Well, if its a Wakefield or better yet a Timmy 'The Garbage Truck Wakefield' jersey I would love to give it to my dad. So here is the story
Since I was a kid we have always been a red sox family. Even though I live in Philly and the Sox have been downright dreadful for 3 out of 4 years, I still pay way too much, to go sit in the bitter cold, and buy cheap shitty beer for ten dollars EVERY opening weekend. My birthday is in April as is my grandfathers so it became kind of a tradition. The beginning of a new year my grandpa always said, and we would got to 8-10 games. Being in Philly I still get to 4-5 a year. But I digress. My grandpa and dad used to split season tickets in Infield box 25 right in the first row on the aisle. Being a small kid, my Dad and I ALWAYS tried to peg Pedro days a few weeks in advance to get the tickets, this was an ongoing thing as the tickets between the 4 of them were pretty up for grabs. So we would get all excited and sometime we would see pedro (16 times I believe) BUT more often than not 3 weeks out, something would happen. During those amazing late 90's and early 2000's he pitched some masterful games, but baseball being baseball the rotation would change. And then, because pedro was the ace, he would usually be bumped back a day for a spot start. And who was that spot starter ALMOST ALWAYS, The Garbage Truck himself Timmy Wakefield. It was disappointing to me as a young child but it gets better. As I got older and began to visit other parks for sox games (tickets bought well in advance) it somehow uncannily fell on Wake more times than it should. Of the 13 parks I have only seen once, 9 were Wake, including taking a perfect game into the 7th I believe in Oakland. 9 games I saw wake pitch out of Fenway. It became a running joke with the whole family that we were destined to see the blazing 79 MPH fastball combined with whatever garbage his knuckle had. I fell in love with Wake, my sister and I plan to get a signed jersey for my dad for his man cave. The last game all of us were together was in 2011 when Wake pitched vs the Brewers. Here is the sad part
We lost my grandfather this year, sadly he could not make it to opening weekend, but we went to his house before, talked about the glory days of the Sox and the Shit days of the Pats( a story for a different time) we reminisced about the games we went to over the years with each other, and it was a very hard time. He passed in August 2 days before I was supposed to see him for the last time. It was a really rough time, but the day before his funeral, we were at Fenway, doing only what my gamps would want, his kids and grandkids spending time as a family. After he passed, my parents have decided to retire and enjoy the finer things in life. My grandmother is still around, but shes as spry and more independent than I am. In retiring my parents are leaving NE, for the warmer weather of Arizona. Its been a depressing year, the holidays will be without the first 'hero' I ever had, and I think this will be my last opening weekend with my pops possibly ever. Moreso out of respect than never planning it. But as I said IF its Wake I would want it desperately. If not, please pick someone else.
Other memorable moments: 1. Papi's bloop single Game 5- EPIC 2. Jon Lester being called up agianst Chin min Wang also called up, losing 2-1. Interestingly in that game Manny got robbed of a HR in the top of the 8th to go ahead 3-2 by Melky Cabrera a top Web Gem OF THE YEAR, and I can be found in that shot.