Fenway Park Journal: Wet snow smothers a dormant field
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
The slushy snow fell silently at Fenway Park this afternoon, covering the dormant field in a clean white blanket. The snow dusted empty red seats in the upper deck above the first base line, and dotted the green steel beams like sprouts of white hair on a ballpark - and a city - desperate for spring.
From inside the new Bleacher Bar beneath the seats in center field, it is painfully clear how much longer the slog through winter will last. The pub offers a unique but disheartening perspective through a 20-foot-tall-by-25-foot-wide window that peers out from the center field wall.
A chain-link fence has been erected on the warning track, encircling the entire field as though it were being held hostage. A yellow backhoe sat idle near the Red Sox dugout, which has been shuttered with plywood. And Pesky's Pole has been taken down from the first baseline, leaving a void while a deck of seats is rebuilt.
The view this afternoon was a reminder of how achingly long it's been - 104 days - since baseball was played at Fenway Park. And it will still be some time - 68 days - until there is baseball again. The sport marks the beginning and end of cold weather in New England. In good seasons, the final out in October is made while fans cheer bundled in hats and scarves. Opening Day comes with the long-awaited thaw.
The year-round Bleacher Bar opened on Lansdowne Street in May 2008. This is the first winter that the weary have been able to belly-up to the mahogany-colored bar, nurse a beer, or munch on a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich while gazing at the field. The bar is a cross between a dark, cave-like pub and the ballpark, with stadium green walls, old-time banners, and Red Sox paraphernalia in glass cases.
Holiday parties have kept business brisk this off season, said general manager Ryan Jones, who glanced out at the falling snow and shrugged.
"But days like today are a little slow," Jones said.
Shortly after noon today, eight construction workers with hardhats and bandanas huddled at a corner table. They sat out of the bright daylight that streamed in from the window looking out on the field. A handful of beefy men sipped beers at the bar, glancing at basketball highlights playing on a flat screen television. In an hour, the bar was empty except for two bartenders, who refilled salt shakers.
Outside, the silent snow had given way to the patter of sleet and rain. Water dripped off the metal green grate that protects the window from fly balls in the summer.
As the rain fell harder, a gray-haired man in a heavy coat walked onto the warning track and climbed into a small yellow bulldozer. He used the bucket to shovel, clearing a path to the bullpens. Pushing away the heavy snow, he exposed the wet, crimson-colored dirt on the track.
For a moment, it looked like baseball might not be so far off. In just 17 days, the Red Sox pitchers and catches are due to report to spring training.
Globe correspondent Michele Richinick contributed to this report.
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Sorry to nitpick, but, um, snow is always pretty silent when it falls. Shouldn't the first sentence read that "snow fell at a silent Fenway Park?" But more important, did the Sox pay for this Bleacher Bar online ad?
come on! It's called writing, setting a mood, don't rag on the writer for setting a scene for her story
Since when do bulldozers have buckets....
It's JANUARY! Winter! Would you like the Sox to have a practice? Hasn't it snowed a bunch of times this winter? Is it the rain that makes it so special?
I wondered where old hyphens went to die. Such as - 25-foot wide - belly up for example. Even my elementary school teacher - a great lady - would not allow me to begin a sentence with and. Maybe today's economy - resulted in Boston.com to restrict the use of - commas.
No offense to Mr. Ryan, but this "story" is nothing more than ad for the Bleacher Bar. Of course Fenway is dormant during a January snowstorm that "smothered" the ballpark in 3-4 inches of snow. Where is the disclaimer? **The New York Times Co., which owns The Boston Globe, holds a 17 percent stake in the Red Sox.**
LOL ... This is funny!!! silent snow, silent park, loud obnoxious bosses, calling Andrew a she??? Oh and bulldozers with buckets. I guess we are not supposed to read but imagine... whoa
Who friggin cares what Fenway is like right now. The Celtics & Bruins are playing. Do they have to hog the headlines every minutes. Friggin pink hat nation is awful
And boston.com commenters continue to set the bar low. I read these thinking that someday, maybe, someone with have something interesting or insightful to add. Hyphens? Really? That's the best you could do?
Nope, just the same old Internet message board complaining. I'm really starting to think these were a bad idea. Let the work stand on its own and have separate comment pages somewhere far away for the masses to spew.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....... You people have no life at all. Writing about every piece of minutae. How bout the stubbed out cigarette butts outside the bar. They must be lonely with no vendors around to sell other stuff. Hey, there's a story there somewhere.
Wow, the bad weather, the economy, no Pats in the playoffs, must be getting to people. What a bunch of miserable people. As my mother used to say, if you can't say something positive, keep your mouth (or keyboard) shut.
No offense to the writer; I wasn't knocking his attempt to "set the scene" for the story, just recalling a lesson from my junior high English class! My real point, as another poster pointed out, was the connection between the Globe and the Sox which is never mentioned even if most are aware of it. This story came off as an advertisement for the Bleacher Bar: there's no one in here, you can see Fenway Park covered in snow, so come on down. This is an issue that normally would be covered by an Ombudsman. Speaking of which, what ever happened to the one at the Globe? I remember when the last one left, and as far as I know the Globe never replaced him. C'mon Globe editors, there has to be a way to ressurect that position, even if it's only in online form. I think readers would appreciate knowing that someone somewhere within the Globe is actually reading/responding to these comments and concerns. Now excuse me, I'm heading over to the Bleacher Bar for lunch. (Dammit, it worked!)
It took TWO people to write this "report"?
Breaking news: there is snow in Fenway in the middle of January. In related news, the sun rose in the east for the infinite consecutive day this morning.
We have to find something that will remind us of spring. Fenway is the perfect posterchild of warmer weather. But a watched pot never boils.
At the risk of beating a dead horse (or using too many analogies for that matter), but the issue here is, not how many people it takes to write an article, but rather why we haven't built a new fenway for christ sake. A first class team such as the Sox should be able to at least remove those unsightly beams if they want to keep the park going. I say after the 100th Anniversary, we bring back the idea of building a new Fenway to the table.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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