I was going into the third grade.
I have been a Red Sox fan ever since.
My grandfather, my Grampy, was the most honest and pure Sox fan I have ever met. He probably watched or listened to every game he could until he died in his late 80's. He taught me to appreciate the play-by-play calls on the radio. He taught me about Fred Lynn, Dwight Evans and Jim Rice.
He gave me an appreciation for the game of baseball. Names like Tiant and Boggs and Eckersley stuck with me and kept me grounded.
I remember walking through a tunnel at Fenway in 1978. My first game. We came through to the first base side of home plate. Wow. Green. Brilliant Green. Bright, Brilliant Green. I still remember it to this day. I still feel that sense of awe. Nothing except maybe my wedding, gives me that same sense of awe - where you think about it and you find you are holding your breath as you remember it. I learned about The Curse. And for years I became to believe I was part of the curse - whenever I watched a game, they lost. If I didn't watch, they won.
I thank my grandfather, my Grampy so much for telling me about Carl Yazstremski. Maybe though, all he was doing was trying to give an insecure skinny kid some confidence.
When Josh was six, we went to his first game at Fenway. Cold, windy, lousy seats out in right field. But it was the best game ever. Josh was dressed in a Red Sox uniform - big ol eye balls and skinny little body. We waited after the game, and he got autographs as the players left the parking lot. I watched him as a father, from a distance, amazingly proud. The respect he held for the players was huge. Especially for a kid at six years old. It didn't appear to be about how many autographs he could get, it was more about the respect for the game.
I was asked once, to provide what I thought would be a great itinerary for a date in New England... My best day ever, my best day ever, was getting to Boston early and doing a tour of Fenway Park with Josh. Then we took a cab to the waterfront and took a bay cruise through Boston Harbor. It was a historical kind of thing and they talked a lot about the history of Boston and the islands within the harbor. We ate a late lunch / early dinner at the Crab Shack and then caught a Red Sox game at Fenway... I've got to do some pretty cool things in my life, but spending that day with Josh was definitely my best day ever.
Every Thursday when Josh was little, we had dinner with my Grammy and Grampy. My Grampy died in his late eighties. He was blind and suffered from diabetes. I remember hearing the Red Sox on an AM station every evening whenever we saw him. He taught me about loyalty. He taught me about perseverance. He reinforced my Faith. He instilled a Hope within me that never died. David was born as the Red Sox were advancing to their first World Series win in almost a hundred years in 2004. We call David our Little Papi.
One Day game against Tampa Bay, Josh and I got to sit in the 3rd row behind home pate. What a whole different perspective to the game. To the sport. To the players. The Rays hit a grand slam that game though and crushed the Sox. In 2006 Josh and I sat in seats on The Green Monster. Oh yeah. Wow. One spring, we got to see a Yankees v. Red Sox game once too - A-Rod's first game as a Yankee after he dissed the Sox and chose NY... It was like a playoff atmosphere in April. Pretty cool.
Sadly, I never got to go to a Red Sox game with my grandfather.
After he died, I learned he had never been to a Red Sox game. He had never been to Fenway...
That breaks my heart. Yet I admire him even more.
Someday, someday, I will make it back to Fenway and that empty seat next to me?
That will be for my Grampy.
Go Sox. 2013. I have Faith.
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