Usually, we take in a Red Sox game for my birthday. This year I wanted to make a day out of it by also taking the tour of Fenway Park and arriving early for the game itself to watch the teams take batting practice. We all had a great time, especially since our seats were on the famous Green Monster. These seats are among the hardest to get in baseball, but if you ever get the chance...take it, the experience is not one you'll soon forget!

Tours of Fenway Park are offered daily, year-round. The tour takes you all over the historic park, from the .406 Club to the Green Monster. If you're lucky enough, you may even get to walk along the warning track around the outfield (we didn't get there early enough for that part)!

Historic Fenway Park! Home of the 2004 World Champion Boston Red Sox!	The view of the field from the press box	The Green Monster as seen from the press box	And right field from the press box	A look at the inside of the press box
The view from the .406 Club	Looking out at the scoreboard	Cool beer taps in the .406 Club!	The Green Monster has the oldest manually operated scoreboard in baseball	The view of the field from the grandstand seats
	Some young fans got to take batting practice		Kathy & Isabelle in front of an old sign

We came back to Fenway early to watch batting practice. The gates open two hours before each game to allow fans to watch the teams warm up for the game. Kathy had to take Isabelle for a walk while I watched batting practice, since the players use the Green Monster for target practice. Several balls landed within just a few feet of our seats, but unfortunately I didn't catch any.

The Red Sox start their batting practice	How can you beat this view?	Edgar Renteria (#3) takes batting practice	Johnny Damon fields some balls	The view looking across the Green Monster towards the bleachers

Game time! On this night, the Red Sox took on the second worst team in the American League (at the time), the Kansas City Royals. The game had it all, including a three-run home-run by Manny Ramirez in the first inning (which came quite close to our seats!). There was even a collision between Manny and Edgar Renteria while both were trying to catch a fly ball. Somehow, Manny held onto the ball for the final out of the inning, even though he was down for several minutes! Curt Schilling closed out the game to give the Red Sox a 8-5 victory over the Royals.

Our seats were under the giant Coke bottles	Across the park is the right field roof tables	Isabelle and I overlooking the field	Apparently Isabelle was thirsty	Manny Ramirez waits for the game to begin
Isabelle and Kathy have some dinner	The three of us pose for a picture	The Kansas City Royals start things off by going down in order	Johnny Damon leads off for the Sox with a walk	Manny Ramirez just before hitting a 3-run home run which landed just to our right
Manny Ramirez and Edgar Renteria go down after colliding. Manny caught the ball to end the inning!	David Ortiz up at bat	Wally decided to watch a little of the action from atop the Green Monster	Curt Schilling finishes off the Royals	Isabelle stayed awake for the entire game!

Last modified: 8/07/05