If you were paying attention last November, you know that the Red Sox are playing in the Hall of Fame game this year, on May 23rd versus Detroit.

Tickets go on sale today, Februaury 19th.

So I went to the Hall of Fame's website this week, only to find out that tickets are being sold in three ways. Starting today, you can go to the Hall, line up at 9:00, and buy tickets at 11:00 AM (limited number of tix on sale at this time), and get into the museum for free. Then, next week, tickets become available to "Friends" of the Hall of Fame, i.e. people who have a membership. Then, on March 1st, ANY remaining tickets go on sale to the general public.

So I had a decision to make. At first, I said, "I guess I'm going to Cooperstown on Saturday." I'd have to go up the night before and get a hotel, or wake up at about 5 AM to make sure I got there in time to get on line. So hotel it was. The cheapest hotel room in the area would run me about 65 bucks, and a tank of gas is about 30. So, naturally, my next thought was, "How much does a membership cost?"

Turns out it's only 40 bucks. So I decided to get a membership, knowing that since only a limited number of tickets go on sale today, I'm guaranteed to get a ticket, provided I call right at nine o'clock on Monday (and get through).

So I called up the Hall yesterday and they guaranteed me that I'd have my membership number by the end of the day, and that I can use it to get in on the Members Only sale next week.

By the way, tickets to this game cost 11 bucks. A chance to buy 11 dollar tickets to a Sox game--I'd pay a thousand bucks for that! Heh heh. But I only had to pay forty, and I get a bunch of other stuff for becoming a member, including getting into the museum free for a year ("That job sounds like it might be worth a year's free haircuts"--Newman), and a shiny card with the dugout wizard* on it, and I didn't even have to leave the proverbial comfort of my own home.

Yes, it's an exhibition game, but it's a Sox game, three hours from my house, in a weird, small park, during the season. It will rule. I get the feeling the players will be a little more accesible at an event like this. Alright, so I'm picturing me and Ortiz hangin' out at a diner after the game, talkin' smack about A-Rod. A guy can proverbially dream.

So if you want to go to this, well, you've missed your chance to go up there, since it's already Saturday afternoon. But you can use my 40 dollar method. Call them on Monday, get your membership, they e-mail you your number by the end of the day, and then call back or go on line and use that number to get your tix.

Maybe I'm doing too much here. Maybe no one cares and I could've just got front row seats on March 1st. But I'm guessing that since seeing the Sox is so hard, and the place is close to New England, and the HoF site says camping out the night before the tix go on sale (last night) is NOT allowed, I probably do have to do it this way to get a shot at going to that game. Plus, we Sox fans will want to go there to see all the World Series memoribilia anyway, so....

Click here for all the info.

And no, I didn't get into the yankee ticket lottery, which is why I'm writing this instead of hanging out in the virtual waiting room.


*The "Dugout Wizard" was Tommy Lasorda's character on "The Baseball Bunch."