Lou Merloni stepped up to home plate at Fenway Park and wagged his bat forward before coiling into his stance.
The ball sailed in from the mound, the radio personality took a swing, shooting a liner down the left field line toward the Green Monster, a wall he remembers conquering as a 27 year old rookie, 20 years ago to the month, as a member of the Red Sox. It had been something out of a childhood dream – a home run in his first major league at-bat. The rookie from Framingham helped his hometown team secure a 5-2 win in Boston that day. The three run shot would kick off a 10-year professional career.
Merloni was decked out in white and red again on Sunday, taking his cuts beneath the batting practice netting, and preparing to participate in the Red Sox Alumni game. It was the first old timer exhibition for the franchise in almost 25 years.
"It was great seeing everybody," reflected Merloni on Ordway, Merloni and Fauria Tuesday. "Nobody wanted to play but we got through it. It was good enough."
Also present at the alumni batting practice was Merloni's son Mason. It was there where Merloni introduced his son to Wade Boggs, a Red Sox alum who had also worn the number '26,' a number he had told Mason was retired.
"See this guy right here hitting?" Merloni asked his son. "That's Wade Boggs. See what number he is? 26."
"Is he the guy that stole your number?"
"Yeah, he's the guy that's up there," Merloni said, motioning to the retired numbers in right field. "He's a good player."
Merloni was able to reach base during the game, but not quite as he had wanted to.
"[It was a] fielder's choice. Boggsy screwed me," he said. "I didn't know that they filmed this thing and they replayed it, because I was going to come tell you I lined out twice to left."
