{"id":3949,"date":"2016-04-30T23:27:01","date_gmt":"2016-05-01T03:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/redsoxdiehard.com\/wordpress\/?p=3949"},"modified":"2016-06-05T23:07:16","modified_gmt":"2016-06-06T03:07:16","slug":"winner-winner-chicken-dinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/redsoxdiehard.com\/wordpress\/2016\/04\/30\/winner-winner-chicken-dinner\/","title":{"rendered":"Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday, April 30, 2016 – Fenway Park<\/h3>\n

VIP Tour and Player Meet & Greet<\/h4>\n

As a season ticket holder, I get rewards points for scanning my tickets at games and entering code words throughout the season.\u00a0 One thing we can use the points for is to enter raffles, and I won one for a player meet and greet event that included a VIP tour of Fenway Park.\u00a0 The experience is also part of packages sold through Red Sox Destinations<\/a>, and the season ticket holder raffle winners got to join in.\u00a0 We also got a a “David Ortiz final season” cap, a baseball and display case, and a free pair of Red Sox sneakers from Row One Brands<\/a> as part of our prize pack.<\/p>\n

Our day started with a tour of Fenway Park.\u00a0 Remember that scene from “Forrest Gump”<\/a> when he says he got invited to the White House again<\/em>, and met the President of the United States again<\/em>?\u00a0 That’s how we felt sitting in the Green Monster seats and stepping onto the warning track.\u00a0 As a season ticket holder, I can enter early and go up on the Green Monster before every game, and there have been plenty of open houses and other events where we’ve walked around the warning track before.\u00a0 But what made this tour a one-of-a-kind special event is that we actually got to go inside the Green Monster, where the scoreboard operator posts the score during games!\u00a0 As a lifelong fan, that’s something that’s always been on my baseball bucket list.\u00a0 (We were asked not to sign our names, so I still have something to aspire to when I someday go in there again<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

\"For

For the scorekeepers inside the Green Monster, the only way they can see the game is by peeking through the slots like the one between my arm and the H. There's also a panel beyond my right shoulder that opens up so a camera can look out.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Peek-a-boo!

Peek-a-boo! Looking out through the camera window.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"If

If you zoom in on the previous picture, you can see a tattoo left by a hard-hit wall-ball.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The

The plush accomodations for the scorekeepers.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Peeking

Peeking out through one of the little slots.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Inside

Inside the Green Monster!<\/p><\/div>\n

After everyone had had a chance to go inside the Green Monster, we sat in the grandstand seats and listened to the tour guides give a history of Fenway Park.\u00a0 There was a game later that night, but for now, the grounds crew was out mowing the grass and getting the infield ready.\u00a0 I spotted head groundskeeper David Mellor and his dog Drago (named after former Red Sox pitcher Dick Drago, I assume), whom I recognized from his Instagram account<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Fenway

Fenway groundskeeper David Mellor and his dog, Drago.<\/p><\/div>\n

Next we walked down the fifth floor hallway past the radio and TV booths and the media cafeteria, and into the press box.<\/p>\n

\"The

The media cafeteria. Serving lemons and sour grapes daily.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"In

In the press box. The back row, where we sat, was added in 2007 when the Sox signed Daisuke Matsuzaka, to accomodate all the additional media who followed him around. I sat next to the "umpire's seat" which I assume has communication to the umpires in New York who preside over replay calls.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"View

View from the press box.<\/p><\/div>\n

Our last stop was the EMC Club, where we had a buffet lunch (hot dogs, chicken, pulled pork, salad, corn on the cob, potato salad, watermelon, cookies, and brownies).\u00a0 Then we got to meet left fielder Brock Holt and get autographs and pictures with him.\u00a0 There was a Q & A session, too, where people asked hard-hitting questions like what would you do if you didn’t play baseball (country singer), do you have any superstitions (no), and what’s your favorite position to play (anything but second because it means Dustin Pedroia is out).<\/p>\n

\"These

These are the plates we used for the buffet. Great china pattern!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The

Hanging out with the Brockstar.<\/p><\/div>\n

Last up was a visit from Dick Flavin, the Boston humorist who serves as Fenway P. A. announcer during day games and the Poet Laureate of the Red Sox.\u00a0 He recited several of his poems for us, some of which I had heard before, and some of which I hadn’t.\u00a0 Here’s a video with two of my favorites, “Long Live Fenway Park,” written for its hundredth anniversary in 2012 and “Big Papi’s Bombs,” written in 2013.
\n


\n\n\n