Scots discover America's National Pastime
One Night the Tartan Army Took Over Boston's Fenway Park
Friends,
To begin, a quick note. The name I’d originally given this weekly Substack newsletter felt a bit lame, so I’ve changed it to... well, my own name. I’ve even got a domain now: www.shaunvlog.com. I don’t love it, and I don’t hate it. But it’s something. Self-branding is hard.
I want to reflect on a crazy night among the long list of crazy nights I’ve experienced in America since the World Cup began in June.
It was June 14th, and I was staying near Foxborough, Massachusetts, the day after Scotland’s opening World Cup match against Haiti. I happened to catch a news report saying the Boston Red Sox were playing the Texas Rangers that evening at Fenway Park, and that the Tartan Army would be there in force.
That was enough for me.
I posted on X saying I’d love to go, and within minutes someone very kindly offered me their season tickets as they were out of town. Not only that, I also received a message from a guy called Kevin, a lifelong Red Sox fan who wanted to show my wife and I the best of Fenway.
Like most of the Scots heading to the game, I had absolutely no idea what was going on in baseball, so I gladly accepted. We met in Boston before heading to the ballpark together.
Kevin was joined by his mother, Marianne, another devoted Red Sox supporter. Before entering the famous stadium, we walked all the way around Fenway Park, stopping at some of its legendary bars and landmarks. We also grabbed a hot dog from The Sausage Guy, which Kevin assured me was an essential Fenway tradition.
He was right. The hot dog was a good call.
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We made our way into Fenway and up to our seats. Kevin and Marianne immediately pointed out the famous Green Monster - the towering 37-foot left-field wall that has become one of the most recognisable features in all of American sport.
And in what is apparently an incredibly rare event, the Rangers batsman smashed the very first pitch clean over the Green Monster and into the streets of Boston for a home run.
Looking around, though, something else stood out even more. Fenway wasn’t just full. It was full of Scots.
This Red Sox game fell perfectly between Scotland’s first two World Cup matches, so many of the estimated 30,000 Scotland supporters in Boston were looking for something to do. America’s national pastime turned out to be the perfect answer.
It’s estimated that around 10,000 members of the Tartan Army packed into Fenway that night. I even heard it was one of the biggest crowds of the Red Sox season so far.
The club embraced it completely.
They organised a bagpipe parade to the stadium, produced a special Scottish-themed Red Sox jersey, and even dressed their famous mascot, Wally the Green Monster, in a kilt.
It was impossible not to smile.
Many of you won’t need an introduction to either the Red Sox or Fenway Park. But if, like me, you knew very little beforehand, it’s difficult to overstate their place in American sporting culture.
Fenway Park opened in 1912, making it the oldest stadium in Major League Baseball still in use today. Despite countless modern stadiums being built across America, Fenway has remained remarkably unchanged, giving it a character unlike anywhere else.
The Red Sox themselves are one of baseball’s most historic franchises, synonymous with Boston and beloved throughout New England. The club’s history is packed with iconic players, heartbreaking defeats, and unforgettable triumphs, making it one of the biggest brands in American sport.
Many of the Scottish fans had taken over the famous cheap seats beyond the outfield, known as the bleachers.
For one night, they truly became the Bleacher Creatures. And wow, did they make themselves heard.
There was singing, dancing and chanting from first pitch until the final out. Every time something happened on the field that they barely understood - much like me - the noise somehow got even louder. Scottish football songs echoed around one of America’s most historic sporting venues.
Hearing the name of Scotland midfielder John McGinn repeatedly ringing around Fenway Park was one of those wonderfully surreal moments you simply couldn’t invent. I’m sure plenty of the locals had absolutely no idea who he was.
But they certainly knew his name by the end of the night.
As for the baseball itself? It was brilliant fun.
The Red Sox, unfortunately, weren’t. They lost to the Rangers in what Kevin assured me had become something of a familiar story this season.
Thankfully, Kevin and Marianne spent the evening patiently explaining everything - from balls and strikes to innings, home runs and double plays. I still wouldn’t claim to understand baseball completely, but I understood a lot more by the time the final out was recorded.
Kevin is also the founder of Fanalyticshq.com, a sports content and analytics platform that will soon launch as an app. As he described it, it’s “a first-of-its-kind sports enablement platform that lets users connect, create and build.”
Alongside explaining the game, Kevin and Marianne shared story after story about Red Sox history, the club’s famous successes and failures, and what the team means not just to Boston, but to New England as a whole.
In fact, they live in New Hampshire and regularly make the hour-long drive into Boston simply to watch the Sox.
Towards the end of the game we made our way down into the bleachers to join the most raucous Scotland fans.
Kevin remarked that it might be the best atmosphere he’d ever experienced at Fenway.
One particular highlight was thousands of Scots belting out “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” by the Dropkick Murphys. Another was when Scotland fans launched a ‘Wave’ - which lapped Fenway Park at least a dozen times. It briefly paused, prompting boos from the Scotland fans, and then restarted. The whole thing was good-natured, and hilarious.
And then there was the constant chant of ‘No Scotland, No Party’ - enthusiastically sung by not only Scots, but our gracious hosts.
After the game, supporters took almost an hour to leave, gathering beneath the stands and filling the concourses with song long after the final pitch had been thrown.
At that point in the tournament, Boston was only just beginning to realize something special was happening in their city.
This evening, though, felt like the moment the relationship between Boston and Scotland truly came to life.
Just days later, Boston and Glasgow formalized a friendship agreement between the two cities - a fitting reflection of the warmth that had developed throughout the tournament.
The whole evening was surreal, unforgettable and thoroughly enjoyable.
The Red Sox supporters welcomed the Tartan Army with open arms, and the Tartan Army repaid them by turning Fenway into one of the loudest, happiest places in America for a night.
A huge thank you to Kevin and Marianne for their kindness, hospitality and brilliant whistle-stop introduction to Fenway Park and the game of baseball.
I’ll definitely be back.
Shaun
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I think Scotland 🏴 left luck inside Fenway Park because the Red Sox just had a record 15 game winning streak!
Great post, Shaun! Welcome to Substack from @WatcherDamned