Baseball Trip -Day 5

We woke up in Springfield, home of the Basketball Hall of Fame. It wasn’t open yet, and we had other places to go and other things to see, so that Hall will have to wait for another trip. The movie for our bus ride was Fever Pitch, an amusing story about a fanatic Red Sox supporter who lets his enthusiasm for his team get in the way of other things in his life. You don’t know anyone like that, do you?

Out first stop was Lexington, Massachusetts, known as The Birthplace of American Liberty. It is the site of the first battle of the Revolutionary War. The people who live there obviously take great pride in preserving and honoring the heritage. There are well-maintained original homes and buildings and beautiful landscaping around Lexington Common (Battle Green), where the first shot was fired. The statues and plaques tell the story of the Minutemen and other brave heroes. Very inspiring!

We headed for downtown Boston and had a couple of hours of free time. The first order of business was lunch. We decided on an older restaurant which looked like a typical Massachusetts establishment and it was! Perfect Bahston accents and fresh seafood. And of course I had a delicious bowl of chowdah.

We still had time to see some sights so we hopped on a local tour bus and got some quick peeks at some of the historic buildings. It would take a much longer visit to do justice and take it all in. We did go by the bar where Cheers was filmed, but I was disappointed. Nobody knew my name!

After our mini tour we headed to Fenway. I had previously seen a couple of games there, but was looking forward to going back. Even though the views may be obstructed, the seats are too narrow, and the facility is horribly outdated, there are many redeeming features. The air is thick with history, and you have to love the Green Monster and the sound of 30,000 people singing Sweet Caroline. ( Bom bom bom )

This was the first time I entered the park through the outfield gate, so I got a good look at the Yaz bronze, the Jimmy Fund statue, and the Four Friends tribute to Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky, Dom DiMaggio, and Ted Williams. Well done.

On to the game. We were seated in the right field bleachers. The other occupants were extremely unruly. I think it was their usual temperament, but it was magnified by the fact that their beloved Red Sox were getting manhandled by Tampa. Although Boston scored some runs late in the game you never felt like the Rays’ lead was really in jeopardy. The crowd was unusually profane. There were so many F-bombs being dropped that I was wondering if they were filming a Quentin Tarantino movie.

So the game wasn’t especially enjoyable, but we had a pretty good day overall. Saw some American History, some baseball history, had some great food , and enjoyed visiting and singing with friends. So good! So good! So good!

That’s one man’s opinion - what’s yours?