Buckner headlines a day of rebirth for fans at Fenway Park
(Jim Davis/Globe Staff)
By Tania deLuzuriaga and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
The deafening roar for Bill Buckner at Fenway Park this afternoon lasted for two solid minutes, as the once-maligned first baseman wiped tears from his eyes and slowly walked from left field to the pitcher’s mound.
Buckner stood on the dirt ready to throw the first pitch while the prolonged ovation persisted, raising his hands and nodding his head to acknowledge the crowd. The fans, it seems, have finally gotten over the slow grounder he botched in the 1986 World Series.
“It’s wonderful,” said Brendan Kennedy, a season ticket holder along the first base line for 30 years. “The curse is over. I think it’s over.”
Though he was moved by the gesture, the New Britain, Conn. resident couldn’t help making one innocent quip.
"Just don’t throw the ball back to him,” said Kennedy, a 61-year-old with gray hair poking out from his Red Sox hat.
It was a day of rebirth at Fenway Park as fans celebrated the dawn of a new home season. The sweet smell of sausage and the sizzling sound of peppers and onions filled Lansdowne Street. A four-piece jazz band played outside the Cask’n Flagon with men in red windbreakers playing a banjo, clarinet, trumpet, and trombone. People shared pitchers of beer at tables outside bars. Hawkers sold programs, peanuts, and popcorn.
A billboard on Brookline Avenue may have best described the scene: “Here we celebrate New Year's in April.”
When Fenway Park officially opened its gates today 11:35 a.m., a cheer rumbled through a crowd of thousands on Yawkey Way. Red Sox jerseys that had spent the winter in closets were worn with pride as eager fans streamed through the blue turnstiles and into the 96-year-old stadium.
“This is the best the park is going to look all year,” said Barry Thompson, a graying 64-year-old from Cotuit who said he had not missed an opening day since 1978.
Thompson was conspicuously not wearing a scrap of Red Sox gear, dressed in a flannel shirt, a blue windbreaker, and a curious black ball cap. It is a lucky hat, Thompson explained, that advertises SU2000, an old type of Sunoco gasoline, that he has worn to every opening day at Fenway since 1983.
Many fans like Thompson were reminiscing about last year’s World Series sweep that culminated in Colorado. This was a homecoming of sorts as the team returned for their first game back at Fenway Park. There was no talk of the team’s 3-4 start to the 2008 season or the 0-3 sweep last weekend in Toronto.
Fans who ventured out in today’s sunny but crisp weather came to savor 2007 for one more day and watch the Red Sox receive their rings for their World Series victory.
“This is the reward for all the stuff I did last year,” said Sam MacSay, a 17-year-old from Brighton wearing a blue and red wig who ditched class at Fenway High School and bought a ticket on e-Bay for today’s game.
MacSay did not say how much he paid, but argued that it was worth the inflated price because he attended or watched all 162 regular season games in 2007. Add the playoff and the World Series and, he said, “it took over my life.”
“I should be getting a ring too,” MacSay said.
(Jim Davis/Globe Staff)
