Open for business
FENWAY PARK — It was only 16 years ago when I, along with a small group of friends, banged out of a few senior year high school classes in order to attend Opening Day at Fenway Park, arriving at the ticket office around 7 a.m. to find just a couple dozen or so fans queued up in hopes of securing last-minute standing room spots.
At just past 8:30 this morning though, 21-year olds Kevin Kotredes and Lucienne Merrill were pushing 24 hours in their overnight venture at Gate E to secure tickets to this season’s opener at Fenway, the front-runners of a line that stretched approximately 300 or so down Lansdowne Street.
It’s a bit different now, in case you’ve yet to gather that.
Kotredes, a Bangor, Maine native, who admitted he skipped a few of his biology classes at Suffolk in order to make Opening Day, said approximately three to four fans lined up behind their original group every hour since 9 a.m. yesterday morning, about 90-100 in total joining them on the street for an evening of urban camping.
“And then, it really picked up,” he said.
Hundreds of people behind him, past the 8:45 a.m. Hefeweizen pints being served at the Cask and Flagon (a wedge of citrus hanging off the rim for at least some semblance of morning Vitamin C), past the “Masonry work in progress” signs in the shadow of the Green Monster, and just beyond Gate C, Billy Martin (Really? “Yeah,” he says with a sigh) and friends have just arrived in their own quest for tickets. Despite the long line ahead of them, Martin wasn’t concerned.
“We do this every year,” he said.
Beats overnight camping, although Martin admitted they ditched the Winnebago they’ve utilized in previous years, not wanting to bother with parking in a pricey Boston environment. At $90 a pop (yes, $90) at Leahy’s Mobil on Boylston St., who can blame him? That price makes the $60 for parking over at Fenway Shell seem like a relative bargain.
Thirty-five dollar parking could be had in the LAZ lot just beyond the Mobil station.
Meanwhile, over on Yawkey Way, still some five hours prior to Josh Beckett’s first pitch, it was a much quieter environment compared to the percolating excitement over on Lansdowne. In a sign of the ever-present Japanese influence on the Red Sox this season, Von Koo unloaded a truck of sushi — bound for the park’s private clubs and press box — from Sea to You Boston Inc. While the company provided Fenway with sushi last season, he said that the order this season was for decidedly more on the menu.
And if this illustrates how successful the team’s million dollar renovation of the press box is being taken from members of the media, one can see home plate — not normally the case back here in the press box’s cheap seats — and the entire field of play from the previously detested back row. The Globe’s Nick Cafardo even ditched his second-row perch in order to enjoy the new digs.
Upon arriving at the ballpark, a girl, no more than 14, passed by, the countless satellite trucks lined up beyond Gate D.
“There going to be a game or something?”
If only more people knew about this team.
Stay with us throughout the day, as Amalie Benjamin will be bringing you updates from today’s opener, while yours truly will try to relay the fans’ view of the sights and sounds of the 96th season debut in the Fens.
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