Enough time has passed where I think it’s safe to tell the story about how I snuck into Fenway Park or Game 1 of the 2013 World Series.
To tell the story properly, I have to take you back in time a bit. I was the midday host at WBCN, the legendary Rock of Boston, from 2003 through the bitter end in 2009. For the first two years of my run there, our air studios were located at 1265 Boylston St. Fenway Park was literally steps away. Because of this, the station would host lots of promotions at local bars before Red Sox games.
Whenever we’d have an event at the old Who’s On First, we’d pull the following move. If you remember, the main entrance to the bar was on Jersey St. So, once Jersey St. was shut down before the game, the only way you could go out through the main entrance and onto Jersey St. was if you had a ticket to the game. Or, if you worked for a radio station.
You can probably guess where I’m going with this.
After we’d wrap up our promo, the host and Street Team would each grab the empty boxes from the promo items we’d just handed out. When the person working the door would ask to see our tickets, we’d tell them we worked for BCN and were just brining the boxes back to our van. Inevitably, we’d be allowed out onto Jersey St. and into the pregame crowd. We’d ditch the boxes, waltz into Fenway, and watch the game from standing room.
I Snuck Into Fenway Park For Game 1 of the 2013 World Series
October 23, 2013. Game 1 of the World Series. The Red Sox were opening the Series against the St. Louis Cardinals at Fenway Park. I was working an event with RadioBDC at Who’s On First, and I told my Street Team about the old sneak-in move we used to pull. My guy Sean said I was crazy; it would never work for a World Series game. I told him to stash my gear in the RadioBDC van and wish me luck.
After the event, I made my way to the Jersey St. entrance. The person working the door said I couldn’t get out that way without a ticket. I pointed to my RadioBDC hoodie and told him I was just coming up to take down our banners from outside the venue. I was given the OK, so I stepped out onto Jersey St. to take down the disposable banners and disappear into the crowd.
Here’s the problem: there was no crowd to disappear into.
I made a tactical error. This was, indeed, a World Series game. That meant no late crowd milling around outside Fenway before first pitch. Everyone was already in their seats for the pregame festivities. I had no place to go. But I didn’t panic. Instead, I began slowly taking down the banners, hoping the staffer on the door would head inside so I could make my escape.
That’s when a miracle happened.
“Adam 12!” I heard my name called by someone making their way down Jersey St. It ended up being two people: Jeff and Alex. They were colleagues of mine at Boston.com and had tickets to the game. I made like I did, too, and walked right into Fenway with them. I didn’t, of course. But that didn’t matter. I snuck into Fenway Park and was watching the World Series from standing room.
And to top it all off? My guy Sean ending up getting in, too. And he had seats! Turns out someone had somehow lost their World Series ticket at the bar, and Sean was able to use it. That was a great game, too. My standing room section was right in front of the Sam Adams beer cart, so I got hammered and took the T home, running to the Kenmore Square Green Line stop in my Chuck Taylors to beat the postgame crowd.
I dug a few photos from the night out of my camera roll. Take a look below.