Roush Fenway marriage comes full circle at ballpark (cont'd)

"We sold every sign we could sell in this building," Henry said of Fenway. "We sold every amount of television advertising. We sold all our inventory there. This is just a way for Fenway Sports Group to take a national platform. Because baseball, despite the fact that the Red Sox Nation is national and even international, baseball essentially takes every dollar that we generate out of our territory. We get three percent of that. So this is a way for us in Fenway Sports Group to move into a national platform and generate more revenues."

Shortly after making that statement, it was time for Edwards and Roush, who was almost unrecognizable in a Red Sox uniform jersey and ballcap instead of his trademark straw hat, to take the mound along with Bahre.

Roush went first and threw wide right, but at least one of the Red Sox players was able to make a quick move to catch the ball. Edwards went last. True to his promise, he fired a fastball as hard as he could. No one was prepared for this kind of smoke.

The ball flew past everyone, all the way to the backstop behind home plate.

"It took the pitcher from the other ballpark next door to catch my ball, but it was OK," Roush said. "I hadn't thrown the ball for 40 years. I should have practiced, but I didn't. At least Carl brought some heat."

To close out the pre-game ceremonies celebrating the unprecedented baseball-racing merger, a pair of doors in Fenway's outfield wall parted and out drove the No. 99 car of Edwards, which had been unveiled publicly a day earlier and bore the proud logo of the Red Sox (along with local New England company Lumber Liquidators). An old Beatles song blared from the public address system ...

"Baby you can drive my car.
Yes, I'm gonna be a star."

Edwards' decorated machine circled the field slowly, as tens of thousands of baseball fans gawked, eventually coming to rest under the famed Green Monster, the massive left-field wall over which a giant Roush Fenway Racing banner had been draped.

Combined with the general overlaying magic of Fenway itself, the surreal scene was enough to make one believe that each side involved with this unique business merger may just emerge as a star more brilliant than perhaps anyone could have imagined when the deal first went down.