• Home
  • Escapes and Pleasures
  • Family and Friends
  • Go Sox
  • The Outer Loop
  • Articles of Interest

MillersTime

MillersTime

Tag Archives: Fenway Park

Caveat Emptor

30 Tuesday Aug 2022

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures, Go Sox

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

American League, Anthony Rendon, Bosox, Boston Red Sox, Bryce Harper, Caveat Emptor, Fenway Park, Juan Soto, Lerner Family, Let the Buyer Beware, Max Scherzer, Minnesota Twins, Montreal Expos, National League, Nats, Nats Stadium, Orlando, RFK Stadium, Season Ticket Holder, Sox, Ted Lerner, Tinker Field, Trey Turner, Washington Nationals

Today, after 18 years as a full season ticket holder of the Washington Nationals, I informed the Nats that I am terminating my annual contract with the team and its owners.

Let me explain.

I love baseball.

Ever since my wonderful grandfather took me to Fenway Park and introduced me to the game, it’s been an important part of my life, including playing it in the street in front of our house and then moving on to Little League, listening to games on the radio, then watching on TV, and of course attending as many games as I could. (I use to gather baseballs hit over the fence at Tinker Field in Orlando, FL so I could turn them in for free entrance to Minnesota Twins Spring Training games.)

I’ll spare the reader any of the many baseball related stories with which I’ve burdened my children, my wife, and my friends over the years. Suffice it to say, as my favorite T-Shirt proclaims, “Any Team Can Have a Bad Century.”

In 2005 when the Montreal Expos were relocated to DC and became the Washington Nationals, I quickly teamed up with some friends to get season tickets to RFK Stadium (where they played until moving to their new stadium in 2008). So it’s been 18 years that I’ve been attending Nats’ games – and enriching its owners – largely because I simply love what baseball offers, even if it’s not watching the Red Sox. (In fact, attending Nats’ games is sometimes more relaxing than watching the Red Sox, where I am on edge on every pitch, etc.)

So why my decision to abandon my season ticket status?

Primarily, I do not want to continue to support a franchise that consistently refuses to keep players like Bryce Harper (not my favorite guy), Anthony Rendon, Trey Turner, Max Scherzer, and Juan Soto. The ownership’s model of largely acquiring outstanding players when they are young and relatively inexpensive and getting rid of them when they are reaching free agency and have become expensive may be financially smart for the owner, but is terrible for the fans. (My Bosox did that with Mookie Betts, and while I have still not forgiven them for that, at least they have not made it a way of continually ‘doing business’ as have the Nats.)

Try explaining to my perfect three eldest grandchildren**, one who ‘loved’ Bryce Harper, one who ‘loved’ Trey Turner, and one who ‘loved’ Juan Soto, why none of these players are still playing for the Nats. Although it’s not the only reason, none of these grandchildren have kept up interest in baseball, while they continue to be fans of other sports, particularly football.

The Lerner family paid $450 million to purchase the Nats. They are now in the process of considering offers to sell them, likely for perhaps as much $2,000,000,000 or more. Yes. two billion dollars.

The team has been decimated and is “rebuilding” for the future. But not with the help of my three ticket, full season income.

I will no doubt attend a few games next year, largely because I still love baseball. I enjoy going with others for an afternoon or evening at the park, and with the new schedule of every team playing every other team starting in 2023, there is the opportunity to see any team or player in either the American or National League.

I don’t think I’m the only baseball fan that is choosing to terminate their season plan or to reduce the number of games they will attend.

Caveat Emptor – Let the Buyer (of the Nats) Beware.

**My two youngest perfect granddaughters, six and five, perhaps wisely have chosen to live 1,055 miles away from DC, and so I have only just begun to work on their full baseball indoctrination. Unfortunately, on a recent trip to Kansas City where we attended a game together, the lowly Royals creamed the Sox 13-7. But then, as I learned from experience with my own daughters, it’s probably better not to instill too high expectations concerning my Bosox heroes.

Share

For Me, The Sox Don’t HAVE to Win the World Series

27 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

baseball, Boston, Boston Red Sox, Fenway, Fenway Park, Red Sox, Sox

Elise Amendola/Associated Press

I head off later today to Boston with my nine year old grandson Eli for a trip to Fenway Park, planned months and months ago, to see the final three games of what has turned out for me to be a wonderful 2018 baseball season. (If you haven’t seen my earlier post about our first trip to this Red Sox temple, check out  A Seven Year Old’s First Trip to Fenway.)

All three of these games will be against the Yankees, but these three games will have no major bearing on the playoffs. Rather, for me they will be a celebration of what has been the best regular season record in the 118 year history of the team. Their record, prior to these last three games, is 107-52, two wins better than their previous franchise record.

I could write pages on why this year has been so successful (see my earlier post, Success Has Many Fathers… for at least some the reasons I believe my heroes have done so well). And I could also list dozens of reasons why it has been the single best season in at least the 68 years since my grandfather first took me to Fenway when I was seven.

Yes. They won the World Series in 2004 after almost a century of not doing so. And then they won the WS twice more within the succeeding ten year period. The 2004 win was certainly the highlight of my (baseball) life as a long suffering Sox fan.

But, in some ways, this year has been at least as wonderful. Ever since Spring Training when the Sox went 22-9 (.710), they have played at a pace between .675 and .700+. Do you know what that means to a baseball fan, especially to a Red Sox fan?

It has meant that almost seven out of every ten games the Sox have played, they’ve won – sometimes on hitting, sometimes on starting pitching, some on relief pitching, some times on fielding, sometimes on base running, and often even when they were down as many as six or seven runs. They never lost more than three games in a row the entire season.

For me, that meant that I could go to sleep most nights ‘celebrating’ a victory. Also, it meant my wife Ellen did not have to sleep beside a disgruntled bed partner. And that went on for SIX months, half a year. Simply unheard of for this obsessive baseball fan.

Now, I’ve been reading and hearing for months that the season doesn’t matter if the Sox don’t at least make it into the World Series…and for some, they have to win the WS to make 2018 truly a special year.

Not so for me.

Of course I want them to win it all, and I’ll not be a happy camper if they don’t go far into the playoffs.

But nothing can take away how wonderful this season has been. How delightful it has been to see this group of 25+ players, along with their coaches, their staff, their ownership do what no other Red Sox team has ever done, and to see the joy on their faces seven out of every ten games.

Isn’t there some over used meme about getting there being half the fun?

In fact, I think one of my daughters wrote her college essay on the Ursula La Guin quote, “It’s good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.”

For me, this year’s Red Sox journey has been what matters.

 

Share

Seeing Ourselves in Others

07 Sunday May 2017

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, Go Sox

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

"The Game From Where I Stand", Adam Jones, Baseball Analyst, Baseball Writer, Boston Red Sox, Cubs, Doug Glanville, ESPN, Fenway Park, NPR, NYTimes, Phillies, Rangers, Red Sox, Sports Writer

For those of you who have read some of my baseball related posts on MillersTime, you know that I’m not only obsessed with the game but also believe that there are many life lessons to be learned from baseball. Unfortunately, it has become a cliche to say that the game imitates life (or is it that life imitates the game?), used mostly by baseball fans trying to justify to nonbelievers the importance and value of this wonderful sport.

I was reminded of the intersection of baseball and life the other day when an alert reader (Harry Siler) sent me a link to an article by Doug Glanville**, a former baseball player. Since 2008 Glanville has been a guest columnist for the NYTimes and, until a few weeks ago, was a baseball analyst for ESPN for seven years. (He was laid off with several hundred other ESPN employees in a major company staff reduction.)

In a May 5 NYTimes article, Red Sox, Racism and Adam Jones, Glanville writes about his own fears of possibly being traded to the Red Sox, but it is his way of looking at the recent racial incident(s) at Fenway Park in Boston that most interested me. In his usual common sense way, Glanville concludes:

Baseball gives us a chance to see ourselves in everyone, at times reflecting the image of some complex and difficult shadows in our society. That is a big step toward mutual understanding. As hard as it is, we need to see ourselves in the fans who were ejected. Having biases is human, our flawed yet efficient way to create shortcuts in our lives. But we need to check them more honestly if we are to really understand how to move forward.

We would all do well to avoid these shortcuts in our lives and check our own biases.

Check out his short article: Red Sox, Racism and Adam Jones, by Doug Glanville.

And if  you want to learn more about him, check out Doug Glanville, From Ivy League to Center Field, NPR, including an excerpt from his book, The Game From Where I Stand.

**(Glanville played 15 seasons in professional baseball, nine of them in the Majors, with the Phillies, Cubs, and Rangers before he retired in 2004. He was outstanding center fielder, going his last 293 games without making an error. He hit .325 one year and had a lifetime BA of .277. He also graduated from U of Penn with a degree in systems engineering.)

Share

Unacceptable, Sox Fans

02 Tuesday May 2017

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, Go Sox

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Fenway, Fenway Park, Racial Slurs, Red Sox, Richard Justice, Sam Kennedy, Sox

Baltimore Orioles’ Adam Jones was subjected to racial slurs and at least one object (bag of peanuts) thrown at him last night at Fenway. He indicated this was not the first time this has happened at Fenway but was the nastiest one.

Apparently the person (I hesitate to say fan) who threw the peanuts and some others were removed from the stadium.

That is not sufficient.

The Sox need to make it clear that individuals who behave in such a manner will never be allowed to return to Fenway and that they will be turned over to the Boston police for prosecution.

If currently there are no grounds for legal action in Boston, the city and state legislature should immediately pass such laws.

And fans who hear such taunts and observe such behaviors should vocally object and should call Sox security.

There should be zero tolerance for such abhorrent behavior.

Period.

See: Red Sox Issue Statement on Jones Incident, Sam Kennedy, Red Sox President

See: No Place for what Jones Faced, by Richard Justice

See: Adam Jones Calls Fenway Fans Cowards…

Share

Dear Samantha

16 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends, Go Sox

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

baseball, Best Win of the Year, Boston Red Sox, David Ortiz, Fenway Park, Hanley Ramirez, Mookie Betts, New York Yankees, Sox, Yunkeess

Processed with Snapseed.

Dear Samantha,

From time to time I’ve written a ‘letter’ to your oldest cousin, Eli, usually to tell him something about an obsession of mine — baseball — which is a game that has many similarities to life (more about that another time).

While I know you can’t read just yet, as you’re not even seven months old, I still think it’s never too early for me to begin talking to you about some of the important things a grandfather has learned and can pass on to his grandchildren. (You may remember in the first week of your life I talked to you about the importance of pitching over hitting, another subject to which I will return to in the future.)

This letter today, which I trust your good mother or good father will read to you, is similar to one I wrote to Eli in April of 2015 (see Letter to Eli: Never Leave Until It’s Over). What prompts me to write you at this time is something that happened last night in Boston.

Our heroes, the Boston Red Sox (also known as the Sox) were on the verge of losing to our most despicable opponent, the New York Yunkees. The odds makers said that the Sox chance of winning this game was now less than 2%. It was an important game as the Sox were barely in first place in the American League East Division, and the Orioles, the Blue Jays, and the Yunkees were closing in on them. (Ask your parental unit about any of these details that you don’t totally yet understand.)

The Yunks were ahead of us 5-2 in the bottom of the ninth, and there were two outs. One more out and we’d lose and then our grip on first place would be in further jeopardy. The Yunks had their closer in the game, a guy who throws the ball at 100 miles per hour. Things looked dire for the Sox.

Then, David Ortiz (ask your cousin Eli abut him) got a hit and drove in a run, but  the Sox were still behind (5-3 now) with two outs. Mookie Betts, (Eli knows about him too), the young Sox phenom, then got a hit, and the score closed to 5-4.

Still, just one out would have clinched the game for the Yunks.

With two men on base, and with a batting count of two balls and one strike, Sox first baseman Hanley Ramirez crushed a 99.3 mph fastball 426 feet to straight away center field, and the Sox walked off (ran off) the field with a 7-5 win.

An amazing comeback and probably the best win of the year for the Sox and a disaster for the Yunks, who now, rather being only three games out of first, were five games behind our heroes. (See this article if you want more details about the game.)

The lesson, of course, that I want to emphasize about this victory is that the Sox didn’t give up, even when everything looked hopeless. The Boston fans (the game was at Fenway) all stayed until the very end. And of course I stayed with the game hoping for a miracle come-from-behind-win.

So, never, ever, leave a game until the final out, no matter how bad it seems. Even with two outs and facing a flame throwing pitcher who is good at getting strikeouts, there is always a chance for victory.

(I know, when you were two months old, your mother dragged you away from your first baseball game in KC after the second inning because she was concerned about the effect of loud noise on your ears. So it’s probably OK, if on a rare occasion, for reasons beyond YOUR control, you may have to leave a game early. For example, there could be a medical emergency in your immediate family that only you can solve. You may have promised your spouse that this time you’d be home before midnight. Or your presence might be required at some other emergency involving your child or your work. Those may be understandable and partially excusable reasons for leaving a game early.)

But never, ever leave because you think the game is all but over and your team doesn’t have a chance of winning.

The game, in baseball, as in other areas of your life, is not over until the final out is recorded.

Love,

GrandPapa

Share

A Seven Year Olds’ First Trip to Fenway Park

10 Saturday Sep 2016

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends, Go Sox

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Boston, Boston Red Sox, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Evan Longoria, Evan Somma, Fenway Park, grandfathers, grandsons, Green Monster, Hanley Ramirez, Hotel Commonwealth, Landsdowne Street, Mookie Betts, Rays, Red Sox Team Store, Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Ted Williams, Yawkee Way

eli-fenwayscoreboard

This trip to Boston and Fenway Park with my seven year old grandson Eli was not my idea.

You may not believe that, but you can check with his parents (my daughter and son-in-law), and they will confirm that Eli raised the idea with them, asking, “When is GrandPapa going to take me to see Fenway Park?”

It is true that I had introducedimg_0025 him to baseball with a trip to see the Washington Nationals when he was seven months old. And it’s true I talk endlessly about the Red Sox around him, and we did complete a 500 (or was it 1,000 ?) piece jigsaw puzzle of Fenway Park.

But it’s also true he has become a Nats’ fan first, and the Sox are only his second favorite team.

I don’t care about that. I just love having him sit in my lap and talking nonstop to him at any game about what we’re seeing.

And tradition’s important in my life and in our family. So, of course, I needed to take him to Boston.

Background: At least 60 years ago, probably closer to 65 years, my grandfather took me to Fenway Park and introduced me to that temple and to what became my obsession with the Sox. In fact, the best week of every year for me was when school let out in June in Florida where I lived at the time, I’d go to Boston for a week prior to going to camp in New England. Pappy would take me to Fenway for batting practice before the game. He had wonderful seats a few rows behind the Sox dugout. And as I ‘remember’ it, sometimes players would say to him, “Pops, where were you last night? You weren’t here.” That’s pretty heady stuff for a 7-10 year old, especially when it was likes of Ted Williams, Dom DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, Billy Goodman, Jimmy Piersall, etc. who would be talking to my grandfather.

(Aside 1: My sister recently reminded me that on one of those early trips I held a ball out to Ted Williams when I was at Fenway with Pappy, and the Splendid Splinter refused to sign it. Somehow, I got over that disappointment and have admired Williams’ ability to hit a baseball all my life.)

(Aside 2: I had good practice for the trip with Eli. Ask either of my daughters, who attended many games with me in Boston, some even voluntarily. And if you haven’t  read this email that my daughter Beth/Elizabeth wrote the night the Sox won the World Series in 2004, stop now and check it out.)

elidcThus, with no reluctance and a good deal of advanced planning, Eli spent the night with us last Monday so we could catch an early flight to Boston on Tuesday. I had arranged a room at the Commonwealth Hotel, which has recently added rooms overlooking the back of Fenway and the Green Monster. Additionally, I got seats for two games, one directly behind home plate, just below the press box, and those tickets came with access to the field for batting practice and time up in the Green Monsters seats. For the second game, I got seats as close to where Pappy had his seats 65 years ago behind the Sox dugout.

(Aside 3: When I told Eli we were going to sit where my grandfather had taken me for my first trip to Fenway and now I was taking him to the very same place, he said, without prompting, “And I’ll take my grandson there too.”)

Tuesday didn’t turn out quite the way I had envisioned it, though it started off well enough. Eli was eli-hoteldelighted with the big picture window overlooking Fenway, loved jumping endlessly from one of the double beds to the other in that room, and enjoyed lobster for lunch. I took him to my favorite store in the world, the enormous Red Sox Team Store across the street from the ballpark on Yawkey Way. Despite telling him we wouldn’t buy anything until we had walked through the entire store, he began pointing out things he knew he wanted within 30 seconds of entering this overwhelming collection of must have Sox paraphernalia.

But then things began to diverge from my carefully planned agenda. About 4:30 PM we were walking to where we were supposed to gather for our pregame Fenway tour. I stopped to ask directions, and, unbeknownst to me, Eli kept walking. When I turned around, he wasn’t there. Thirty seconds later (it seemed much longer at the time) I found him being comforted by two street program sellers. Eli and I were both relieved to have found each other. (Don’t tell his parents about this part of our trip please.)

Anyway, back together, Eli and I met our tour leader, and he took us up to the viewing section on top of the Green Monster. Eli had his glove, but the closest batting practice ‘home run’ was one section away. He was disappointed not to have gotten a ball. When an usher pointed out that one of the ‘home run’ balls had gone over his head had broken a windshield in a parked car across Landsdowne Street, Eli forgot about his disappointment and kept talking about the broken windshield and how far the ball had gone.

Next, we went onto the field and were able to stand just behind the batting cage. We had brought a number of items we hoped we could get signed by David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Mookie Betts and any other Sox players we saw. Unfortunately, there were no Sox players anywhere to be seen. It was the Tampa Bay players who were taking batting practice as the Sox had completed their batting practice already and were in their clubhouse. No signatures for us, and no chance to meet David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, or Mookie Betts.

bricksBefore the game actually began, I took him to the patio inside Gate B where there were bricks ‘inscribed’ by fans who donated money for a resurfacing of the patio and to support a charity. It took a few minutes, but I found the two bricks I had purchased, one saying “Thanks Pappy, Love Richard” and a second one saying, “Beth, Keep the Flame Alive, Love Papa.” I don’t think Eli was particularly impressed as he was hungry and ready for the game to start.

Finally the game. Great seats, directly behind the catcher and high enough that we had a ‘bird’s eye’ view and could see if the umpire was right or wrong in calling balls and strikes. First inning Tampa Bay got a run. The Sox later tied it and went ahead, only to see Rays get two runs and tie it up. I had told him there would be a message on the scoreboard with his name after the fifth inning. But that time came and went, and we didn’t see any message. In the eighth inning, just seconds after I mentioned to Eli that Tampa Bay’s best player was coming to bat, Evan Longoria hit a ball 434 feet over the Green Monster and out of the park to put Tampa Bay ahead by one run. Dustin Pedroia, Mookie Betts, and David Ortiz couldn’t get the run back, and Eli’s first game at Fenway was over, a 4-3 loss.

(Aside 4: I’ve chosen not to burden Eli with the Red Sox pessimism and realities with which I grew up — 48 years of never winning the World Series and the fact that my grandfather never saw them win a WS at all. Yes, the Sox finally won the WS in 2004 after 86 years of not doing so and went on to win two more WS within the decade. Nevertheless, Red Sox fans, myself included, have yet to overcome the pessimism and fatalism that those 86 years instilled.)

The next day I drove Eli to see where I had lived on Beacon Street when I was born, just a stone’s throw from Fenway and to see where my father had lived in Brookline when he was Eli’s age. We also saw where his mother had lived after college, amazingly, just across the street from where my father, her grandfather, his great grandfather had lived. We went back to the Sox store, our third trip, and then headed to an afternoon game where we had seats near where my grandfather had had his season tickets. We were three rows off the field and just behind where the Sox players waited ‘on deck’ to bat. Eli seemed pretty tired (he had stayed up almost to midnight the previous day), and when the Rays again scored a run in the first inning and two in the second, he said something like, “Here we go again.”

He revived when David Ortiz, from the on deck ‘circle’, picked up a foul ball, looked into the stands, spotted Eli, and flipped the ball to him over the screen. Unfortunately, a guy just in front of us grabbed the ball and gave it to some other kid. As the game went on, the Rays went ahead 4-1, and Eli had been unable to get a used ball, despite everyone around us trying to help. I told him not to give up, and shortly thereafter, the ball boy flipped ball over the screen to him, and with his glove on his left hand and sitting on my shoulders, he caught it.

Heaven.

eli-fingerWe probably could have come home then, but now Eli was lit up. The Sox loaded the bases, and Hanley Ramirez hit one over the Green Monster, making the score 5-4 Sox. Then ‘we’ got another run, but the Rays tied the game, 6-6. I saw a second loss coming, but not Eli. He was rewarded for his optimism and hope as the Sox scored two runs in the eighth and held firm in the 9th inning.

Eli had his ‘caught’ baseball, seen a Sox grand slam, and had his first Fenway victory. The loss from game one was forgotten, as was his not getting autographs or seeing his name on the scoreboard. (We later learned, thanks to the very helpful Reservations Manager at the hotel, Evan Somma, the message had indeed been posted, just not on the main scoreboard. See the picture at the top of this post). On the way out, I challenged Eli to show me where the two ‘family’ bricks were, and he led me right to them.

At dinner, he told me his five favorite things over the two days: 1) seeing his first game in Fenway, 2) catching a ball, 3) spending time with grandpapa, 4) seeing a grand slam over the Green Monster, and 5) seeing Fenway Park. (Sure I loved number three, but actually I loved them all!)

Assuming Eli keeps his word and takes his children and grandchildren to Fenway, that will make for seven generations and well over 100 years of Sox support in our one small family.

How’s that for keeping the flame alive?

Share

“There’s a Time to Leave the Party”

25 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ Leave a Comment

Tags

2016 Baseball Season, A "Mensch", baseball, Big Papi, Boston Red Sox, David Ortiz, Derek Jeter, Fenway Park, Final Season, Ortiz's Final Year, Red Sox, Sox, Time to leave the party, Yankee Stadium

My dear father Sam Miller told me frequently over the last quarter of his life, “There’s a time to leave the party.”

I told him I understood and continually asked him, “How do you know when that time has come?”

“That,” he said, “is something you have to figure out for yourself.” (I do think he hinted it was better to leave too early than to stay too late.)

Of course, the “party” can be many things. (I think he first mentioned his mantra when I was considering whether to retire from the school a group of us had created and operated for 30+ years, but he also often mentioned “leaving the party” when he was talking about the end of his own life.)

For those of you (un)lucky ones who may not follow the Boston Red Sox too closely, David Ortiz, Big Papi, told the baseball world on Nov. 19, 2015 — his 40th birthday — that 2016 would be his final year in baseball, saying, “After next year, time is up.” (To see and hear his full announcement, go to the video Ortiz posted to The Players’ Tribune.)

davis_st2232_spts-15912-8840

I’ll spare you a review of how good Ortiz’s season was in 2015 and all the things he’s done with his bat, what he’s meant to his team, to the Red Sox Nation, to the city of Boston, to baseball in general, and to his countrymen in the Dominican Republic. There’ll be innumerable articles about all of that throughout the coming season. It’s fair to say, I believe, he’s as close to a lock on getting into the Hall of Fame (may be even the first year he’s eligible) as it’s possible to be.

(Also, check out these two articles, Ortiz still hungry but ready to pass the torch and Papi’s swan song will be a celebration for baseball.)

But the purpose of this post is to give you a heads up for this final year. It won’t be the way Derek Jeter did it, who, in my humble opinion, stayed at the party too long. (Despite his playing for the “Evil Empire,” I always liked Jeter and thought he was one of the class guys in baseball.)

Ortiz’s leaving will be more subdued, less scripted. But if you have a kid, take him to see Ortiz, or just go yourself so you can tell your grand kid you saw him in his final year. You don’t have to go to Fenway to see him. Go to a Sox away game, especially if it’s in your own home town, where it might be easier and less expensive to get tickets to a Sox game.

It’s hard to know when Ortiz’s last at bat will be, but here are two dates to know: the final regular season away game is at Yankee Stadium, Thursday, Sept. 29th. And the Sox’s final regular season home game is October 2 at Fenway Park. If you’re a Sox fan, you hope, as always, that there will be a post season and that whenever his final at bat occurs, he will be able to match Ted Williams and hit a home run.

And wouldn’t it be something if Big Papi won the World Series for the Sox with a walk off home run? But I digress.

That’s not really what’s important.

Not only has Ortiz has brought much joy to many of us (and three World Series), but he will be remembered as one of the Red Sox all time greats, probably the best Designated Hitter of all time.

On top of that, he’s a mensch. Just ask anyone associated with the Sox, even the just added David Price, who once thought the worst of Ortiz.

Think about seeing Big Papi in his final year.

**          **          **          **          **          **          **          **

For those of you who may have missed an earlier post this week, I’ve announced the 2016 MillersTime Baseball Contests where you can join others who know anywhere from almost nothing about baseball to those who think they’re experts.

Consider joining this year. There’s no cost, other than a bit of your time. And if you don’t know much about baseball, maybe someone in your family or one of your friends does. Pass it on to them, and if they enter, mention your name, and win, then so do you.

Share

“Angels of Fenway” & How the Nats Lost It

09 Wednesday Sep 2015

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

"Angels of Fenway", "Before This World", "You've Got a Friend", and Storen, Arnie Beyeler, Big Papa, Boston Red Sox, Brian Butterfield, Familia, Fenway Park, Jackie Bradley Jr., James Taylor, Joe Kelly, Jordan Zimmerman, Matt Harvey, Mets, Mookie Betts, Nats, Nieuwenhuis, NY Mets, Papelbon, Red Sox, Rick Porcello, Rivero, Rusney Castillo, Ryan Zimmerman, Sox, The Washington Nationals, Trieinen, Tyler Clippard, Werth, Xander Boegarts

Angels of Fenway

No. I’m not referring to the new Sox outfield of Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley, Jr., and Rusney Castillo, tho “Angels of Fenway” might be an apt way to talk about to those three young, exciting players (see more below).

James-Taylor-Boston-Globe_Final_Approved_ResizedBut I am talking about that Fenway and someone familiar to most Sox fans.

Continue reading »

Share

Final At Bats……and Much More: Ted Williams & Derek Jeter

29 Monday Sep 2014

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, Go Sox

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

" J.R. Moehringer, "Derek Jeter Plays Last Game at Yankee Stadium", "Hub Fans Bid Kid ADieu", baseball, Boston Red Sox, Derek Jeter, Fenway Park, John Updike, New York Yankees, Ted Williams, Yankee Stadium

On September 28, 1960, for his final at bat in Fenway Park, Ted Williams hit a home run in the 8th inning of a game the Sox eventually won. Fifty-four years later, for his final at bat at Yankee Stadium, Derek Jeter hit a single, driving in the winning run for the Yankees in the bottom of the 9th.

Neither of those at bats could change disappointing seasons for the Sox or the Yankees.

Yet both of those at bats will long be remembered.

John Updike, a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, described what happened in Fenway in his superb Hub Fans Bids Kid Adieu. If you’ve never read this piece, you’re in for a treat. If you have read it and chose to reread it, you’re also in for a treat.

And although there has been massive coverage of Derek Jeter’s final Yankee Stadium at bat and retirement in general, I offer an equally wonderful and worthy essay about Jeter, The Final Walk Off, written by another Pulitzer Prize winning author, J.R. Moehringer, that was published just a few days ago by ESPN.

Continue reading »

Share

At Fenway – Celebrating the 2013 Season

06 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends, Go Sox

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

2014 Ring & Flag Ceremony, Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park, Fenway's Finest, The "Bricks", The Family

 April 4, 2014 – At Fenway Park to Celebrate the 2013 Magical Season

Outside Fenway:

welcome to fenway.unnamed

 THE-verticle.photo_1-e1396794169525

back of scoreboard.photo

Inside Fenway:

at bricks.noname

 bricks.noname

     3 finest.photo

father_daughters.unnamed

On the Field:

verticle flags.noname7_4.noname13_7noname13_players.noname

Share

♣ Search



♣ Featured Posts

  • The List: “MillersTime” Readers’ 2024 Favorite Books
  • Returning to Sedona, AZ
  • Looking for Good Films to See?
  • And the Winners Are…
  • The Book List: 2023
  • The Lake Country: Thru Ellen’s Lens
  • I Did It Again
  • Readers’ 2023 Mid-Year Favorite Books
  • By the Sea, By the Beautiful Sea…
  • Yes, It’s True…I Biked from Bruges to Amsterdam!
  • Carrie Trauth Made the World a Better Place
  • “I Used to Be a Human Being” – Andrew Sullivan
  • Sam Miller: “There Is Never Enough.”
  • When I Was 22…
  • The Best $50 I’ve Spent All Year…Even Though It’s Free

♣ Recent Comments

  • David Price on 2025 MillersTime Baseball Contests
  • Andrew Cate on 2025 MillersTime Baseball Contests
  • chris eacho on 2025 MillersTime Baseball Contests
  • Ed Scholl on 2025 MillersTime Baseball Contests
  • Anthony leon on “The Secret History of Tiger Woods”

♣ Archives

  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • March 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • April 2023
  • February 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011

♣ Sections

  • Articles & Books of Interest
  • Escapes and Pleasures
  • Family and Friends
  • Go Sox
  • The Outer Loop

Proudly powered by WordPress Theme: Chateau by Ignacio Ricci.