By Nick Hansen
BU News Service

The area around Fenway Park was short on tickets, but long on hope and pride on Tuesday, just a day before the first World Series Game 6 this city has seen in nearly 40 years and the first chance the Sox have had to win the series at home since 1967. Fans wandered around the 101-year-old stadium looking for a piece of the World Series magic, either with a ticket or a new hat.

Mark Martinez adjusted his Red Sox coat near the Ted Williams statue on Van Ness street after buying a bag full of Red Sox gear “for the kids” from the team store. Even though he did not have tickets to the game yet, he was happy about how far the team had come. “When you go from last to first, it means something,” said Martinez, regarding the team’s improvement. He won’t be giving up his search for tickets though. “I’ll pay whatever it takes, within reason,” he added.

What exactly constitutes “within reason” may be debatable. The least-expensive ticket on StubHub, an online ticket exchange, was $936 for a standing room only ticket on the first base side. That might be fans’ only option, though, because no tickets are being sold at the box office.

Still, fans have come from as far away as Venezuela to try and get into the game. Hugo, a Red Sox fan from Caracas, was waiting outside the park with his father on Lansdowne Street trying to get tickets.

Inside the team store on Yawkey Way, patrons perused the Red Sox hats, shirts, and jerseys. Team store manager Brain Maurer was happy for the team, the business, and the city in general. “We kept saying let’s hope for 10 more wins. They’ve exceeded our expectations,” he said. The store has benefitted from the team’s playoff run and the extra business it brought to the store. Maurer said that the most popular items were anything that was game-worn and any gear with both Red Sox and Cardinals logos on it.

Robert Prince, a transportation consultant, was very happy with how the team was doing and was excited for a potential Red Sox World Series win. “It would be a major psychological boon for the city,” said Prince, while looking at some Red Sox hats. Prince, who said he was the cousin of former Red Sox slugger Mo Vaughn, was going to be in Washington D.C. tomorrow for work. “It’s probably the safest place for me and my heart,” he said with a smile.

The Brookline Senior Center, a few miles away from Fenway, was also abuzz. Claire Weston, a Brookline resident was confident that the Sox would take home the title. She said she was “very tired” from staying up late to watch the games. Another person in the lobby asked if anyone remembered Bill Buckner, who infamously made an error that cost the Red Sox the World Series in 1986.

Weston did not respond to the question.

“They’re gonna win, you know,” she said confidently.