Are you just dying to experience the infamous Fenway park, but you don’t want to pay for a game? Or, if you are like me and Travis, we always seem to visit his family in Boston while our Red Sox are out of town. Total bummer if you ask most people … but we aren’t most people.
These days, there is literally a way around everything. If you are lucky enough to be in Boston while the Red Sox have a home game, do yourself a favor and go! It is an experience like no other. To be part of one of the most electrifying crowds in America can not be replaced. Not only is the crowd amazing, but the stadium will put you in awe. In today’s day and age, everyone flocks to the newest and most shiny objects. Stadiums and other venues are always being renovated or rebuilt to keep up with the American fascination with newer, bigger, and better. Well, not Fenway. To touch this historical site would be blasphemy. Fenway Park is the only baseball stadium to be a part of its city’s National Register of Historic Places, as well as the only stadium to celebrate its 100 year anniversary. Built in 1912, the Boston Red Sox has always called this stadium home. Fenway is truly the pride and joy of Boston Massachusetts.
To make Fenway even more magical, it is the Major League Baseballs’ absolute smallest venue, but you wouldn’t be able to tell. More seats have been put in to make the stadium more operational for the high demand. Screens have also been upgraded and oversized. There have been improvements for season ticket holders as a private club has been added, replacing the former player’s club.
With all of this demand, it can be quite hard to get to see a Red Sox game at Fenway. Prices sometimes are through the roof and if you try to pull a last-minute ticket, they will likely be sold out.
Being the travel fanatics that we are, we often like to find a way to have experiences from a different point of view. We love to find the venues that most don’t know about because they aren’t advertised in the biggest magazines or tourist websites. For this reason, we absolutely fell in love with The Bleacher’s Bar, located on the former famous Yawkey Way which has recently been renamed Jersey Street.
The Bleachers Bar opened in 2008 right outside of Fenway Park. Actually, this awesome restaurant couldn’t be any closer to all of the action. It is located in what used to be the batting cages and storage rooms for the Red Sox Players. With the original fencing still intact, leading to the stadium, you can enjoy some food and great drinks all while watching the game from right on the other side of the fence, yet still partially inside the stadium.
Travis is the biggest sports buff. He has an obsession with sports facts and memorabilia. We have collected many amazing pieces of history, thanks to his love for sports. At the bleacher’s bar, the walls are covered in awesome memories and autographed memorabilia. It was really a cool experience to be completely surrounded by our favorite baseball team’s history. Not only was there memorabilia all over but we were literally located where all of our favorite players used to warm up. As a REAL Red Sox fan, it was the coolest feeling to know you were standing where they once did.
To make this restaurant somehow even more awesome, you can sit here and enjoy the game for free if you didn’t land tickets in time. The main rule is, you must still be actively drinking to take up a seat for the game. You are also not allowed to take pictures or videos while the game is on. This is understandable since, if you are sitting here, you obviously didn’t buy a ticket to the game like the other fans are that get this privilege.
The best part is, although you would expect this restaurant to be overpriced due to its absolutely perfect location, it is not. Food is actually relatively cheap compared to prices we have seen throughout the city. Beer and alcohol was all regularly priced. Their menu has great bar food, it was prepared perfectly, and the service was excellent. This is probably our new favorite place in all of Boston.
If you are looking to watch the ball game and save some money, this actually might not be your best route. As mentioned above, you ahem to continue to drink and/or eat which can become extremely pricy for the duration of the game. As a long-time server and bartender, I will never ever encourage anyone to sit at a table and let the tab stay stagnant. By doing this, you are literally taking money out of your server’s pockets that they could be getting tipped if they were waiting on other tables. Please, never do this at any restaurant. It is extremely rude. Please also remember, if you have a low bill but you took a table for a long time, you must also tip for your time not just the food and drinks that you consume or don’t consume. Please tip accordingly, always.
Everyone knows that you can not visit Boston without getting some of their infamous clam chowdah. That is yet another thing that the Bleacher Bar absolutely nailed. I am sure there are plenty of awesome places to get chowdah in Boston, but if you are going to sit and enjoy the bar outside of Fenway, you should definitely try some of it here.
All in all, the Bleacher Bar ended up being one of the absolute coolest places that we found on our trip to visit Boston. If you are in the area, you have to stop in to check the place out. Pictures and videos are perfectly fine as long as a game is not going on, as you will be able to tell from our recent vlog from our Boston trip.
