There is no question that the best deal of the trip was for the Red Sox stadium tour, which I booked by calling the stadium (239-334-4700). Though on nongame days the tour is an actual tour, on game days it’s more a ticket onto the field (in a cordoned-off area near the home dugout) to watch drills and batting practice.
“Best 20 clams I’ve ever spent,” my brother said just 30 minutes in, as we stood on the field watching a slow-paced drill in which the players seemed to be practicing base running on a 3-2 count, though it looked more like base jogging. “What is this, they’re just lollygagging around?” Jeremy complained. But we were both thrilled to see legends from our childhoods, Dwight Evans and Carl Yastrzemski, shooting the breeze with active players.
Our tour guide shared advice on how to get the players to come over — make eye contact and call them by name — but I couldn’t imagine it would work, especially considering the tour had cost just one one-millionth of the top players’ salaries.
But it worked. In fact, it was a bonanza. Grady had brought along a “My Name Is Grady” T-shirt in the slim hopes of getting new Red Sox Grady Sizemore to sign; he did. Superstars Mike Napoli and Dustin Pedroia took a break from their lollygagging (and the more strenuous batting practice) to come by. Even the manager, John Farrell — who one would assume had better things to do — came over, signed Leo’s Red Sox shirt and went over to charm 94 year-old Kayo Mikoloski, down from Worcester, Mass., on a birthday trip.
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