Today I am back in Boston. I went to a game between Baltimore and Boston, not much of a game, Boston won, 10-6.  I got to see a family I met when I was in Cape Cod a couple months ago, the Hardons. They have been very encouraging since I met them and it was great to talk with them.

Fenway Park is my favorite MLB stadium and this was the second time I was here during this trip. I had the same visceral feeling, the history hit me; so, I didn’t watch a lot of the game. I wandered and caught the game from different site lines. I thought of the players, the most remembered and the forgotten, who played on the field.  I marveled at the how well the place has been maintained and improved. It is a museum. I had the urge to donate to the “Jimmy Fund” every time I walked by a donation station. Simple and unexploited, no sponsor was attached to it, it seems pure.  (Red Sox fans know about the Jimmy Fund)

Sponsorship has been a part of the game since its inception. I personally think is overdone.  Even at Fenway, I cringe at the signage on the Green Monster. Historically, the wall was always intended to have it; but, I just don’t like it.  When you walk and read all the brick walls, seeing the vintage signage that is painted on the brick, something hits you – or it does me.  I am a nostalgia freak admittedly, but it is an art form from “back in the day” to produce these commercial pieces. Today, we let a computer replicate such things, it feels empty.

I read somewhere that as you get older you tend to lose your interest in politics and start appreciating history since that is where you will eventually end up and this is happening to me with the game.  It is the history that I have chosen to embrace since it is so much apart of America.  I am excited to see what happens with Wrigley Field, with Fenway’s example, I am positive they will master the update.  I hope other gems, like Bosse Field in Evansville, Indiana, get the love and attention it needs.

The day was cool, felt like fall was in the air. I wore a sweatshirt, pants and shoes for the first time in months.  I am fretting about the end of this journey. I still have well over a month left and I know I will get to the end of the regular baseball season.  I hope to be able to make it to the end for the World Series. That has always been the plan and I need a little bit of luck to do it.  The world has already conspired to make this trip happen, relatively easily.  I am starting to think what it is going to be like sleeping in a bed every day and taking a shower in my own place (also daily).  I hope that I continue in some capacity within baseball. I went into this without expectations, to say that I was void of all would be a lie, it has been a roller coaster of expectations, especially when I was getting interviewed every day.  We will see where I end up…

Chad, my brother, has pushed and supported me throughout. He reminds me how important it is for me to finish.  I can honestly say that I have never had a moment where I said “What am I doing?”, until now.  Worry has crept in I admit; however, I have absolutely no regrets. I am doing something that very few people have done and maybe, none other than myself.  Why that is important, I will never know. I wish everyone could follow their passion. I’m just so grateful that I have had so many people supporting me.

Being at Fenway stirred up all the memories I have about the trip, things that I haven’t written about. I think of all the nights I have slept in the car. I would say, “More than 70% of the time.” I am so glad I made that decision to ‘camp out’, or I would never have been able to finish.  I have learned so much about the game, people, and especially myself.  I have been told that I am bold, brash, crazy, and fearless. May be when judged from the outside looking in, but there have been many days and nights I had to push myself through insecurities and fears. I do feel more confident. Fenway stirred all of this contemplation in me…