On the third floor of the Red Sox offices, Helen Robinson worked the switchboard, as she has done during every Fenway game since 1941. A crowd of 28,454 filed into old Fenway to see the last-place Red Sox and the surging Angels. Poststrike attendance has not been much of an issue in Boston. The first year after the strike, the Sox averaged 30,061 fans, better than they had done in 1994. In '96, attendance went up by another 150,000.
Fenway fans arrive early, and most stay for the entire game.
They line the rails for autographs during batting practice, and some wait near the players' gate when the Sox drive in and out of the ballpark lot. On the final Sunday in July, the stands were still almost full when the Red Sox came up, trailing, 5-3, in the bottom of the ninth. The blind faith was rewarded when six consecutive batters reached base. This is Boston. This is Fenway.