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I had an opportunity recently to be in a luxury box/suite at Fenway Park and experience how “the other half” lives. My view had home plate directly below me and I was in line with the Pesky pole, named for Johnny Pesky because his home runs to right field curved around the foul pole. As I looked down the right field line, I reflected back a lot of years ago to where my usual seat was, in the deep right field stands, Sections 1-2-3 or in the bleachers.
I was with my son-in-law and two grandchildren, boys ages 6 and 8. The suite had all the comforts of home (more than), including a leather couch, two leather side chairs, and a wide screen TV showing the game. When we entered the suite, snacks and pickles were all set up, as well as hot plates with sausage, onion and peppers, and chicken fingers. I wanted to buy my “mandatory” sausage outside the park before I came in, never dreaming it was waiting for me in the suite. There was soda and water dispensers and a fridge. There was also beer and wine and we were waiting for a pizza delivery. We could sit comfortably inside the suite, enjoying all the amenities, and watch the game on wide screen TV…or… we could sit on a high stool, with a table for our food, etc., watching the game through the windows of the suite…or… we could walk out the door and sit on any one of about 20 seats (much larger than the regular Fenway seats)…and…just outside the door; we can have a seat with a table for our food and stuff. I sat in the first row of the seats outside. I NEVER before sat in the first row anywhere in Fenway Park. There was also a TV outside, up in back of us so we can watch replays, etc. Of course, there was an overhead in case of rain. During the game, I was chatting with my grandsons telling them “when I was your age” and how fortunate they were, as they were constantly going back to get more food and drink, never needing to ask their father to buy anything. It was all there for the taking. The 6 year old told me that this was his fourteenth game, no doubt in the suites most of the games. I was at zero games when I was 6. Most luxury boxes/suites are corporately owned, and family and friends (like me) are here because a family member or friend has access to the suite, usually through a business relationship. I remember, before I retired, we had a strict company policy that we could not accept gifts from venders with a value more than $15. I’m sure the amount allowable has increased since then …or...maybe company policies have changed. As I get older, I refrain from saying “when I was your age” because kids today don’t want to hear it and roll their eyes. In my day, you listened to the story whether you wanted to or not or you got a whack in the back of the head. I remember the old Knothole Gang, more so at Braves Field than Fenway, and getting into the games free (when it wasn’t a sellout) because no one had any money to pay. I lived in Cambridge and walked over the Cottage Farm Bridge to either park, Fenway to the left and Braves Field to the right, now Nickerson Field. They were our Boston Braves then who moved to Milwaukee and are now the Atlanta Braves. You never knew if you’d be getting in the park until game time. My father took me to Braves Field to see Babe Ruth when he played for the Braves at the end of his career but I was too young to remember. I took MY kids, 8 of us including my wife and I, to Fenway many times when they had family day, on an adult admission of $2.50 and 50 cents for each additional family member. We sat in the grandstand, in the outfield of course. Sometimes we sat in the bleachers and had to cover the kids ears from the profanities being spewed. In those days, we were allowed to bring food and drink and we always had a gallon jug of Kool-Aid and a cooler chock full. We also attended many opening day games and since it was usually on a school day, my kids, coincidently, came down “sick” and couldn’t go to school. When I wrote the absent note for the teachers, I simply said they had a fever. I just never wrote that it was Red Sox Fever. OOPS!..back to the present in my fancy suite. As I looked out at the bleachers and those distant sections from the infield, I couldn’t help feeling sorry for all those diehard fans way out there who may NEVER have the opportunity to sit up here and enjoy the luxury of it all like I did. Well, it took me a lifetime to get here, and maybe someday THEY will get to know someone “who has access”. My grandkids will never know what they’re missing not sitting in the bleachers, learning new “words” that are being yelled at the players in the bullpen and cooling off with beer sprayed on them from behind. Well, I ruled the “watching from a luxury suite” game off my bucket list (from the movie “The Bucket List”, a list of things Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson (who were both terminal) wanted to do before they died). Oh!...I almost forgot, they had a TV in the bathroom, so we wouldn’t miss a play. October 2, 2009
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