3 Tips For An Affordable Fenway Park Experience

The off-to-a-hot-start Boston Red Sox will soon be coming home for their first home series. In anticipation, let's take a look at how you can attend a game and have an affordable Fenway Park experience.

In order to do this, we will divide going to a game into three buckets: tickets, parking, food, and beverage.

Like any other professional sporting event, attending a game can be quite pricey. Even if you somehow scored free tickets, those $11 beers and footlong hot dogs can quickly add up. When you consider how easy ballpark concession providers have made it to quickly pay, you make sure you are aware of what you're charging in order to prevent fainting at your itemized statement days later.

While we will detail some tricks to leverage that can be applicable to any ballpark, stadium or arena in the country, there are also some components to Fenway Park's Boston neighborhood location to be aware of.

The park's location in the middle of a major city has advantages and disadvantages. In terms of getting to the game, there are alternate options to driving. The same holds true for food options.

So, let's dive in and save some cash.

Let' start with secure your place at the game. Once you know you are going, then you think about all the other bells and whistles that will be part of your game day.

Tickets

The upside to the team not being great last year is that tickets were easier to come by. You can score seats in advance or even walk up to the box office hours before first pitch and take your chances. Regardless, bleacher seats at Fenway Park. Currently, a single bleacher seat for a Thursday game (vs. the Orioles in this case) can be purchased for as low as $15, not including fees.

Parking and Transportation

As previously noted, Fenway's location in the city calls for hiked parking prices. The surrounding garages can easily cost you $50 - $60 in cash. If your starting point destination allows, consider taking mass transportation.

That's stating the obvious for those coming from within the city parameters where the T or bus line has stops. For those coming in from the suburbs, you can hop on the commuter rail or commuter ferry. Then, a short walk or $12-$18 Uber ride will get your right to Yawkey Way.

Food

It's very understandable to crave a bucket of nachos or peanuts while watching a nine-inning game. Nowadays, you can even find elaborate steak sandwiches or fancy burgers inside the stadium. While they are delicious, they also can be around the same price of your ticket.

Fenway also has a ton of pre-game food options. Many fans like to go to a restaurant before the game. Again, this certainly adds to having a memorable day, but it can also cost bucks.

As an alternative, try out Pizzeria Regina at 1330 Boylston St. Of all the Regina's locations that are not the original, this is the best. You can take advantage of their value meal menu and get two slices with a soda for $10.

If pizza is not your thing, Sweetgreen and Wahlburgers also have locations in close proximity to Fenway Park. These are other options where you can grab a meal for $15 or less.

To summarize, for those who want a Red Sox ballgame experience at a cost-effective rate, the three buckets itemized above have you under $100 per person.

Bonus Tip

Understandably, memorabilia can be another desirable part of going to an MLB game. Another advantage to a bleacher seat is that the bullpens are right there up against the stands. If you get there early, you have decent chances to score a baseball from the visiting bullpen players or coaches.

Sure, the fitted caps are flashy and nice, but is there a better token to bring home from a ballpark than an official game-used baseball? Better yet, it's free.

Boston Red Sox left fielder Alex Verdugo wears number 99. Closer Kenley Jansen wears number 74. At first glance, you may think these are not typical baseball uniform numbers. The organization has 11 options that are immediately unavailable. The Red Sox retired numbers include 10 players that are forever Yawkey Way legends, and one player who is forever a MLB legend.

The Red Sox first retired a uniform number in 1984. It was #4 which belonged to Joe Cronin, who spent 48 years in baseball. The nod was to honor the fact that Cronin was a player, manager, and executive with Boston. Five days later (May 29, 1984) the Red Sox retired Ted Williams' #9. It would be four years until another number was retired with Bobby Doerr.

In April of 1997 all of Major League Baseball retired #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson.

Walking into Fenway Park you will see banners draped along the outside walls of the stadium honoring each player who has their number retired. You will also see them displayed high above right field inside the park, complimenting the Pesky pole.

So, if you are catching a game this year and wondering why a starting pitcher like Nick Pivetta is sporting #37, it's important to know what his options were to select from. Here are the Red Sox retired numbers.