Red Sox road trip

BOSTON — Ken Nigro's phone kept ringing, and fans filled his voice mail, when the Boston Red Sox announced they were organizing a trip to a three-game series in Baltimore.

Nigro was in charge of setting up airfare, hotel rooms and game tickets. And 60 lucky callers would get to see the World Series champions play the AL East leaders at beautiful Camden Yards in July.

Not a bad deal for fans who don't want to shell out exorbitant prices for scarce tickets at the team's home, Fenway Park.

"You know how many calls I got? Not 200, not 500. I got about 1,000," said Nigro, a Red Sox consultant who also runs the team's fan cruises and fantasy camp. "The Red Sox fans take over the city because they can't get tickets here."

Baltimore's not their only destination.

Red Sox roadies also are flocking to Toronto, Tampa Bay and New York. Many traveled this month to St. Louis, the team the Red Sox beat in the World Series, and Chicago for Boston's first regular-season games ever against the Cubs.

For some, the attraction is seeing a ballpark for the first time and touring a different city. For many, it's a matter of supply and demand. Tickets to Fenway Park, the smallest stadium in the majors (with 35,095 seats) are hard to get — and those that are available, on the Web or the street, are very costly.

Every home game has been sold out starting with Pedro Martinez's 12-3 win over Texas on May 15, 2003. The Fenway box office still has tickets available for 11 games this season, but those are either single seats or in seats behind the park's notorious girders that obstruct views of play.

The face value for Fenway tickets ranges from $12 for the bleachers to $85 for field boxes — but scalpers hawk them for much more on the streets outside the park.

Of course, you can check ticket agencies' Web sites. One lists more than 700 tickets available for Boston's home game against Toronto on July 1. Prices range from $70 to $575.

Alex Allberry, 20, saw the Red Sox play the Blue Jays for only $40, and she had a good seat in the second deck behind home plate — in Toronto's Rogers Centre on May 25, just 545 miles from Fenway.

"At Fenway Park, for what we paid for these seats we'd be way out in the outfield," said Allberry. "I've been a Red Sox fan since like 5 years old. I don't mind driving."