Posts Tagged Boston Red Sox
The Boys of Summer – Our Florida Adventures at Spring Training – Part 2
Posted by 'lottasports in Baseball, Spring Training on March 25, 2024
The plan for Day Two was to be at the Red Sox practice fields by the ten o’clock public opening time and later attend the game with Boston hosting the Toronto Blue Jays. I immediately found myself in a quandary of what to wear. Laid across the bed were my David Ortiz Red Sox shirt, Ryan Fitzgerald WooSox shirt and Road to the Show [with the minor league affiliates emblems for the Red Sox] shirt. After several minutes of self-debates, I settled on the Ryan Fitzgerald shirt and put Big Papi’s shirt in the car to change into for the game. I met Ryan in 2019 when he was with the Salem Red Sox and playing against the Mudcats. Note – A fun story about our meeting is in my blog under August 2019.
As I exited the hotel elevator and started across the lobby, a man stopped me. “Are you a fan of the Red Sox? I like your WooSox shirt.” I turned and modeled the back of the shirt. He continued, “Oh, Fitzy! I hate it that they traded him to the Royals.” I gave him a capsule version of being from New England originally, working the Red Sox Delta charters in the eighties and nineties, my continued allegiance to them despite being employed by a rival team and why I was wearing “Fitzy’s” shirt. “My name is Mark Schroeder. My wife Mary and I are here for spring training too. My daughter Maria is the Manager of the Boston Red Sox social media.” I suggested taking a selfie together and I would post it on the Red Sox Instagram. He loved the idea and said, “I’m not saying a word to her! We’ll surprise her!” We both laughed.
When we arrived at the ballpark, we easily found parking on the third base side of the stadium. There was a walkway to six practice fields. As in the day before, I had a specific goal for the morning. I wanted to find Alex Binelas, former Mudcat and as of last year, with AA Portland. I surveyed the six practice fields not knowing where to even start. Fortunately, there was a guide with a group touring near us. When she was between talks, I told her who I was looking for. She got on her radio and relayed the information. “It will take a few minutes. I have someone looking into it. Just hang here near me.” I left Rick with her and I continued down the walkway looking at the next practice field. I heard the sound of feet behind me. Passing me was the guide with a parade of kids and their parents following her. Rick was taking up the rear! They stopped at the next field and I sighted a field opposite that one with players taking a break in the dugout. I ran up to the fence and reached through the wiring, tapping a player on his shoulder. He turned. “Do you know Alex Binelas?” He smiled and pointed a few feet away to his left. “Alex!” I called out. When he came over, I turned around so he could see the back of my shirt. “Fitzy!” he exclaimed and several guys cheered. We took a selfie and chatted a few minutes until he was called out to the field. I ran over to Rick who was still diligently following the guide. “I found him!” As we were watching Alex do drills, a security person came up. “You’re in an unauthorized area.” We had no idea. He pointed to a dangling sign on a dropped rope. “Carts transiting must have left it down,” he mumbled as he secured the rope. We apologized and left.
By now, it was time for the gates to open. As we headed toward the ballpark, we spotted the guide with kids racing around her in an unauthorized area. I’m sure she had long forgotten about us. I did a quick change in the car to my David Ortiz shirt. We entered on the opposite side from yesterday. The first thing we spotted was a Big Papi statue made of Legos. As we admired it and took photos, a darling older staff member offered to take our picture with it. Her arms resembled someone directing a plane to park as she motioned us to the right positions for the picture. As we proceeded to the seating area, a gal dressed in red and white on stilts passed us. She was conversing with the fans as she threw them souvenirs. As I turned to go to my seat, I spotted a Rockies backpack on a seat near the Blue Jays dugout. I knew that backpack! John from the Colorado Rockies had scouted at the Mudcats last May. I proceeded down the aisle. It was John! He told me he’d be back at the Mudcats in July.
Our seats were between the Red Sox dugout and Left Field. Adjacent to our section was the tunnel where the Toronto Blue Jays exited after BP [Batting Practice]. The concrete tunnel walls were quickly filled with fans of all ages with balls and autograph books. I was there too with my red Lotta Sports T-Shirt loaded with autographs from last year’s Spring Training in Arizona. We all figured out quickly that the players only stopped to sign for the kids. I yelled to every player, “Please…… I’m almost 74! Please sign my shirt! I’m not selling it.” A player stopped and looked up. “Sure.” It was Bo Bichette. His autograph was very recognizable with his two looping “B”s and tiny “o” in the middle. A familiar voice was heard in the background. “OK Folks. Time to return get to your seats.” It was the usher and the same guy who busted us at the practice field! I just couldn’t get off his radar!
The game itself went quickly with the only scoring in the sixth and eighth innings. The Blue Jays had a homerun and the Red Sox responded with a trickle of hits scoring one run. Midway through the game, a guy sat down next to me. A ball came soaring towards us. He extended his arm, caught it barehanded and tossed it in the stands above us. I turned to him and said, “Nice catch! Are you a ballplayer?” “Yes, but not anymore. I drive the bus for the Blue Jays and the Yankees.” I learned a lot from him including that the Yankees players frequent a strip club near their ballpark. Oh my! Boys will be boys! In the eighth inning, Tessie, one of the Red Sox mascots, led our section in cheering. It must have motivated the Red Sox minor leaguers as they got two more runs with two outs for a 3 – 1 win over Toronto.
Dinner that night was at Deep Lagoon located on a yacht basin! The place was packed and I was thankful I made reservations. As she seated us, the hostess suggested the carrot cake for dessert. Our table overlooked the yachts and we witnessed a gorgeous sunset. Like the first night, the food was very good. Rick chose clam strips while I got a salad and grilled shrimp which would leave room for that recommended carrot cake. We ordered the dessert to-go and thankfully, the waiter warned us to split it. It was a huge four-layer cake slice taking up the entire container normally used for main meals!
to be continued
The Boys of Summer – Our Florida Adventures at Spring Training – Part 1
Posted by 'lottasports in Baseball, Spring Training on March 21, 2024
If one is a baseball fan, there is no greater fun than attending Major League Baseball’s Spring Training. In order to avoid the Spring Break chaos, the trip to Florida was made at the beginning of March. We left on a Friday morning and battled driving rainstorms which started about three hours into the almost eight hours scheduled drive of the first day. We were spared of speeders on I95 since we couldn’t see much past the car in front of us. Because of the slow going, a reroute by the GPS to an adjacent highway and a construction diversion in Jacksonville, we arrived at the hotel in Gainesville a little after 8:30PM.
Finding a place to eat on a Friday night in a college town proved to challenging. We drove around for about twenty minutes and found waitlists to be no less than an hour. We ended up at Cracker Barrel! I was happy. They have the best green beans in the world! Our waiter – I think his name was Grayson -was a cute, curly-headed college student who carded us! I thought he was joking about checking the ID, but apparently it’s a Florida law according to the signs posted everywhere they served beverages the rest of the week!
It was a short night as we still had a scheduled four-hour drive to Ft Myers and tickets to a 1PM game at Jet Blue Park between the Red Sox and the Washington Nationals. As in every game we planned to attend, I had my reasons for this match-up. I wanted to “scout” my fantasy team which has several Red Sox players and I also wanted to talk to Nationals bullpen coach Henry Blanco who managed the Cardenales team my friend Michele Vassalotti had pitched for in Venezuelan winter ball.
Our seats were between home plate and the on-deck circle for Washington. When we got there, the Nationals were already stretching on the field. In the bullpen, the starting pitcher and catcher were warming up with Blanco observing. I sprung up from my seat and briskly walked toward their bullpen off the right field corner. The fans could observe the bullpen from about 12 feet above it. I squeezed in the one opening left between two fans and patiently waited as Blanco loaded balls in a dispenser which hurled balls to the catcher. There was a break when the balls had to be replenished in the canister and I jumped on it! “Hey Coach Blanco! Go Cardenales!!” As expected, he immediately looked up in amazement! “You should have brought Vassalotti with you!” I yelled. He grinned. Michele had gotten the only win for their team in the Venezuelan championship tournament. Sadly, a player came up to Blanco and he had to get back to work so I started the trek to my seat.
Spring Training isn’t just about baseball. It’s discovering the area restaurants and when visiting in Florida, it’s all about fresh seafood for me. For the first night there, I found a restaurant within a few miles of our hotel and the ballpark. Conner’s Steak & Seafood proved to be a great find with a very diverse menu appealing to both my health-conscious self and my “meat and starch” husband. The evening served as our delayed anniversary celebration and since I had noted that in our reservation, placed on our table was a nice Congratulations card signed by our waiter Nash and some of the staff. The Baked Parmesan Encrusted Alaskan Halibut was amazing. And as predicted, Rick had the Ribeye and a Baked Potato. The excellent meal was finalized with a complimentary Strawberry Shortcake to split. To be continued…
‘Lotta Happenings — Vacation Fun for a Sports Junkie
Posted by 'lottasports in Baseball, Football, Hill Country Happenings Articles on September 2, 2014
June was Rick’s birthday and I really wanted to do something cool for him since our lives had been anything but fun after my accident last November. One night I discovered that Tommy MacDonald, star of Rick’s favorite TV show, Rough Cut, had a book on Amazon.com. I wrote the woodworking legend and asked him if I could get an autographed copy of his book for Rick’s sixty-third birthday. The next morning his response was in email. “Better yet, maybe you could do a surprise trip to watch a taping for about an hour.” Since the taping was in New England, I had to confess to Rick what his present was and we decided to make the occasion a real vacation.
Flying on standby is nearly impossible with summer loads and we got on both flights by the skin of our teeth. After we rented our car, our adventure began when we decided to take in some of the local sites. Google Maps showed Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, just nine minutes away from Logan Airport. We did great until we got to a street which forked out in multiple directions. We discovered quickly that GPS didn’t work in the city. We also discovered why the guide book said, “Locals are very confused giving directions as they use the transit system rather than drive.” We became VERY familiar with the Charles River scenery including a Harvard rowing team, Boylston St and the multitude of one-way streets especially those with no street signs. Back at the original fork for the fourth time, we finally noticed just past the Fenway sign a smaller sign showing Fenway Park going the other way! Finding Fenway Park was worth the effort. Although it was just an hour tour, we experienced the ambiance of the historic stadium. We sat at the top of the Green Monster (pronounced by our tour guide Joe, Mon-stah) as well as other areas throughout the stadium. The right field bleachers housed a lone red chair amid all the blue ones. It was where the longest home run, 502 feet, landed. According to Joe, the hitter was Ted Williams and no batter has come close to the feat. We viewed a hallway of memorial plaques of famous Red Sox players, coaches, owners and announcers as well as different uniform jerseys worn by the team. Joe also pointed out the neighborhood of Fenway located on the horizon. Yes, we already knew where that was!
The following day was the Rough Cut filming. In route to the studio was Gillette Stadium. This sports nut was again in her element. Time only allowed me to peer through the tall locked gates at the turf that my hero Tom “Easy on the Eyes” Brady calls his football home. Rick was relieved at the time constraints since the gift shop was on the pricey side and I loved everything I saw. I came out with two Patriots bandanas for Roxie and Rex. Before I could check for a price on a helmet made out of Legos, Rick had us back on the road to Canton and meeting Tommy MacDonald. After all, that was the point of the trip. One side of a warehouse was where Rough Cut was filmed. The set consisted of a large room with monitors, equipment cords, bright overhead lighting and huge air-conditioning tubes. It was a woodworker’s paradise complete with orbital sanders, saws and clamps of all sizes. Although we had never met, Tommy greeted us like we were long lost relatives at a family reunion. There was furniture all over the place in different stages of completion and the room reeked of fresh cut lumber. Rick was “in the zone.” We sat quietly in an area right under the monitors and the director’s left arm. A script lay to the side with arrows and scratch-outs on the typed material. We discovered later it was rarely referred to as each re-take was spontaneous. Just as we saw on TV, Tommy filmed in front of a large wooden cabinet with bookcases over it. A military flag in a wooden case on top of the furniture piece reminded me of my parents and brought a tear to my eye. Tommy was fun to listen to. His thick Boston brogue and humor brought more tears to my eyes. It was apparent he loved doing the show and his goal was to entertain as well as educate viewers. The two hours there went quickly as we watched the production take shape. While the crew was on break, we lunched with John, the director. It was then I spotted a chair complete with baseball bats for the legs. Yes, there is always a sports connection for me!
After we left, we headed southeast to seek out where our forefathers landed at Plymouth. Again, despite GPS, it was not an easy journey. I had loaded Plymouth MA. not realizing that the town was different than where the rock was. The diversion was worth it as we went through an area of gorgeous Colonial estates nestled in tall trees facing the Atlantic Ocean. As we had been already warned, Plymouth Rock is a small rock set down in a display in the ground so one couldn’t actually touch it. A replica of the Mayflower was docked at a wharf on the shore behind it. It was still neat to imagine part of American History began there. The week went by way too fast as most vacations do however it did have its benefits. Rick reorganized the garage when we got back so he could get to his tools. He added pegboards and shelves similar to Tommy’s. <smile> It would make a great home for a Lego helmet.
'lotta sports 