What Makes a Ballpark Great?

In my continuing efforts to visit every Major League ballpark in my lifetime, my husband and I traveled north to Boston to catch a game at the legendary and iconic Fenway Park.  We brought along my 11-year-old son, who was rooting for the visiting Orioles but was excited to see Pablo Sandoval and David "Big Papi" Ortiz in person.  It was a beautiful day for baseball, and the ballpark was packed.

So what did I think of Fenway Park?  Well, I had actually been there before, but I was a college student, there was alcohol on the bus, and I honestly don't remember much other than being the only fan rooting for the Minnesota Twins (seeing Kirby Puckett in person was a pretty cool thing for me back then).  So I decided to look at Fenway as if I was visiting it for the first time, and I made some comparisons between this park and my most-visited ballpark:  Nationals Park in Washington, DC.

First of all, Nationals fans expect to get something every time they visit the ball park - either a score card, a rally towel, or any freebie featuring the team's curly "W" logo.  Never mind the fact that most of the fans are federal employees who drive Lexuses or Priuses and can afford to buy Nationals jerseys in both home and away colors - they want something free!  I'm one who tries to plan her visits according to the promotions schedule (remember last year, how I wasn't able to attend "Jayson Werth Garden Gnome Night?"  Those things are going for crazy amounts of money on eBay!)  At Fenway Park, programs with score cards cost money, no one is handing you anything free, and fans are OK with that.  The only promotion on the day we visited was "Nun Day," where many area nuns were given a free ticket to attend the game.  It was nice seeing so many nuns enjoying themselves so much, even though they had crappy seats.

Another difference between the two ballparks is the PA announcers.  Apparently the Red Sox have more than one, and on the day we were there, the dude sounded ancient. Not Vin Scully or Harry Caray ancient, but just old, like a man who has had his prostate removed  But again, the fans are OK with that.  They don't need the Nationals' PA announcer, who sounds like a car commercial and stretches a two-syllable name like "Ramos" into a ten-second line that makes him sound like a Univisión soccer commentator announcing a goal.  Red Sox fans don't need fanciness or flashiness - they don't need the Mount Rushmore presidents racing each other during the fourth inning; they are perfectly happy singing "Sweet Caroline" during the eighth, no need for t-shirt cannons or dancing hottie girls.  Plus Fenway Park has a real live organist who plays a real live organ!  How cool is that?  He even cranked out "Sister Christian" and Mister Mister's "Kyrie" in honor of the nuns!

Red Sox fans also don't need cup holders at their seats.  While there are some plastic seats with cup holders in the rows of seats that are shown on TV, the farther-up rows have wooden seats (mine even had some areas of rot) without cup holders, an occasional obstructed view due to support columns, and no valet service that allows you to text your order and have it brought directly to your seat (yes, Nationals Park offers this service).  Fenway fans are happy to get up, walk around, and buy an overpriced beer ($9, just like at Nats Park), a Fenway Frank, or an Italian sausage.  They don't need the offerings from Ben's Chili Bowl, Nationals Taquería, or the carving station in the luxury boxes.  These fans are die-hard, and they've been happily rooting for their last-place Red Sox all season long despite their park not having leather couches for relaxing (found at Nats Park near one of the ramps that take you to the upper levels).

So who has the better ballpark?  Well, it depends on what you want out a visit.  Do you just want to watch a game with thousands of fans who have followed your team for decades, or do you want to be pampered and doted on?  Do you plan on celebrating every base hit and every run scored during every inning, even if your team is losing (the Orioles beat the Red Sox 8-6 at our game), or do you plan on arriving late, staying for a few innings, and leaving after they stop selling alcohol in the seventh inning?  Going to a baseball game should be an experience - something you can cherish and remember and tell your grandchildren about someday.  So is it better to tell them that an underpaid valet parked your car for you, or would you rather tell your grandkids that your ball park had a lively atmosphere both inside and along the streets surrounding it; that your park has a "green monster" (which I did not like seeing covered in advertisements), and that both Ted Williams and Pedro Martinez played in your park? And the fact that you no longer have to pee in a trough was a bonus for my husband, who grew up using the bathrooms in Cleveland's old Municipal Stadium.  I will always be a Nationals fan, but despite the terrible-quality toilet paper in the bathrooms and lack of natural lighting in their concessions area, Fenway Park is pretty great.  Ask any baseball purist out there, and he/she will agree.

"You Don't LOOK Hispanic!"

One of the many great things about sports is that people of different races, religions, and ethnic backgrounds can play together regardless of their differences.  Gone are the days when Jackie Robinson was spit on by racist fans. Blacks and whites, Hispanics and Canadians, Christians and Jews - they can all play together in unified harmony.  Rivalries exist between cities and their teams - not races and their skin colors.

But despite integration, some ethnic groups still like to single themselves out, and they do so with plenty of pride.  For example, each February during Black History Month, the media floods us with movies, biographies, and stories of great African-American people in history.  In September, which is Hispanic Heritage Month, different cities around the country have "Latino Festivals," baseball teams have "Hispanic Heritage Day" at their ball parks, and newspapers feature stories of Hispanic activists who have made a difference in their communities.  We like blending in with the masses, but we also take pride in who we are and from where we came.

In commemoration of Hispanic Heritage Month, Major League Baseball polled a "series of experts" to put together the "All-Time Latino Team."  Being a proud Puerto Rican, I was very interested to see how many of my fellow islanders had made the list and if I agreed with everyone who was selected.  As I read down the list, I pretty much agreed with the "experts" on the different legendary players chosen.  It wasn't until I got towards the end that my face got red, my eyes bulged out of my head, and I got downright angry.  I was so taken aback by two of the selections that I had to go down to the basement so my kids didn't see how upset and wound up I was (I know; it's only a list, but you know me - I'm pretty passionate about all things baseball).  Here is the All-Time Latino Team - see if you can guess what set me off:

Manager - 1994 Manager of the Year Felipe Alou.  It was probably between him and Ozzie Guillen, so I was OK with Alou.

Right-handed pitcher - Juan Marichal.  With his career ERA of 2.29, he deserves to be there over Pedro Martinez.

Left-handed pitcher - Fernando Valenzuela.  Yeah, I can see that, even though "Lefty" Gomez and Johan Santana could have made it too.

Relief pitcher - Mariano Rivera hands-down.  That guy is some sort of alien or superhuman or something.  I wouldn't be surprised if he came back after his knee injury and pitched game 7 of the World Series this year.

Designated hitter - Edgar Martinez, whose .312 career batting average and .418 on-base percentage make him worthy of being on the list (though some would argue that "Big Papi" David Ortiz is also qualified).

Catcher - 12-time All-Star Iván Rodriguez.  Hello!  No-brainer!  If "Pudge" hadn't been selected, I would have exploded.  Javy Lopez, Yadier Molina, Jorge Posada and Manny Sanguillen would have also been good choices, but Iván deserves it, hands-down (actually, one hand behind your back and the other  framing the next pitch!)..

First base - Three-time National League MVP, Albert Pujols.  I'm OK with this one.  It would have been nice to see Orlando Cepeda or Vic Power, but Albert is a true talent, so he deserves to be there.

Second base - 2011 Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar.  Another no-brainer, though Robinson Canó is turning out to be just as good.

Third base - Alex Rodriguez.  Sigh!  Whatever.  I was still feeling OK at this point despite not being a fan of A-Rod.  Plus, A-Rod is not worth my time, so I refused to stress out about that one.

Shortstop - Nine-time Gold Glover Luis Aparicio.  That's fine, though Omar Vizquel is the best shortstop of my generation.  Still feeling OK with the list so far.

Right field - Roberto Clemente.  Duh!  Again, if he had not been chosen, I would have had such a fit that I would have requited a massive dose of sedation.

OK, now here's where I have a problem with the list.  The other two outfielders selected were Ted Williams and Reggie Jackson!  Who???  What the heck?!?  Since when are THEY considered "Latinos?"  Apparently Ted Williams' mother was "of Mexican descent," and Reggie Jackson's father was half Puerto Rican.  What about current players like José Bautista and Carlos Beltrán?  Or past players like  Minnie Miñoso, Vladimir Guerrero, Rubén Sierra, Bernie Williams or José Cruuuuuuz?  Ted and Reggie... really???  Ted Williams admitted that he didn't speak Spanish or seek to embrace the Hispanic culture in order to prevent prejudice or tension (a valid point back in the day, if you're a coward!).  Reggie Jackson speaks some Spanish and his first wife was Hispanic, but at no point during his time playing winter baseball in Puerto Rico was it publicly acknowledged that he was a Latino.  I thought "If they're considered Hispanic, then I'm the 'reina de Inglaterra' (Queen of England, for those of you who don't "habla español)."  So I went to bed in a tizzy, promising myself to write about it the next day.

So it's now the next day, and I've had some time to ponder.  What makes one person more "Hispanic" than another?  Is it the quantity of "hispanicness" in your genetic makeup, or the quality of your life and the way you were raised?  I am 100% Puerto Rican, with parents whose ancestors date back to the native Taíno Indians who lived on the island before Christopher Columbus arrived or back to the Spanish "conquistadores" who brought African slaves with them and settled on the island.  But it's not so cut-and-dry for other Hispanics.  My kids, for example, have a Puerto Rican mother and a white-as-can-be father.  Are they any less Hispanic than me?  How about the people I knew when I lived in Massachusetts, whose parents were both Puerto Rican but they themselves were born on the mainland and had never been to Puerto Rico - are they less Puerto Rican than Roberto Clemente, who was of African lineage?  They speak the language, eat the food, and listen to the music of their fellow Puerto Ricans, but are they less "boricua" because they've never been to Puerto Rico?  Don't try to tell them that they are - they will run you out of town while furiously waving their one-starred flags!

I guess what bothers me the most is that, while Williams and Jackson were great players in their time, did they embrace their Hispanic heritage?  Were they Latinos first and foremost?  Do they know the National Anthem of their country and proudly fly its flag?  They don't have to be fully bilingual nor do they have to eat re fried beans (which I don't eat myself); they just need (or needed, in Williams' case) to embrace their culture, take pride in their heritage, and represent their ethnicity with dignity.  While some would argue that ethnicity should not matter, It does matter to those of us who take pride in ours, and if you don't want us to single ourselves out, then don't be putting together an all-time greats list that singles out a certain ethnicity.

Stay tuned for my analysis and opinion after Major League Baseball releases its "All-Time Jehovah's Witness Team" and "All-Time Vegetarian List."

You Don't Look a Day Over 99!

Today is a nostalgic and milestone day for baseball fans, as we celebrate the 100th birthday of Boston's Fenway Park.  On April 20, 1912 (just a few days after this one very big ship sank after hitting some sort of large iceberg thing), Fenway Park opened its gates to Boston Red Sox players and fans.  With its manually-operated scoreboard and "Green Monster" wall in left field, Fenway Park has been home to many memorable and historic moments in baseball lore.  Here is my list of the best Fenway moments, in chronological order:

• On September 28, 1960, Ted Williams hit a home run in his last career at-bat.  I wasn't around then, but it must have been very cool to watch.  Ted Williams was just awesome.
• On October 22, 1975, Carlton Fisk hit a walk-off home run in the 12th inning of the sixth game of the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, forcing a game seven (which the Reds won).  If you can't picture this in your head, it's that home run where Fisk is shown moving his arms to the side, like he's saying "Come on ball, get out of the park!  Come on, move, ball!" while shuffling along the first-base line.  You know what I'm talking about - it's one of the most memorable home runs in baseball history.  If you still don't know what I'm talking about, Google "Carlton Fisk home run" and you can see it on youtube.
• On April 24, 1986, Roger Clemens struck out a record-high 20 batters.  Now, I don't know if this was before, during, or after the steroids, but striking out 20 batters in a nine-inning game is just insane.  I was a Mets fan back then, so I certainly remember Clemens and the Red Sox of '86!
• On October 17, 2004, David Ortiz hit a walk-off home run in the 12th inning to help the Red Sox win game 4 of the American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees.  (This was also the same Series where Curt Schilling ended up with the famous "bloody sock," but that happened when they were playing in New York, so that game did not make my Fenway list)
• On July 13, 1999, Fenway Park played host to the mid-summer classic, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.  On this night, many of baseball's past greats gathered in the infield to celebrate the game, but the pre-game ceremonies were capped with the appearance of Ted Williams.  This turned out to be one of Williams's last public appearances due to his failing health, and despite having to come out on a cart, it was still a very exciting moment.  I remember getting goose bumps as they showed Williams shaking hands with Derek Jeter and Ichiro Suzuki - and regretting not getting tickets for that game, since I only lived 90 miles from Fenway Park.  Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez was the starting pitcher for the American League that evening (and Iván Rodriguez was his starting catcher!), and Pedro ended up striking out the first two batters he faced.  That was a very memorable evening for me, right up there with watching Cal Ripken break Lou Gehrigh's consecutive-game record.

Personally, I have a few good memories of my visits to Fenway Park, back when I lived in Massachusetts.  There was the time when I went with some college friends to see the Red Sox play the Minnesota Twins, and since I was a huge Kirby Puckett fan, I was booed every time I wildly cheered for him (Red Sox fans do not allow you to cheer for any player who is not on their team).  Then there was the time I went with some graduate school friends and my roommate ate her first-ever funner cake.  There was also the time when I took a bunch of kids from the Boys and Girls Club where I used to work; that was fun and we had really good seats.

So as you can see, Fenway Park is full of memories, whether you've been there yourself or are just another baseball fan recalling good times past.  If you're ever in Boston, stop by Yawkey Way and wave to the Green Monster.  Some people may call it a "dump," but I call it a piece of Americana, a baseball shrine, and a place where history was made.