Baseball 2009

BladeRunner wrote: What I'd like to know, is that in this failing economy how could one city afford to build two ballmarks at the same time?

The Steinbrener's & Wilpon's have the money and the power to build anything they want to. And they're also very good friends with New York's mayor Bloomberg. I cannot say enough about CitiField. It's spectacular. There's a very good reason why this Bostonian is praising something in New York. Seems that Fred Wilpon has a thing for Fenway. He and his architects studied every nook and crany of old Fenway and adapted many of Fenway's features for CitiField. Too bad the Sox won't be returning to CitiField during the actual season. The Mets play the Sox at Fenway. I was looking foward to revisit the new park. Maybe it will be a Sox vs Mets World Series. That would be cool.







Senator Edward Kennedy threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Boston Red Sox season opener today. With fans cheering, Kennedy walked across the first-base line and toward the mound with a cane in his left hand before giving it to a Red Sox employee and climbing onto the dirt. Standing in front of the pitcher's rubber, a smiling Kennedy bounced the ball to newly elected Hall of Famer Jim Rice, who stood a few feet in front of the mound. The Red Sox former left fielder than raised one finger as if to say "one more." Kennedy, 77, then threw a ball that Rice caught.







Afterward, near the Red Sox dugout, Rice, wearing his No. 14 white Red Sox jersey, handed him the ball. Kennedy, wearing a red jacket with "Red Sox" across the front, thanked him before tossing it into the stands. The ceremony came 97 years after Kennedy's grandfather, Boston mayor John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, threw out the first pitch at the first major league game played at Fenway Park on April 20, 1912. Fitzgerald was a member of the "Royal Rooters," Red Sox fans who paraded in the outfield before games. "It's the thrill of a lifetime," Kennedy said in a statement. "I know how proud [Fitzgerald] was to be a loyal member of the famous Royal Rooters and to be a part of Red Sox history that day."