I’m fortunate to have friends who have great jobs.  One of my friends is a baseball writer for a major  internet news outlet.  Last month his job took him to the World Series, which led him to Fenway Park for the first time and forever made me a jealous man.

Well, being the good friend that he is, he managed to get some World Series items for me, and they are not the type that most people would get.  I’m not talking caps, jerseys, pennants or shirts.  I’m talking media stuff.  Which is cool because I used to work in the media and love the Red Sox.

Check this stuff out:

Here is a standard 2013 Boston Red Sox Media guide.  These were the same ones that were handed out and mailed to media members during the season. Tons of Red Sox information in this thing.

Here’s the 2013 World Series Program.  Standard edition, sold at the venues in Boston and St. Louis.

Some random Game Notes and Post Game notes from Games 1, 3,4 and 6. These are photocopied sheets of paper with information that is typically handed out to media in the press box so that the writers can use them to craft their stories. The real gems here are the Game 6 notes — those are from the game-winner in Boston.  There are pre-game notes and some post-game notes.

Here’s a 2013 World Series Media Guide with supplemental info for the Red Sox and Cardinals.

A 2013 Roberto Clemente Award Ceremony pin — exclusive to the on-field presentation.

There’s only one item left. You’d probably expect that he snagged me a nifty Press Pin, but he didn’t.  He got one in Boston and one in St. Louis.  He said he’d give them to me if they weren’t “worth” too much.  I know there is a big market for press pins and when i did a quick eBay search (this year’s ones sell for $150 each) I handed them back to him, telling him I could not accept them.

So what is the last item?

It’s game-used grass.  From Fenway park. From the World Series clinching game. From behind the pitcher’s mound.

This item surprised the crap out of me, and honestly, is one of the coolest things I own.  When I was a boy watching Roger Clemens (my favorite player) pitch, I learned that Clemens would scoop up a handful of dirt after momentous occasions on the field. And in 1997 I mimicked this act when my high school football team won our regional championship, only I grabbed grass and not dirt.

My friend was not aware of this.  I asked him today what prompted him to grab a small patch of grass.

His response: “I was on that prowl for Ben souvenirs. Noticed that was a way I could grab a piece of history.”

Freakin awesome!  Now I have to find a way to store this.

This entry was posted on December 4, 2013 at 1:33 pm and is filed under Newspaperman with tags baseball, baseball cards, Boston Red Sox, game-used, Media, Press, World Series. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.