Wednesday, July 28, 2004

A dream fulfilled

By Chris Keaney

I have been reading with great interest these many wonderful stories about Casey and the impact she had on so many of your lives. There is a constant thread, however, that runs through each of these recollections, a concern that Casey had so much to offer and that she never really had a chance to fulfill one of her dreams.

I want to dispel that notion by recalling for you a very special day in Casey’s life.Casey is my niece. She is also my godchild.  Last summer, my daughter  Sarah,  who is Director of Fan Services  for the Red Sox, had arranged for Casey to meet and have her picture taken with Lou Merloni. Two years ago Casey had written an article about Sarah which had been published in the Providence College Alumni Magazine.

Casey and Sarah are about the same age and shared both a friendship and a passion for sports.In late April the Yankees were coming to Boston and  I asked Casey if she would like to attend one of these games. Without hesitating, she said," I’d love to go."I called Sarah and asked her to make the arrangements for us   to attend, and on Saturday, April 17, I  picked her up at her home in Holyoke and we made our way to Fenway Park.

Casey could not move very easily and so Sarah had made arrangements for us to park in the players lot. Sarah then took us to the new right field seats where Casey camped herself under the new Budweiser sign and watched her  Red Sox take their batting practice. I think that she would have been perfectly happy to remain in these seats, but in her condition she could not remain in a crowd and so, as game time approached, Sarah escorted us to our seats for the game.

I had no idea where we were going to sit but we soon found ourselves approaching a door which read "Red Sox - Executive Press Box."  I looked at Casey as she walked through that door and I know that she stood up taller. She looked out of the box in one direction and identified the faces of reporters from the Globe, the Herald, and a number of journalists that she knew by name.

Immediately to her right she could see Jerry Remy and Don Orsillo getting ready to broadcast the game. After seating herself in the front row of the box an attendant came in and opened the window in the front of her and immediately, the box was flooded with the sights and sounds of Fenway Park.

The Green Monster loomed to her left and in the right field grandstand she could identify the seat where Ted Williams had hit his legendary home run. There it was – Casey’s own field of dreams.

Within minutes, however, Casey was on her cell phone. She wasn’t about to let this moment pass without advising whoever she could contact that she was sitting in the Executive Press Box.

"Turn on the game", she shouted. "Look up at the Press Box. I’ll wave to you."Shortly after the end of the first inning the door to the Press Box opened and in walked Larry Lucchino, the President and CEO of the Red Sox.

"Hi Casey, I heard you were coming to the game. It’s great to see you" He immediately followed up his greeting with a question. "Where’s your Press Kit?"Casey smiled at Lucchino and said, "That’s OK, I’m not doing much writing these days". 

Lucchino responded, "Hey Casey — you’re a reporter." He picked up the phone and within minutes Casey had a complete Press kit delivered to her seat, and for the next three innings he remained by her side and debated with her about how the game should be scored.

For that hour the President of the Sox took no phone calls and diverted any attempts to take him from his seat. Here she was sitting in a Press Box, talking with the guy who had built Camden Yards and who now ran one of the most storied franchises in the history of Major League sports.

You would think that this would have been enough, but there’s more. She went on to consume not one, but two Fenway hot dogs. She followed up with two sodas, and an ice cream. In fact, she probably consumed more food that day than she had eaten in the past month.When the game had ended, (The Red Sox won of course), we waited for the crowd to clear and then made our way to the players parking lot.

When we arrived, several of the team members  were getting ready to leave. The attendants were bringing up a Hummer, A Lexus and a Caddy convertible. Out strode Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez and David Ortiz. The fans behind the fence were screaming at each of them and the trio was responding to these fans who were waiting to greet them as they left the park.

At this moment the attendant drove up with my little Honda and the crowd fell silent as they watched Casey performed the arduous task of climbing into the front seat. They recognized that with her mask and physical appearance she had to be battling Cancer. They gave each of the ballplayers a hearty round of cheers as they drove by, but their loudest ovation was saved for the girl who had just covered her first game as a major league reporter.

I’m grateful for having been a part of Casey’s day. I’m grateful to my daughter who made it happen. I will never forget the kindness shown to Casey by Larry Lucchino and every member of the Red Sox organization who were so kind to her on that Saturday.  But I also want each of you, who knew and loved Casey for your own special reasons, to know that for that one brilliant afternoon, she was truly happy.


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