Antiquated Red Sox garb II

Next on my list of outdated Red Sox shirts I still wear is a two-for-one: Pedro Martinez.

I own a red player jersey replica T-shirt and a cartoonish one of Pedro superimposed over Massachusetts. I bought the latter in Boston when tickets weren't yet impossible to get. Christine was immediately embarrassed at the prospect that her then-boyfriend would spend the next decade and more walking around with a guy's face on his chest. {It was embarrassing then and still embarrassing now.}

Whatever.

Actually, now that I think about it, I might have bought this on the trip to Fenway when we scalped tickets. We had tickets, but there was a rainout. There was a day game the day we were planning to leave Boston, but the rain checks weren't good for this game. We wound up paying about $40 and the two rain checks for seats to that day game. Pedro was pitching. I remember it was late in his first season against Texas. Playoff atmosphere. He was dominant. One of my favorite in-person games ever. {I remember that it took forever to find a scalper. Quite unlike Philadelphia.}

Christine, though, complained about the cramped seats and the fact we were facing the Green Monster. I didn't mind, even though some fat lady kept sitting on my jersey, pinning me to my seat whenever she sat down. {In my defense, I have long legs. I felt like my knees were hitting my chin for the whole game. I am thin. I am the proper width to fit in those seats. However, the other spectators weren't as slender. Which was made worse by the fact that it was a hot, humid day and there was way too much skin-on-skin contact with sweaty strangers. In addition, it was an effort to watch anything happening in the infield because of the wonderful location of our seats.}

Pedro's an all-time great, and I have no ill well that he left. His time was up, and as he replaced the Roider, Josh Beckett has replaced him. If Pedro weren't in the Phils' division, I'd wish him well. But he is, so I wish him a string of third-place finishes.

Addendum: I had a dream the other night that Pedro was on the Phillies. I think it was some strange precursor of the Johan trade. Don't ask, I can't explain my dreams.