Red Sox third base coach Brian Butterfield awakens at 5 a.m. for day games at Fenway Park and heads for the ballpark.

“The Starbucks doesn’t open until 5:30 a.m., so I’ve kind of got to wait,’’ he said.

Veteran second baseman Dustin Pedroia is usually the first player to arrive. He can’t wait to play.

Before fans arrive, Fenway is like an emerald green palace.

Peter Gammons, who began covering the Red Sox in 1969, calls an empty ballpark on game day “my favorite time. I learned so much about how ballplayers think and just the tempo of preparation.’’

Butterfield agrees.

“It is spiritual,’’ he said.

Early-bird visitors get to see the game unplugged, without 38,000 screaming fans.

The rhythmic sound of bat hitting ball echoes around the ballpark. Children of the players get to spend some time with their dads.

“It means a lot to me,’’ Hanley Ramirez said after taking grounders, then soft-tossing them to his 8-year-old son Hansel at first base. “We’re on the road so much, I try to spend as much time with him as possible, and he loves it.’’

Koji Uehara’s son Kaz, 10, stretches with the pitchers, then throws in the outfield.

David Ortiz’s son, D’Angelo, 12, take his cuts in the batting cage.

Does Big Papi think his son will miss playing on Fenway’s lawn?

“I’m building him a batting cage at home,’’ David Ortiz said. “It will be the same except I won’t be around all the guys like I used to. I think he’s had enough of that.’’

Unusual things happen at Fenway Park long before the games begin.

One day, Steven Smith, the captain of the Australian national cricket team, shot a commercial with Pedroia for a sporting goods company. The producers wanted the stars of their respective sports to swap roles.

Smith eagerly took batting practice and aimed for the Green Monster but couldn’t quite reach it.

As Pedroia entered the cage, Ortiz suddenly appeared to watch from the grandstands. Who wouldn’t want to see Pedroia and his self-proclaimed “Laser Show’’ hit one onto Lansdowne Street with a cricket bat?

Pedroia is tempted, running his hand across the paddle, but he politely declined.

“I’ve had too many hand surgeries,’’ he said.

On another day, Celtics mascot Lucky practiced backflips on the dugout roof in front of Wally, the gravity-challenged Red Sox mascot.

Occasionally things get serious.

When Toronto was in town, Blue Jays pitcher R.A. Dickey and Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel spoke passionately to a group of Christian teenagers who were let into the park early.

Dickey talked about how he had been sexually abused as a child, which he revealed in his 2012 book, “Wherever I Wind Up.’’

Kimbrel said he gets more out of his spirituality than he does from saving a baseball game.

Sometimes there are surprises.

Red Sox ace David Price likes to play second base, as if he’s trying out for a job. Right fielder Mookie Betts likes to take infield practice at third base.

“I messed up some balls coming in early in the season,’’ said Betts, “so now I practice to get my hands right.’’

Clay Buchholz, who has had an up-and-down season, smiled in the dugout before throwing in the bullpen on a steamy afternoon.

“Just living the dream,’’ he said.

Red Sox hitting coach Chili Davis spends hours each day working with the players in the batting cage.

“That’s the beauty of this club,’’ Davis said. “Everyone works. They work hard. They focus. They look at their videos. We make sure they do. “

At the end of batting practice, Ortiz, emerged from the dugout. He’s in the last Red Sox hitting group before the visitors get the field.

No matter the opponent, players come over to embrace him.

Ortiz gave Angels slugger Albert Pujols a bear hug.

“Yeah, we go way back,’’ said Ortiz, who paraded Pujols around by the back of the neck. “I’m squeezing him. We’re brothers and that’s what brothers do.’’

Minutes later, the fans pour in. It’s still 90 minutes until game time.

One show is over but another is about to begin.

Stan Grossfeld can be reached at grossfeld@globe.com.