A Traveler’s Tribute

About 3:00 PM yesterday the munchies hit. The kind that requires an Oreo fix. That means a trip to the Warehouse basement machine, which is a nice afternoon break anyway. In the basement, the Warehouse really looks like a warehouse. It still has the coal shafts that fed the furnaces back in the day. Great old building.

On the way to the basement, the elevator was intercepted at the ground floor. A security guard held it and told me I’d have to wait a few moments. From the look of the swarming Sox fans, whoever they were holding hostage was going to be there signing autographs a while. Swell, I thought. I should have stopped by MASN to see if Marlene would slip me something from her stash instead of braving the Beantown invasion.

After a few minutes, a tall lanky guy with more than a few gray hairs made his way to the elevator. When he saw me inside with that look of Oreo desperation, he apologized for making me wait, completely disarming me with a smile.

I remarked that it seemed like more predatory Sox fans than usual (I don’t think I said it quite like that, but you get the drift.)

“They love coming here,” he replied with genuine appreciation. “It’s hard to get tickets in Boston because the stadium is so small. So when we play here, families can come for a game and have a good time in a great city.”

The elevator opened, and he headed for the clubhouse as I stopped at the machine. “Thanks for waiting,” he said. As he walked away, he turned around and said “This is a great baseball town.”

I was still munching on the Oreos in the office when I found who the gracious, goateed guy in the elevator was. Didn’t need to Google. His picture was on the front of the Sox website because he was slated to start that night.

I see the O’s weren’t overly hospitable to John Smoltz, tagging him for five runs including two homers. But he took the win last night, so I’m guessing he still thinks Baltimore is a great town.