Souvenir baseball

I was invited to the Toronto Blue Jays vs. Boston Red Sox today by my work colleague Rob who hails from New England and is a Boston fan but also a Jay fan because he lives here now. He is a switch hatter - he had two hats which he'd alternate depending on which team was at bat.

These are top-of-the-line seats (Aisle 118, Row 10, Seat 6) three rows behind the first base visitors dugout (Boston) and made for a great view of the game. In front were a pair of Boston fans, a 10-year old, freckle-faced, red-headed boy and his dad. following the second inning, his hero, designated hitter David "Big Papi" Ortiz (based on the fact both father and son wore Ortiz jerseys) flipped the ball over the dugout into the kids glove and he held it as seen here complete with rubbing mud on it. Apparently it was his third of the night! He got two game balls earlier during batting and catching practice before the game. Lucky kid. It took me around 27 years to earn a foul ball in the stands like most folks!

While this ball was tossed by the player between innings, I am not sure if it was a Boston team ball brought along for use in practice and between-inning tosses or if it was used in tonight's game. The ball is stamped "Fenway Park 100 Years" to commemorate the centennial of the home of the Red Sox. My understanding it is used in Fenway Games only. Maybe they can use it on the road, too. Curious...

The game saw a hit batsman, a catcher interference, a hit pitcher, a couple of home runs, and some goofball running around the field in a blue Speedo. He was good at dodging security for about half a minute before they tackled him.

The home team fell to the Bosox 7-2. Better luck tomorrow.

Here's the box score. and the Toronto Star article on the game.

Baseball box scores are fascinating things. An entire game can be recreated from them - even a century later. The oldest recorded baseball game in North America is from Beachville, Ontario, Canada. On June 4th, 1838, two township teams played: Beachville hosting Zorra. Not a box score but a detailed letter or something. Oddly, I cannot find out anywhere which team won. I'll post here or in the comments section once I discover it.