One Team’s Trash is Another Person’s Treasure

Saturday, December 10, 2011 – Fenway Park

The Great Fenway Park Yard Sale

This Saturday marked the first wave of ticket sales for the 2012 season.  There was a lot going on, with two invitation-only events at the ballpark – Christmas at Fenway and the Great Fenway Park Yard Sale – plus 4-game ticket packages and individual game tickets going on sale online and over the phone.  It’s important to me to try to get the Opening Day Sox Pax, because that’s really the only way to make sure I’m at the opener (this year will be my 12th straight) even though this year two of the games in the Opening Day Sox Pax conflict with my 10-game Tenth Man Plan package which renews every year.  And the best way to make sure I can get the Opening Day pack would be to win the drawing and get selected to attend Christmas at Fenway in person.  Unfortunately I lost that drawing, just like I do every year, which means I’d have to stay home and try to get my tickets online.

Here are the treasures I managed to find at this year's Fenway Park Yard Sale.

I did, thanks to being a Tenth Man Plan holder, get an invitation to the Yard Sale, where we can rummage through boxes of publications, signage, and other trinkets.  The invitation was for 11:00, but with ticket sales starting at 10 and an hour’s drive to Boston, I knew it would be later in the day, if at all, before I could get there.

They seem to have improved the online ticket process, because I was able to get the tickets I wanted without the drama or trauma of previous years, and then I headed in to Fenway around noon.  The Yard Sale took place in the third base concourse and the Absolut Clubhouse.  There was a lot of memorabilia for sale, including framed photos, game-used jerseys and bats, and autographed balls, but even Wily Mo Peña’s jersey and Jeremy Giambi’s broken bat were out of my price range.  I was more interested in the big boxes in the concourse with old media guides and other publications, all for $1 apiece.  I already have a lot of the ones that were there, but I found a 1995 Media Guide to add to my collection and a “2009 Official Averages” book with the final stats of all players in 2009.  I also grabbed two magnetic concession stand signs.  Then I picked up a pin with an interesting story.  It has the Red Sox logo and says “10th World Series”.  A staffer explained that they were commemorative pins given out to the media who covered the World Series games.  However, they had been made in 2003, in anticipation of the Red Sox making it that year, which (ahem) didn’t exactly work out.  But they were able to use them in 2004, when the team did play in the World Series for the 10th time in franchise history.

My final stop, and the highlight of my trip, was the brick pile to pick out an authentic Fenway Park brick.  After I had chosen the perfect one, I turned around and saw Jon Lester signing autographs for the Christmas at Fenway patrons.  There were barricades up and workers were checking wristbands, so I couldn’t get in the line.  But I was happy just to be at Fenway Park after being away for so long, not to mention with the results of my yearly treasure hunt.