A review (and giveaway) of “Fenway Park: 100 Years as the Heart of Red Sox Nation”
Would you like a free copy of this DVD? Finish reading this entry to find out how you can win one!
“Fenway Park: 100 Years as the Heart of Red Sox Nation” opens with Dick Flavin reciting his poem “Long Live Fenway Park “ accompanied by footage of each player he mentions. Here I am, quite disheartened by the 2012 Red Sox season and not even wanting to watch this DVD right now and I’m sobbing. Every time I think the Red Sox have lost a piece of my heart, something like this DVD comes around to mock me because the baseball gods know I can never let my team go.
When I was approached so graciously by Suzanne, a representative of A+E Network Home Entertainment/MLB Productions, I was almost tempted to say, “Thank you, but no” for many reasons. The strongest being at this point I really thought anything reminding me of how great the Red Sox have been might just depress me. But the tears I cried during Dick Flavin’s poem weren’t tears of sadness, they were tears of joy, because of how much joy this team brings me – even when they’re inflicting pain. I’m very glad I decided to say “yes” to the offer to watch the DVD and comment on it. And I’ll probably spend a lot of the off-season watching the DVD.
The DVD goes over the history of the park, the area and the players who played there. It was bittersweet to see Johnny Pesky as one of the people being interviewed, but there is also a wonderful sense of how great it is that his memories are recorded permanently for all of us to enjoy.
The 90-minute documentary feels like an extended version of the Fenway Park tour with a lot more accurate information. Here we learn about organist John Kiley and public address announcer Sherm Feller and if you had the same upbringing as I did, those names bring back tremendous memories. They also detail each of the improvements that have been made to the park over the years. So as much as they DO focus on special baseball events that took place there they really do give you a good history of the park.
It occurred to me while watching that younger fans, especially fans who might not be so young in age but who only became fans in 2003 or 2004, would really gain a lot from watching this DVD. There are definitely some fans who could use the reminder that being a Red Sox fan is well worth the occasional pain. While reliving the 2000s will always be fun, it’s well worth taking the time to watch the 1967 season unfold.
Speaking of the ’67 team, I have to say that I really got a kick out of the crowd shots during the ’67 World Series…lots of women in the stands cheering and even NUNS!
Watching the clips from the 1975 World Series reminded me not only of how much everyone loves that team but I chuckled thinking about Joe Morgan having a fit because he thinks there are people out there who think the Red Sox won that series (I like Carlton Fisk’s comment that he tells people that “The Red Sox won that series, three games to four.”) Also, any opportunity I get to see Fred Lynn play again I will take in a heartbeat.
It was odd that they spent some time discussing 1986 and then skipped over the entire World Series. Then again, the most iconic moment of that series DID happen at Shea Stadium not at Fenway Park.
The tears started again when they showed the pre-game ceremony at the 1999 All Star Game when Ted Williams entered the park. There is an awful lot of emotional footage in this DVD and it’s really what I needed this season.
As much as I liked going through the ENTIRE history, there is no denying that my favorite part of the DVD is the section that focuses on Pedro Martinez. There needs to be an entire DVD dedicated to Pedro but, for now, I’ll take what I can get and the footage here of Pedro is outstanding.
There’s a point near the end of the DVD when we hear Carl Beane reciting the monologue from “Field of Dreams” and then announcing some of the team’s most iconic players. Yes there were more tears, but mostly I just was pleased that they honored him in such a way.
As an extra on the DVD you get NESN’s coverage of the 100th Anniversary celebration when they brought all the players out on the field. This is where the DVD loses points. The day of the ceremony, NESN didn’t tell us who the players were as they came out. Then, a month or so after the ceremony, they did show a version where each player walking out had their name show up on the screen so you knew who you were looking at. That isn’t the version on the DVD so, as folks watching at home had to do when it was shown live, you watch the ceremony saying, “Who is that? Is that Dick Drago?” The omission of the players’ names is a bit of a disappointment but if something on the ‘extras’ is the only place I can really complain about, I think the producers of the DVD did all right. (Also, I hate the fact that they play the music over the players coming out instead of letting you hear the reaction of the fans. The music really did add to the moment but so did the fans.) Regardless, it’s an amazing event to have captured for posterity.
I’ll fess up…I’m completely biased here. I can’t imagine a scenario in which I would NOT like this DVD because as hokey as it sounds, Fenway is my home away from home. Sadly, I haven’t been there as much as I would like over the last couple of years but it is still one place I can go where I feel like it’s mine. I love Fenway Park and this video gives me something to remind me of that over this upcoming LONG off-season.
So now that I have sold you on the DVD, how would you like one for free? There are two copies of “Fenway Park: 100 Years as the Heart of Red Sox Nation” that the folks at A+E Network Home Entertainment/MLB Productions have so generously offered up as a giveaway. In the past, I’ve made my contests a bit more difficult than was probably fair so this one will be easier. I want to know what your favorite Fenway memory is. You didn’t have to be there in person to witness it; as long as you saw it somehow it’s valid. Leave your story in the comments section below this entry (I’ll also be promoting this on Toeing the Rubber’s Facebook page and you can leave the story there if you like) and two winners will be randomly chosen to win a copy of the DVD. I promise you, it’s more than worth the time it’ll take you to share your story!
(The contest ends at 5pm on Monday, September 24th and you can enter as many times as you’d like! If you’ve won a contest here before you are still eligible to win.)
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Damn Cyn, tears welled up just reading your post. Unlike many, probably most, Sox fans, I wasn’t born into this wonderful heritage – I chose it. I chose it as a six year-old and have never let go for nearly 60 years. Since I lived all my life 1500 miles from “heaven”, I have only seen three games at Fenway. So this entry is about my first visit almost exactly a quarter of a century ago. The joy of that night is topped only by the birth of my children.
My best friend had been to Fenway before, so he acted as my guide. In our childhood, I had converted him from being a yankee fan, for in his ignorance, he knew not what he doeth. It was a beautiful New England autumn night. I can still smell the sausage, peppers and onions. We walked around the concourse, taking in everything. The game itself was meaningless, alas, we were crummy again after ’86. As I walked up the ramp, I was overwhelmed by the colors. The green grass, the Green Monster, the usher’s red caps and the white uniforms. The ushers even wiped down our seats which were behind third base. It was a sparse crowd and an extra inning game, so we got our money’s worth.
Spike Owens came to bat in the extras and some drunk in front of us stood up and yelled “Jack one, Spikester!” It cracked us up; we had never heard that nickname. And damn if Spikester didn’t hit one over the Monster. It was his second homer of the year. We lingered as long as we could and left happy.
I have missed not knowing the details out here in the hinterlands of the people and your home away from home, but it just makes my experiences there very special.
My favorite memory is easily the 1999 All-Star game. I remember the introductions being fantastic. As they introduced each player on the teams, we responded with applause. It soon became obvious that I did not have enough applause in my hands to give these players their due. Then, they got to the legends. The All-century players. I have to find even more applause within me. By the time Ted Williams was announced, I had nothing left to give. I had to just bask in the moment. It was like nothing else I’ve ever been to.
Thankfully my hands had rested by the time Pedro decided to strike out everyone he saw. When he walked off the mound in the second, he deserved as much as anyone.
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At the Hall of Fame this summer they were soliciting Fenway memories for their “Fen-tennial” exhibit. I wrote this up then and it fits here too:
My favorite Fenway moment of the more than 300 games I’ve attended there was October 10, 1999 – Game 4 of the Division Series against the Indians. Not only because it was the first time I experienced the intensity of a playoff game in Boston, but because of the sheer improbability of my being there in the first place.
I was living in Atlanta in 1999 when the Red Sox made the playoffs. Living a thousand miles away, I wasn’t able to camp out for tickets, but my brother in New Hampshire managed to get some for Game 4. I was supposed to work that weekend and had used up all my vacation days, but I was able to trade in my Thanksgiving holidays, even though it was only early October. I bought a plane ticket to Boston. I was going to the game! (If, that is, the Red Sox didn’t sweep – for surely there was no way they could be swept with Pedro Martinez pitching two of the five games, right?) But before we knew it, Pedro was injured in Game 1. The Sox lost. It was still possible to win the series, but their psychological edge was gone. Suddenly they went from invincible to very beatable. Almost predictably, the Sox lost Game 2 by a big margin. The morning of Game 3, my flight was scheduled to leave for Boston. If they didn’t win when they played later that afternoon, there wouldn’t even be a Game 4, and I would have wasted the money for the plane ticket as well as the chance to have Thanksgiving off. The word that kept going through my head as I boarded the plane was “delusional.” I’d been following the Red Sox long enough to know our chances of winning even one game – let alone three straight – were pretty slim. But I got on the plane anyway, figuring that even if the worst happened, I’d still have a truly pathetic Red Sox fan story to someday tell the grandkids. To my surprise, they won Game 3. I did have a chance to go to Game 4! And to my sheer delight, the Red Sox won, 23-7! I wound up with bruises on both my knees from banging them on the seat in front of me every time I jumped up to cheer in that tiny little park. But it was an incredible experience – the closest I’d ever come at that point in my life to feeling what it’s like to win – and one that I’ll always treasure.
After reading about the DVD and contest, it really didn’t matter if I would win anything. I read the blog earlier this morning and as it usually happens, I got to revisit some terrific moments through your eyes. And as usual, I’m late, but it doesn’t matter because after reading the other responses, it occurs to me they’re all winners.
But the idea of a favorite Fenway moment is a serious challenge. Pages could written with so many outstanding memories, many with friends such as yourself, or the guy from Scotland who was with us at his first ever professional baseball game, the Taylor boys from Utah, my friend Tom riding his bicycle inside Fenway as one of the many cancer survivors who rode in the PanMass Challenge, and the incredible 2004 end of season championship. A lot of memories are stored in over 45 years of going to Fenway.
If I had to choose one event as a favorite, it would involve two events that occurred at one game. The Red Sox were playing the Orioles in mid-August, 1995. We were living in California and come back east for a family vacation. Part of that visit included driving from southern Connecticut up to Boston to go to a special game.
Through marriage, my sister Edna had been asked by her husband’s aunt Tess to help expose her daughter Allison to the world beyond Maine’s northern backwoods. Tess was an avid Sox fan, who would write game recaps for a small town paper. She loved the Red Sox, knew the game far better than I ever will and had a recall of plays and players and dates; her knowledge was encyclopedic. As Alison grew up, she went to school in Boston and we went to a lot of games together and the last game her mother went to at Fenway I was there, giving her the play by play; Tess’ vision was gone. Some months later, Tess passed away.
Our reason for going to Fenway was to see Alison take some of her mother’s ashes and spread them over left field so she could be near her favorite players. I had no idea how this was going to happen or if it would happen, but this is why we had come to Fenway.
The second part of this favorite memory is because it was the first Red Sox game my daughters were ever going to attend. We were in the bleacher in right center and we made the obligatory trip to the team store and got them both caps and tees. The Sox played the Orioles, won (Clemens beat Mussina and Stairs had a two RBI PH), and we were having a ball. The game ended and we stayed in our seats as Alison made her way towards left field. We weren’t sure what was going to happen, if the ushers would let her get there, never mind toss her mother’s ashes out onto the field. I lost sight of her and my brother-in-law spotted her as she popped out and was nearing the corner of the left field wall and Green Monster.
We all saw small wisps of dust waft down and disappear.
My wife and sister were crying and I realized that I was hanging on to both of my girls. It was simply incredible.
My girls were small and didn’t quite grasp what they’d seen or why it was so emotional for Alison or the other adults. Today, though, they get it. My oldest is in Santiago Chile and still has her 04 championship cap that she wears everywhere. The youngest is out in Boulder and will not give up her Ortiz jersey even though she’s outgrown it.
Since that game, I’ve taken my girls countless times to Fenway, much like a lot of your readers have gone to games with their mothers and fathers. Every time is special and win or lose becomes a moment that you end up thinking can’t be topped. And every time it is.
Maybe the point is that this is where life kind of begins and ends. Much has been written about the bonds that weave between people; parents, kids, grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends and lovers. We see a young couple on the Jumbo-tron, where the guy gets on his knee and presents a ring, soldiers feted for their service to our country and way of life, signs in the stands depicting first games and on and on and on. Maybe it’s as precious a thing that is handed down from one generation to the next, father’s to their children and becomes a chain that’s never broken.
Whatever it is, I love it.