| Boston has its share of historic taverns, Irish pubs, | | | | burger, fish and chips, or some of the other typical |
| and popular sports bars...but McGreevy's 3rd Base | | | | fare that you'll find in Irish pubs throughout the city. |
| Saloon, a popular Boston bar near Fenway Park, | | | | Even better, you can watch a game or two on the |
| manages to fit into all three categories at once. | | | | flat screen TVs scattered liberally throughout the |
| How? | | | | place. Best of all, you'll find much of the same sports |
| To answer that question, we need to look back to | | | | memorabilia, plus much more including artifacts from |
| more than a hundred years ago when baseball fanatic | | | | the Fitzgerald and Kennedy families, covering the |
| Michael "Nuf Ced" McGreevy decided to open a | | | | walls. Listen to the conversations among the fans |
| saloon in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood in 1894. | | | | gathered around the bar, and aside from the names |
| Soon, his saloon became a popular watering hole | | | | of the players, they're probably about the same as |
| where like-minded fans, politicians, and ball players | | | | they were 100 years ago. |
| could gather for drink and sports talk. Nuf decorated | | | | How did this happen? |
| his place by putting pictures of the local team and | | | | Prohibition would have been the end of the story for |
| other memorabilia on the walls and crafting light | | | | McGreevy's - except for a local Boston celtic punk |
| fixtures from old bats - America's first sports | | | | band, the Dropkick Murphys. As big Sox fans, they |
| museum! | | | | resurrected "Tessie" in 2004, added some lyrics of |
| Nuf and a group of the regulars, including Boston | | | | their own, and declared that they were going to |
| Mayor John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald (grandfather of | | | | revive the spirit of the Rooters and sing the Sox to |
| Senator Edward Kennedy and President John F. | | | | victory. They sang "Tessie" a lot, and later that year, |
| Kennedy), formed the first fan club for the Red Sox. | | | | the Red Sox won. "Tessie" became one of the Red |
| The "Royal Rooters," as they called themselves, | | | | Sox theme songs - again. |
| cheered the Red Sox - then called the "Boston | | | | But that still doesn't explain the new McGreevy's. In |
| Americans" - to their first World Series victory in | | | | 2008, Dropkick's founder Ken Casey and fellow Red |
| 1903 by singing a Broadway song, "Tessie" again and | | | | Sox fanatic / baseball historian Peter Nash reopened |
| again. Thus, the Red Sox Nation was born. | | | | an exact replica of McGreevys 3rd Base Saloon as an |
| Prohibition shut down McGreevy's and every other | | | | Irish pub / sports bar. The current Mayor of Boston, |
| bar in the United States in 1920. By then, although of | | | | Tom Menino, has been known to drop in, as have |
| course they didn't realize it at the time, the Red Sox | | | | Jonathan Papelbon and other Red Sox players. |
| were already 2 years into their 86-year World Series | | | | McGreevy's is a cool place to stop by for a beer and |
| losing streak. | | | | a bite to eat, perhaps before or after a game, or |
| But now, McGreevy's 3rd Base Saloon is back in | | | | maybe just to watch one on the flat screens. It's still |
| action, although in a different location in Boston's | | | | too new to be on the Boston tourist path, so it's |
| Back Bay neighborhood, just a few blocks (or 1,200 | | | | really just a local place that combines beer, baseball, |
| steps, as the bar likes to say) from Fenway Park. | | | | and a shared passion for the Red Sox - just like the |
| You can stop in, have a couple of beers, order a | | | | first version. |