{"id":563762,"date":"2026-04-04T08:29:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T08:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/563762\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T08:29:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T08:29:22","slug":"fenway-faithful-welcome-red-sox-for-home-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/563762\/","title":{"rendered":"Fenway Faithful welcome Red Sox for home opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

Poets like to spin yarns about spring. The daffodils proudly emerging from the soft dirt. The smell of April showers in the air. <\/p>\n

For Red Sox Faithful, those first few days of spring smell like baseball. <\/p>\n

The Sox\u2019 home opener against the San Diego Padres is at Fenway on Friday, with the first pitch at 2:10 p.m. They\u2019re facing off against former Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts.<\/p>\n

\"Red<\/p>\n

David Littlefield hands out free sausages on Jersey Street outside of Fenway Park as part of a promo for the new movie, \u201cBalls Up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Arthur Mansavage<\/p>\n

GBH News\n <\/p>\n

The Red Sox are already six games \u2014 and five losses \u2014 into their season. Hopefully \u201cSweet Caroline\u201d and the energy from the Faithful will give them the push they need to improve on their bottom-of-the-division performance so far this season. <\/p>\n

Baseball fans have a well-earned reputation as purist cranks. <\/p>\n

For Fenway\u2019s finest, even little changes have stirred up angry fans. (Diehards may remember the uproar over the stadium\u2019s call to bring in sugar-free ketchup<\/a> a few years back. A call that\u2019s been long overturned.) <\/p>\n

\"Red<\/p>\n

Father and son, Lawrence Taylor (left) and Josh Taylor (right) pose for a photo with a mascot on Jersey Street.<\/p>\n

\n Arthur Mansavage<\/p>\n

GBH News\n <\/p>\n

The biggest change this year, though, is across the league. <\/p>\n

Major League Baseball\u2019s home plate umpires, until this season, have retained sole control over what\u2019s a ball and what\u2019s a strike. <\/p>\n

No amount of slo-mo replays on the stadium jumbotrons could change a middle-of-the-strike-zone pitch from being counted as a ball. Coaches could challenge other calls, but when it came to whether a pitch was a ball or a strike, that was between the umpire and God. <\/p>\n

\"Red<\/p>\n

Red Sox fans ahead of the home opener game outside Fenway Park.<\/p>\n

\n Arthur Mansavage<\/p>\n

GBH News\n <\/p>\n

But, now, change has come for America\u2019s pastime. Pitchers, catchers and batters get to challenge an umpire\u2019s call. (Signaled, might we add, with a charming pat on their own heads.) <\/p>\n

So the question is, what do baseball fans hate more? Umpires calling a beautiful, just-inside ball a strike and messing with their team\u2019s prospects? Or technology spurring on what most purist cranks hate the most: change? <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m kind of not used to it yet,\u201d said Genevieve Jones of Watertown, a fan at Friday\u2019s game. \u201cI think it\u2019s good. It seems like from what I\u2019ve seen so far, it\u2019s not delaying the game at all, which I thought was going to be a problem, but it looks like it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is going to fun to see how it shakes out,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\"Red<\/p>\n

A fan who goes by Dr. Sous shows off his shoe ahead of the home opener game.<\/p>\n

\n Arthur Mansavage<\/p>\n

GBH News\n <\/p>\n

Van Baburins of West Medford was outside the park Friday with his guitar and 12-year-old dog, JoJo, on Jersey Street outside of Fenway Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cI come every year to the Red Sox opening day with my guitar, play \u2018Sweet Caroline,\u2019 and baseball songs, \u2018Take Me Out To the Ball Game,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been coming with my guitar for at least a dozen years, maybe a little longer than that. I just walk around and play my music and try to make people happy \u2014 make myself happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked if he is optimistic about the Red Sox this year, Baburins said he\u2019s \u201cnot optimistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just didn\u2019t like some of the goings-on in the off-season,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know, I didn\u2019t have a good feeling going in for whatever reason… yeah, opening day, it could be better, but it could be worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

GBH\u2019s Craig LeMoult contributed reporting. <\/p>\n

\"Red<\/p>\n

Van Baburins, from west Medford poses for a photo with his dog, JoJo. Baburins, who goes by \u201cVan The Guitar Man\u201d attends every opening day with his guitar.<\/p>\n

\n Arthur Mansavage<\/p>\n

GBH News\n <\/p>\n

\"Red<\/p>\n

Mack Barrero sells peanuts ahead of the home opener game.<\/p>\n

\n Arthur Mansavage<\/p>\n

GBH News\n <\/p>\n

\"Red<\/p>\n

Red Sox fans pose for a photo with a mascot promoting the upcoming movie “Balls Up.” <\/p>\n

\n Arthur Mansavage<\/p>\n

GBH News\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Poets like to spin yarns about spring. The daffodils proudly emerging from the soft dirt. The smell of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-563762","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}