Warwick Beacon – August 26, 2010
When the ball sailed high over the Green Monster, Ashley Matteson and her family didn’t give it another thought. They cheered and clapped and yelled, just like the rest of the Red Sox fans at Fenway Park last Tuesday night.
Then came the first phone call.
By the time the night was over, that home run ball had made the Matteson family upset, nervous, worried, stressed, excited and even a little bit famous.
Boston’s Darnell McDonald hit the home run in the third inning off the Angels’ Jered Weaver. After it cleared the Monster, it rocketed straight through the rear windshield of a Toyota Camry parked across the street – the Mattesons’ car.
The family lives in Warwick and they like to make the drive up for a game at Fenway every year. This time, parents Rick and Laurie took daughter Ashley and one of her friends. They parked on Lansdowne Street right across from the Green Monster.
“We’ve gone up a couple of times and we’ve always parked in other places,” said Lorie, who drives the car on a daily basis. “We passed this lot, and it costs the same for all of them, so we just went in. We didn’t even think about it.”
Their car – backed into a perfectly average parking spot – ended up in the line of fire.
Rick, a retired Warwick firefighter, answered that first phone call. It was an old firefighting buddy, telling Rick his car got hit by the home run ball.
For a minute, the Mattesons brushed it off.
“All those guys do is bust each other up,” Lorie said. “That’s what we thought they were doing.”
Two minutes later, another friend called. Same story. The Mattesons called their neighbors. They’d been watching the game and they confirmed it.
The NESN broadcast showed replays. The ball smashed into the lower left corner of the rear windshield, leaving a sizeable hole. The rest of the windshield was still in place but it was shattered.
The Mattesons couldn’t believe it.
“I was pretty excited because I was hoping we would get the ball,” said Ashley, a junior at Rhode Island College. “My mom and dad – they were not excited.”
It was a shocker, to be sure.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Lorie said. “You go to a game and it costs so much and you really don’t expect something like that to happen.”
Thoughts immediately turned to the practical concerns. Could they drive the car home? How would Lorie get to work in the morning if the windshield had to be replaced? Would insurance pay for it?
“I didn’t really enjoy the rest of the game,” Lorie said.
Later in the game, the Mattesons got to see the blast with their own eyes. When McDonald came to the plate again, the JumboTron at Fenway flashed the replay.
“It was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s really our car,’” Ashley said.
The Red Sox ended up winning the game 6-0. When the Mattesons filed out and got to their car, it was surrounded by people. Some were peering through the windows, trying to see the ball. Others were taking pictures next to the broken windshield.
It was an uncomfortable situation – probably the worst part of the night – but the crowd thinned out soon enough.
And the Mattesons got the ball. Ashley found it on the floor.
Rick used a pair of work gloves to take the broken glass out of the frame. They borrowed a trashcan from the parking lot attendant and loaded it up. Luckily, Lorie had brought beach towels because of the threat of rain. Ashley and her friend sat on those, avoiding the glass that was still on the back seat.
The drive home was nerve-wracking. The Mattesons took it slow, hoping they wouldn’t get pulled over. The cops might not have believed the story.
Eventually, they got home. Insurance covered the replacement windshield.
“At the time, it was not a good night,” Lorie said. “But looking back on it now, it’s a pretty funny story.”
They’ll be telling it for a while. The video has been on local news, NESN and even ESPN. Everybody’s seen it – the Camry with Rhode Island plates and an Andy Gauthier bumper sticker.
It was the Mattesons, big Red Sox fans who got more than they bargained for on a trip to Fenway.
In the week since, Ashley has gotten in touch with the Red Sox, hoping to get the ball signed. They told her to mail the ball, but she’d rather not. She’d like to go back to Boston and get the ball signed in person. She doesn’t care if she gets to see a game.
The Mattesons are planning to make a few more phone calls; see if they can make it happen.
If they can, they’ll make a return trip to Fenway.
This time, they’ll find a different place to park.
William Geoghegan is the sports editor at the Warwick Beacon. He can be reached at 732-3100 and williamg@warwickonline.com.