park. Game On is located in one of the corners of Fenway Park, although it can only be accessed from outside the park. Here Mik got Fish & Chips. They were not that good in his opinion and he did not even eat much of them. He did, however, fill up on helping eat the brownie sundae I ordered.

At the game I had a Lobster Roll and Mik tried a bite of it. He did not like it, but that is because it was his first time trying lobster and he now knows he just does not like lobster. He did admit the bun/bread was very good. It was the same type of bun the hot dogs were on and if he had been hungry he would have gotten a hot dog. He thought they could not be too bad of hot dogs because the bun is so awesome.

Normally I get the ice cream in a helmet, but this time Mik got it. At Fenway they serve it with the most ice cream we have ever seen in a helmet and it was still only $5. The ice cream is not all that special, as it is just soft serve, but at least you really get your money’s worth.

Day 47: Huntington Avenue Grounds

Before heading south towards New Jersey and the Yogi Berra Museum, we headed back north to Boston. Originally I had meant for us to see the site of the old Red Sox park, Huntington Avenue Grounds, but I totally forgot the day we went to the game. Yesterday would have been convenient to do it, too, since we drove through Boston to get to New Hampshire, but I did not remember about seeing the former MLB ballpark site until last night. The site is now occupied by Northeastern University, but they have some plaques and a statue to commemorate the site.

The main thing to see is the Cy Young statue. I really thought this would get Mik interested in the stop, as he really likes Cy Young, but I had to force him in front of it and then quickly take a photo of him before he rolled away from it. The statue is located where the pitching mound used to be. Cy Young is one of the significant players that played at Huntington Avenue Grounds not just for helping the Red Sox (called the Pilgrims at the time) win the first World Series in 1903, but also for pitching the first perfect game of the modern era there.

Another thing to find at the former Huntington Avenue Grounds site is a home plate shaped plaque. It is not obviously there, but if you just walk in the direction Cy Young is looking getting ready to pitch you will stumbled upon it somewhat hidden in the grass. Engraved in the stone home plate is a little about the First World Series. The info includes stating that the first game was played on October 1, 1903 on this site (exactly 84 years before I was born) and that general admission cost 50 cents.

The one other thing commemorating the old park that we found was a plaque on the side of the Cabot Building on the Huntington Avenue side. The plaque marks approximately where the left field flag pole stood.

Game 21: Seattle Mariners 7 @ Boston Red Sox 6

This is one of the big games Mik has been looking forward to, as he liked the idea of going to the oldest ballpark still being used in the Majors. Also, the only currently active player that has never played on the Dbacks that he likes plays for the Red Sox (Jonathan Papelbon). I still think Wrigley is the best, but Fenway is definitely one of the best baseball park experiences.

We got to Fenway around 2pm after driving in circles for over half an hour because of the stupid GPS giving totally messed up directions that was not limited to the issues with it not knowing about any of the abundant road work in the area. Anyways we finally did get there by just doing the old fashioned follow the streets on the map route and found parking right across the street from Fenway.

Before the game we spent time walking around the park and got the Team Shop visit out of the way. We also had a late lunch/early dinner at the Game On restaurant that is in one corner of Fenway Park. Right before we ended up going into the park I got a Fenway Park t-shirt and Mik got a Papelbon t-shirt, which he ended up putting on right away. Finally around 5pm the park opened and we went inside. There really is not much to walk around to inside, so we just went to our seats.

Mik enjoyed this game from the start. Of course, no matter what I think he would have enjoyed it just because it was Fenway. However, he got to see Papelbon pitch a great 10th inning, although he wished he came back out in the 11th. What Mik loved the most, though, was that Jeffery Donovan, who plays Michael Westen on Burn Notice (one of Mik’s favorite shows) threw out one of the ceremonial first pitches.

This game was the fifth time we have seen the Mariners play this summer. The first four games we saw them in they lost. We were all hoping the trend would continue. Even though we do like to see Ken Griffey Jr. do good, we preferred to see a Red Sox win. Not only did the Red Sox end up losing in 11 innings, but Griffey also had a bad outing as the designated hitter going 0 for 5.

The Red Sox took an early lead in the bottom of the first with the first run scoring on a ground rule double and the second run scoring with a wild pitch. In the top of the 3rd the Mariners got a run off of a single. In the top of the 4th the Mariners tied the game with a RBI double and then went ahead with a two run homer by Cedeno. The Red Sox decreased the lead to one with a homer by Drew in the bottom of the 7th. The Mariners got the two run lead back in the top of the 8th with a homer by Lopez. The Red Sox then tied the game up in the bottom of the eighth with a 2 RBI double. The game then went scoreless until the top of the 11th when the Mariners got a 2 RBI double. The Red Sox tried to come back with a homer in the bottom of the 11th, but it was too little too late as by then they already had two outs.

Overall a great baseball experience even though the Red Sox lost. It certainly would have been fun to see them win, but at least it was an exciting game. Mik might hate the extra innings games, but this one he at least liked until the 11th inning began and Papelbon did not return to pitch. He only liked the 10th because that is when Papelbon came in, which would not have happened if the Red Sox had won in the bottom of the 9th.