Sox are Home

Soooooo,

Today was my first day on the job. I woke up, around 10:30, didn't have to be at the park until 2. Hung out around the college for awhile, ate some lunch and relaxed. Decided to get ready for work, and just walk around downtown for awhile. I walked around Fenway a couple of times, people watched, and just got to know the area a little better. There are sooo many people on bikes, and it makes me jealous that I don't have mine. :( Oh well.

So 2:00 came upon me. Or should I say 1:45. I was getting really ancy so I just went in. Waited around for a little while until my boss, Dave Mellor greeted me just outside his office. Very nice guy, and deserves the respect he commands. We talked for about 20 minutes about a lot of things and he just kind of told me what he expects out of me and how to go about working at Fenway. My first job was to get the hose out and unroll it and lay it by first base for Griff, the assistant. Pretty basic I know. Then I held the hose for him--nothing I haven't done. Then we started to set up for batting practice. Again--nothing I haven't done, just had to readjust as they do things differently. Then I got the clay ready for after the game--instead of just putting it into the bucket like we do at Hammons Field, we had to first sift it out...breaking down a lot of the bigger pieces so that it would be smaller chunks. Got pulled away for awhile and went to get my Sox ID as well as my new uniform, sweet team jacket, and hat.

It got a little stressful before the game as everyone was kind of running around and with it being my first time at Fenway I wasn't sure how things went. Yea, I have done games before--but not at Fenway Park. Crazy. Ended up not doing too much but nobody really did. There were so many guys that we all pretty much had our 1-2 jobs and we just did those. After pregame, they sent me home.

Overall cool experience. I'm ready for more tomorrow! Wes and I both go in at 8am. Excited to know what I'll have to do. Doubting, with that start time that I'll work the game. Tonight I did come within 2 feet of Terry Francona, the Red Sox manager. Watched Big Papi run with a huge smile on his face about 5 foot away. And watched as Dustin Pedroia played catch on the infield side grass. Its pretty awesome guys and I think will be a lot better once I get the hang of things up here. A bit nerve racking today--but thats to be expected. Yes?

Hope you guys all had a great day. Thanks for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers today. I know it helped. If any of you want to send me mail. Do it!! The address of my dorm is below. Awesome. Thanks for reading. More to come, I promise!

finally memorized my keypad number for my dorm room,

Phil

Phil Grefrath
Summer Resident
Emmanuel College
400 The Fenway
Boston, MA 02115