Marty Lurie Talks San Francisco Giants Baseball
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Friendly Fenway

Growing up in the Boston area in the seventies gave me a chance to watch Carl Yastremski, Carlton Fisk and Fred Lynn do their stuff in Fenway Park. I have fond memories of hot sticky summer nights spent listening to games on the front porch.


I have since moved to Oakland, CA and become an avid Athletics fan, but I still keep an eye on the Red Sox – hoping for a championship at least once in my lifetime.

One night in August 2001, I was visiting Boston and showing some friends the sights. We spent all day walking around town and ended up in Kenmore Square that evening. We could hear the roar of the crowd from Fenway and decided to go to the game. Seattle was in town and of course the game was completely sold out. We were walking down Landsdowne Street past the gate for the bleachers when we spotted a security guard. Having heard rumors about entrance to Fenway being free after the seventh inning we stopped to see if this was true. He told us “No – that’s just a Boston University rumor!” I told him that we were visiting from California and I really wanted my friends to see the inside of Fenway Park. The guard paused for a moment and then asked to see our drivers licenses. No problem! We proved we were from California and he opened the gate saying, “Have a good time!”

We dashed through the gate before he could change his mind and headed for the bleachers. The park was packed, but low and behold we actually found four empty seats together!! The game was only in the second inning so we settled in to watch.

We were treated to a great time. Hideo Nomo pitched a nice game and The Red Sox had the lead going into the ninth inning when Derek Lowe came in to try for the save. That night happened to be Derek Lowe poster night at Fenway and the fans were ready for the win. Lowe promptly blew the lead – fans were tearing his posters to shreds, stamping on the pieces and throwing them on to the field all while cursing Derek as only New Englanders know how.

Seattle went on to win the game in extra innings. What a night! Oddly enough, I was watching the out-town-scoreboard and on the same night the A’s had the same lead as Boston (I think the A’s were playing Texas) and Oakland blew the game in the ninth inning as well! Talk about a crazy night at Fenway. I will never be able to thank that kind security guard enough for treating me to one of the wildest nights of baseball I’ve seen.

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