Mike Noonan has attended every Boston Red Sox home opener since 1968. That is, until this year.
The Northampton, Massachusetts, resident has traveled hundreds of miles every year for nearly six decades to watch the team play at Fenway Park — and he has the tickets to prove it. He has more than 1,000 ticket stubs collected in a shoebox.
Noonan has attended every home opener for the past 52 years with the same two friends, Bruce Niemczyk and Kenny O'Brien — until this year, when the pandemic forced Major League Baseball to play games without fans in the stands.
Noonan said watching the team's home opener last Friday on television felt very, very strange.
Mike Noonan: It was the right thing to do. I mean, I love baseball. It's my passion. But even if they said fans can attend, I mean, I don't think I would have gone. I mean, I'm being real safe. I mean, I'm barely leaving the house. But everybody's saying that we get an asterisk. A friend of mine is a retired judge. And he texted me and said, hey, the streak is strong on this doesn't count. Actually, there's nothing funny about. It's awful. It's scary.
Kari Njiiri, NEPM: Did you and your two other friends who have been attending home openers since '68 — did you guys get together this time?
Actually, we didn't. We text each other during the games, but we haven't allowed anybody in our house. And my other two friends are being very careful too. We probably should have done so…well it was a night game, too. If it was a day game, I betcha we would have gone somewhere and sat in the backyard and, you know, listened to the game.
Do you have a favorite home opener memory? I mean, April, it's usually a cold time to be in the stands at Fenway.
It's awful. I bet you in 52 openers we've had good weather for five games maybe, it's awful. But it's fun and it's part of it, you know, and we dress accordingly. And I have a number of favorites. Favorite being '68, because it was our first one and the Red Sox raised the '67 pennant. In 1975, Hank Aaron was playing for the Brewers. So I got to see Hank Aaron at Fenway Park, and Tony Conigliaro was making a comeback and Luis Tiant was pitching. So that was a very memorable one, and the team went on to win the American League pennant that year.
The most exciting home opener, game-wise, was 1998, when Mo Vaughn hit a grand slam bottom of the ninth. Red Sox scored seven runs to win 9-7. And I remember it was so cold, we almost left early. It's 7-2, three outs to go.
One of my friends is a huge fan, but he now goes to one game a year, so it's his only game of the year. He says, we'll hang in there, and the Red Sox scored seven in the ninth to win it, so. But they're all fun and it's more about the friendships and, you know, we were in each other's weddings. We've been pallbearers at our parents’ funerals. Been through a lot together.
I know it's really early, but what's your sense of this year's team? How do you think they're going to do it in a short season?
I'm always hopeful, but I don't think they're going to do very well. I mean, the pitching, I don't know what they're going to do about the pitching. You know, everybody's been traded or let go as free agents or hurt. I just don't have much hope. But I don't know if they're going to be able to make it. I hope the season gets through, but I don't know if they're going to be able to play 60 games.
Do you think it's a good idea to play this season?
Boy, that's a tough one. I want to see baseball, but I don't want to see anybody, you know, die. If whole teams come down with the virus. I mean, how can they continue?
