Boston Red Sox cult hero Joe Kelly is returning from his six-game suspension Wednesday afternoon, and it has been an interesting few days for the reliever.
Kelly took in every Sox game during the suspension, whether it was from a private box or different vantage points throughout Fenway, like he did Sunday.
And at one point, he even hung out with a couple famous NFL wide receivers.
The righty detailed the time he spent at a game with current New England Patriots wideout Julian Edelman and ex-Pats receiver Danny Amendola to WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford on “The Bradfo Show.”
“I had met Julian before and I met Amendola in St. Louis,” Kelly said. “They knew I was staying in the suites, so they were like hey, go get Joe and tell him to come over and hang out with us. So one of the suite executives came over and was like ‘Hey, Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola want to hang out with you.’ I was like ‘All right, tell them I’ll come over in the fourth.’ I went over there and it was cool. We ended up talking more sports.
“Julian is very into the mental aspects of the game and so am I — I was a psychology major — so it was cool to kind of pick his brain and we talked for, I don’t know, the fifth inning all the way to the end of the game about sports psychology, so that was interesting to see. That guy works his butt off. So it was kind of good to pick his brain and see what makes him tick. That was fun. The suspension has been long, but I’ve been able to meet some pretty awesome people and hear some good stories.”
Not a bad way to spend a few innings.
Of course, Kelly warmed the hearts of Sox fans by plunking New York Yankees hitter Tyler Austin on April 11, which incited a wild brawl at Fenway and resulted in the suspension.
But even though he had a few cool experiences during his time off the field, Kelly sounded quite ready to return to the field.
