Ambassadors at Fenway

If you frequent Fenway Park, you have probably seen ambassadors. No, not the international, political kind, but the baseball kind. Most are hired by the Red Sox to assist and direct fans, answer questions, and interact with special guests.

Red Sox personnel wear several uniforms, which announce the department they work in. These include Security, the folks in blue who keep us safe and respond to “incidents” of fans disregarding the Fenway Park Code of Conduct. There are also folks in Facilities, wearing black shirts, who make sure the park is structurally safe and well maintained.  There are blue-shirted folks in Productions, the department that operates the scoreboards and anything audio or video related. And there are the many Fan Services folks with red shirts who are the ushers, greeters, ticket scanners, and… ambassadors.

Fenway Ambassadors are paid employees who are most commonly seen manning the Fan Services booths. Those are located near the Gate E entrance, in the Big Concourse near the elevator behind the bleachers, and in the Home Plate Concourse inside Gate D.  The ambassadors answer questions, hand out “first time at Fenway” badges, and give directions to fans.

You may have heard, just before a couple of kids shout “Play ball!”, an announcement that those kids were selected by Fenway Ambassadors among fans entering the park. Just imagine the thrill those kids experience (as do their parents), when selected to go on the field as part of the pre-game ceremonies! That is one of the cool parts of being an ambassador — giving fans something unexpected. Another is interacting with other special guests who come onto the field for pre-game recognition. Ambassadors are representing Fenway, showing a warm positive attitude and enhancing fans’ experiences.

Would you like to do those things? You can! Fenway Ambassador is one of many jobs now available at Fenway (as of March 2024). Check out the list at https://jobs.lever.co/redsox. The published overview is:

“Kindness, compassion, and positivity are a few qualities that embody a Fenway Ambassador.  Fenway Ambassadors are encouraged to use these qualities to connect with each and every fan they encounter. The role of Fenway Ambassador will require your commitment to interacting with Red Sox Nation for a minimum of 30 games during the regular season as well as be available on weekdays, weekends, and some holidays throughout the year.”

Note the time commitment: 30 games a year. This is the least time commitment required of all currently posted jobs. And the salary? Not given, though last year it was $21 per hour. Sound good? Go for it! 

How about being an ambassador, but not an employee? Yes, that is possible. Maybe you have seen Lynne Smith, fully decked out in Red Sox gear, including her iconic hat which is a mini Fenway Park complete with Citgo sign. Lynne not only attends about fifty games a year in seats in Section 15, but also travels with the Sox on the road. She joins in other assorted Sox events throughout the year, such as baseball writers’ dinners. She is a true Super Fan, and the Red Sox honored her in 2012 with the Lib Dooley Award, given “to a Red Sox fan who best exemplifies and personifies what it means to be a Red Sox fan.”

The Red Sox also awarded Lynne official status as a “Special Ambassador” six years ago.  She certainly deserves that!  I have heard that there are others similarly recognized, though I haven’t met any of those. I wonder… what does it take to become a Special Ambassador?

For many years I have been wanting to be more active in “spreading the love” for Fenway Park. This blog is a fairly limited way to do that. But what else? Well, I could apply to become a Fenway Ambassador, but hesitate to do so for a couple of reasons, mainly because I don’t want to just man a booth for hours. I don’t want to just answer questions, I want to have a more meaningful interaction.

So, last June I asked the department of Fan Services and Entertainment if I could be a volunteer ambassador, in an unofficial capacity. “What could I do to become one?” I asked. “How would you like to hand out goodie bags to fans?” “Great! Sign me up!”
So beginning in June 2023 I collected bags of prizes to hand out to unsuspecting kids and their parents before games. These ranged from small (key rings, baseball card packs) to more substantial (brand new MLB balls, autographed photos). I handed out a few hats and T shirts, being careful to judge people’s shirt sizes before approaching them. The balls were the most fun, because I tried to have them autographed first. And here I had an advantage over the salaried Ambassadors: employees are not allowed to ask for autographs!

Typically I circulated around the park well before gates open, looking for families who got there early. People with signs, especially ones announcing a birthday, got my full attention. It’s just so much fun giving things to people unexpectedly, and seeing their faces light up. As they say, “priceless”. I love hearing “You made our day!”

One of my best stories happened inside the park, when only “early entry” folks were allowed in. Early Entry is mostly for season ticket holders and Red Sox Nation members to enter the bleachers and Green Monster two hours before game time, but also allows Club and Suite Level fans to roam the grandstands and box seats. A player, James Paxton, was signing autographs for two fans in right field by the foul line. One boy got his autograph and left. The second boy just wanted a photograph because he had nothing to sign. But I rushed down with a brand new ball and offered it. “Oh sorry.. I don’t have a pen.” But I did, so the boy got a signed ball… and his Mom couldn’t believe their luck. 

I also gave many fans other kinds of perks, including the aforesaid Early Entry. If they arrive super early, wandering on Jersey Street by gates A or D, they usually jump at the chance to enter the bleachers/Green Monster early along with the STH/RSN folks. Most do not think they could ever visit the Monster seats, even pre-game.  Another perk is visiting those Monster seats during a game. I have a Diamond Pass that allows me to take a couple of fans there for brief visits.

I gave these fans early entry, and a batting practice ball came right to them!

 

My favorite Monster story happened in May, during a game in which I sat in Grandstand 31. A young man, in a group of six, whispered to me that he was planning to propose to his intended fiancée during the game, and did I have any suggestions.  I said, “How about on top of the Monster?” First I went up there to ask Security if I could bring six fans up for a surprise marriage proposal, and was told, “For THAT, sure!” So a few innings later I took them upstairs and onto the Monster, and the proposal happened successfully, and all were happy.

Other perks have been upgrading standing room locations (from the Grandstand level up to the Pavilion level) and escorting people around the park, taking shortcuts through limited access areas when possible.  All in the name of “spreading the love”. All for helping Fenway Park live up to its moniker “America’s most beloved ballpark”! 

One day in August I met Doug Smith of North Carolina, standing behind Grandstand 24. I’ll let him tell the story, as published in the Richmond County Daily Journal. (Note the reference to Jay Buckley, who gives escorted baseball stadium tours each year.)
 

A little Fenway hospitality     by Douglas Smith

If Boston’s Fenway Park has a current maven, it’s sure to be Henry Taves.

A grad of both Harvard and Columbia Universities, Henry has followed the Red Sox since his Cambridge childhood in 1963. But he harbors a deeper love of major league baseball’s senior ball yard, which opened just as the Titanic was settling to the Atlantic’s bottom in 1912. I met Henry in the grandstands behind home plate during a recent Saturday afternoon tilt between the Sox and Toronto’s Blue Jays. I wasn’t supposed to be there.

Robin and I had joined a Jay Buckley group tour a few days earlier. Our seats this afternoon were in Fenway’s roof deck, drenched in glaring sunlight. Robin does sun well; El Sol and I have a bad history. By the 4th inning, even slathered in SPF-50, I went hunting for shadier climes, eventually landing in the cavernous grandstand. In a short while a graying gentleman, sporting Fenway ID, approached and began chatting about the park. “How would you like to see more of the park? I can take you up to the Green Monster.” Long time ball fans know this is the equivalent of: “Hey, come along and visit the Promised Land!”

Henry led me past several checkpoints, introducing me to attendants, as we eased into much more expensive seating zones. We passed the Legends Suite where, for around $20,000, groups of 20 can view a game with a former Sox player. I resisted an urge to shake hands with Luis Tiant.

Within moments I was above left field’s 37-foot Green Monster, an arm’s length from the Fisk Foul Pole, immortalized to long ago fans when Boston’s Carlton Fisk ended Game 6 of the 1975 World Series against Cincinnati by ricocheting a 12th inning homer off that pole. Henry and I traded stories of that game. I was on late night military duty, 5000 miles away, listening by radio. A senior at Harvard, he was present in the stands, and described the crowd’s electric reaction.

Henry possesses more than a casual interest in his hometown’s venerable ball yard. Trained in historic preservation, his professional career led him to several states, including ours, where he resided in Tarboro with his family. He performed rural architectural surveys in Edgecombe and Halifax counties, and is one of three authors of ‘The Historic Architecture of Halifax County, North Carolina’.

A New Hampshire resident now, Henry ventures to Fenway several times a season. Earlier this year, the Red Sox approached him with an offer to become an unofficial ambassador for the park. During games he enjoys approaching unsuspecting folks, like me, with treats to sights they would, otherwise, never see. His ‘Fenway Purist’ blog can be accessed online.

Robin eventually joined us, and Henry left us at Fenway’s Royal Rooters’ Club, a limited-access facility near the Ipswich entry where members enjoy better food, drinks, A/C, and Sox memorabilia dating back over a century.

We did not share Robin’s personal connection to Boston’s 86-year World Series ‘curse’. In 1946, it was St. Louis’s Enos Slaughter who raced from first base to score Game 7’s eventual winning run, denying Boston a title. Slaughter shared kinship with Robin’s maternal family in Person County.

We were just grateful for the Fenway hospitality.