While Cincy’s Great American Ballpark tempts fans with a new item dubbed “The Meat Lovers Hot Dog” (as opposed to, y’know, the meat-haters’ hot dog, which might make sense if you were consuming something so sickening you’d never try it again), venerable Fenway Park plans to refresh Red Sox fans in a far more traditional manner as the Boston Globe’s Michael Rezendes reports;
Representatives of the Red Sox told the Boston Licensing Board last week that the team wants the right to sell mixed drinks, in addition to beer, “at a limited number of stations’’ throughout the 37,000-seat stadium and on Yawkey Way. Currently, hard liquor is available mainly at refreshment stands serving fans with upper-level premium seats.
The proposal appeared to surprise Boston police and a representative of the mayor, prompting the three-member board to postpone a vote until after a second hearing, scheduled for next Wednesday.
“The police wanted an opportunity to be heard on the issue; and, also, some community members wanted a chance to speak,’’ board chairwoman Nicole Murati Ferrer said yesterday. In addition, Ferrer said, board members want to see a detailed plan from the Red Sox that describes how the team will monitor the serving of mixed alcoholic beverages.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino, underscoring longstanding concern about drinking and rowdy Red Sox fans, said yesterday that he believes the team should continue to restrict the consumption of mixed drinks.
“The mayor would not be inclined to support the proposal as written,’’ said Dot Joyce, the mayor’s spokeswoman. “He would be inclined to support something confining alcohol consumption to specific areas, but not allowing it through the entire stadium.’’
Joyce also said Menino does not want the Red Sox to increase the number of fans permitted to take mixed drinks to their seats.
Rezendes notes in passing, “In 2004, after the Red Sox victory over the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, police fired pepper-pellet guns in a crowd that had turned violent, killing 21-year-old Victoria Snelgrove, an Emerson College student”, however said incident didn’t occur within the confines of Fenway Park. Boston’s Game 7 victory occurred at Yankee Stadium ; perhaps the city would be better off thinking of ways to limit alcohol sales everywhere other than the ballpark?