A10 The Region The Boston Globe FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2019
game of unknown duration.
Families were allowed to
walk the field before the game,
and run the basesafter it. Cot-
ton candy, as wellas the hot
dogs, went for just a dollar —
or, as one fan, Jeni Haskell of
East Taunton, put it, “circa
2003 prices.”
It wasn’t the full Fenway ex-
perience, by any stretch. There
was no national anthem, no
ceremonial first pitch, no
“Sweet Caroline.”
But at five bucks a ticket,
not too many folks were com-
plaining.
“We would never be able to
affordto bringour kids”to a
typicalgame,said DianeMail-
let fromHudson, whowas
with her two young children.
“And they would never have
the patience to sit through an
entire game anyway.”
Indeed, for many in atten-
dance— namely, those with
kids 8 andyounger — the
game’s truncated length
proved to be a far bigger draw
thanthe chance to see the de-
fending World Series champs
up close.
Young familiesrepresented
the vast majority of the 16,
in attendance, and Thursday’s
game provided a test run of
sorts, to determinewhether
theiryoungsters mightsoon
be ableto handle the real
thing.
“I can tell you this,” said
DennisBrown, whobrought
his two sons,Silas,4, and
Caden,7. “Sitting out in the
bleachers, it’s hard to hold a 4-
year-old’s attention.”
If there was a downside to
the festivities, it was the worry
that the rare experience, with
fieldaccessand great seats for
next to nothing, would render
any futurevisitspale by com-
parison.
Out in the typically pricey
Green Monster seats, which
proved to be someof the most
sought-after on Thursday, Mi-
chaelKane’s threegrandkids
uFENWAY
Continued fromPageA
were already acclimating
themselves to a life of ballpark
luxury.“The first thing they said
was,‘We should sit hereevery
game,’ ’’ said Kane, who was intown from Florida.
A few rows away, 8-year-old
Joey Haskell seemed to be tak-ing equally well to his Monster
seat, thoughhis dad, Brian,
seemedless concerned aboutany long-term effects.
“I don’t worry too much
about spoiling him,” said the
father, “because his first game
was [David] Ortiz’s last game.”
Of course, even the fancy
accommodationsdidn’t im-
press somefans.
“I told my 3-year-old we
weregoing to Fenway Park,”
said Katherine Loving of Mel-
rose.“And whenwe got here,
he waslike, ‘Where’s the
park?’ ”
Outsideon Jersey Street,
the game-day ritual was much
like any otherfor the Hot Ta-
maleBrass Band(“We play
weddings, bar mitzvahs, and
funerals,” said the saxophon-
ist, TimoShanko), whichusu-
ally plays outsideFenway in
the two hours leading up to
gametime.
“Our goal is to never play
overthe ‘Star-Spangled Ban-
ner,’ ” Shanko said, which, of
course, wasnot a concern
Thursday.
By the 1 p.m.start, in fact,
things had taken on the feel of
an ordinary game.
Red Sox pitcherJosh Taylor
kicked thingsoff by retiring
the side, and in the bottom of
the inning, Christian Vazquez
blasted a one-outdoubleto
center before Brock Holt, who
would later call the gamethe
most fun he’s hadplaying
baseball, senta line drive
down the left field line to plate
the winning run.
On the field,Wally waved
the RedSox flag and shim-
mied his hips.
The grounds crew trotted
out for what wouldsurelybe
theirquickest shift of the sea-
son.
And a wave of parentshus-
tledfor the exits withtheir
young children in tow, doing
their best to beat the tan-
trums.DuganArnettcanbe reached
at [email protected].
Follow himon Twitter
@duganarnett.Short game gives kids a little taste of Fenway
PHOTOSBY JOHN TLUMACKI/GLOBESTAFFThe gamedrew 16,441,
many of themchildren.
AmeliaRandall,5, of
Randolphshowedher
allegiance,whileWyatt
Campos,4, of Sudbury (far
left) and his brother, Luka,
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