america's pastime

growing up in portland, me. meant easy access to baseball games. the AA sea dogs sold out a couple times every season, but i could basically go to live, professional baseball game whenever i wanted--and for cheap. now in boston, i miss that. i live two blocks away from fenway, but on a nice night when i have nothing to do, i sit and watch the game on tv instead of in person. i have attended numerous red sox games, but never had an experience like those relaxing summer evenings in portand until i decided to investigate the mystical red sox day of game tickets.

this did require some planning. a friend and i picked a game we wanted to see a week in advance. some simple legwork on redsox.com yielded the rules. tickets go on sale 2 hours before game time at gate e, fans can line up 5 hours before game time, and your whole party has to be there at the time of purchase because you are immediately escorted into the park.

i went with low expectations. even on a tuesday night against the detroit tigers, this was the red sox after all. we planned to meet a little after 5 in kenmore after we both got out of work and walked up to find the already-formed line past the sausage cart and souvenir vendors on landsdowne street. it moved at a pretty quick pace, and after about 20 minutes we arrived at the box office window. not knowing what kind of tickets to expect, i was shocked to learn that there were three different types available. while we went with the cheapest option ($30 in the right field grandstand), i might come prepared to pay a little more ($90 for infied boxes) in the future.

a friendly ticket taker also acted as usher to explain where our seats were ("a five minute walk that way"), and we took a detour along the way to get some sausages and sodas while taking in the sites along yawkey way. by the time we got to our seats, it was 20 minutes to 7, and almost game time. in the end, the red sox won 7-5, with a bases clearing brawl, three ejections, a one hour rain delay, and two very satisfied ticket buyers along the way.

in our city, baseball games have become an event. you buy tickets months in advance, wait the whole season, and constantly fret about making the most of the one chance you will have at fenway this year. day of game tickets, however, bring boston baseball back to what it should be. last night's game was not an event, but rather a pastime.