Golden Moment

I watched the playoffs and World Series on a German sports channel from my home in Vienna. Some of the games started at 2 a.m. and ended around 7. I didn't get much sleep. After New York won the first three games of the championship series, I told my secretary back in Boston that miracles are always possible and that this year the Red Sox had some sort of power. And it was really true.

The fourth game of the World Series was kind of easy. It ended at about 5 a.m. in Vienna. I wish I could have been at the game. I actually had tickets for the seventh game. I was going to come from Vienna and fly back the next day. But I'm so happy the series didn't go that far, that they won in four straight. It was really a shock to everyone, something we will never forget.

I started going to Fenway Park in 1960, when I was a student at Tanglewood. A friend in the Boston Symphony found out I was crazy about baseball and took me. After I moved to Boston, I went to games for 29 years, sometimes even after a concert, just to see one or two innings. It's wonderful that Symphony Hall and the park are so close - I could walk. About five years ago, Major League Baseball gave me a gold plate that allows me and a guest to go to any American or National League game anywhere in America. I keep it with me everywhere I go. And I still have a picture of Luis Tiant hanging in the piano room of my house in the Boston area.

My connection with the game started when I was about 8 years old. My father loved baseball, and around 1942 or '43, he decided we should start a team in elementary school. We didn't have gloves, so my mother made them out of canvas. We had a tournament, and I played two positions - third base and pitcher.

Later, when I became crazy about watching baseball, Fenway was really my place to be. I still get excited when I come into the park; the green so close in front of me, buying a beer and a hot dog. I love the atmosphere and especially the quiet duel between a pitcher and a batter. When I am watching a Red Sox game, I have no music in my head.

Boston, I think, may keep this winning tradition, and I can't wait to see a game next year. I still have my gold plate to use.

Seiji Ozawa was music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 29 years before stepping down in 2002 to lead the Vienna State Opera. But he left his heart in Boston, with the Red Sox. Mark Pothier is a member of the Globe staff.