Former Boston Ballparks - Fenway Park Renovation
Boston, Massachusetts
Groundbreaking: 1911
1st American League Game: April 20, 1912 (Bos 7, NY 6)
Surface: Natural Grass
Architect: Osborn Engineering (1912)
Construction: James McLaughlin (1912); Coleman Brothers Corp. (1934)
Cost: $650,000 (1912)
Owner: Boston Red Sox
Seating Capacity: 35,000 (1912), 34,824 (1953), 33,524 (1965), 33,513 (1977), 34,182 (1989), 34,218 (1993), 33,871 (2003)
Playing Field Dimensions:
LF foul line: 324 (1921), 320.5 (1926), 320 (1930), 318 (1931), 320 (1933), 312 (1934), 315 (1936) (figure revised to 310 in 1995)
Left-center: 379 (1934)
Center field: 488 (1922), 468 (1930), 388 (1934), 390 (1954)
Deepest corner: 550 (1922), 593 (1931), 420 (1934)
Right of right-center: 405 (1939), 382 (1940), 381 (1942), 380 (1943)
RF foul line: 313.5 (1921), 358.5 (1926), 325 (1931), 358 (1933), 334 (1934), 332 (1936), 322 (1938), 332 (1939), 304 (1940), 302 (1942)
Fences:
Left field: 37ft
Cener field: 17ft
Bullpens: 5ft
Right field: 3ft to 5ft.
Hosted World Series: 1912, 1915, 1916, 1918, 1946, 1967, 1975, 1986, 2004
Hosted All-Star Game: 1946, 1961, 1999
Boston Globe owner General Charles Henry Taylor, a Civil War veteran, bought the team for his son John. In 1907, owner Taylor changed the club's name from the Pilgrims to the Red Sox. In 1910, tired of the leasing arrangement for the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Taylor announced that he would build a ballpark for his Red Sox.
Fenway Park hosted its first professional baseball game on April 20, 1912. (The first official game played in Fenway actually occurred on April 9 when the Sox beat Harvard University, 2-0.) The Red Sox defeated the New York Highlanders - later known as the Yankees - before 27,000 fans,7-6 in 11 innings. The event would have made front page news hadit not been for the sinking of the Titanic only a few days before.
Even after the Sox made Fenway their home, they didn't always play their games there. Occasionally, the Red Sox scheduled their "big games" at Braves Field to accommodate larger crowds - like those that were over 42,000 strong for Games Three and Four of the 1915 World Series. Boston won that year too, beating the Philadelphia Phillies.
Fenway Park's peculiar dimensions were not intended to provide a tempting target for home run hitters, but to keep non-paying customers out of the park. In left field, there was a steep 10-foot embankment that ran in front of the wall where fans were allowed to sit. The Sox' Duffy Lewis was so skilled at playing balls hit to the ledge that it became known as Duffy's Cliff.
Fenway Park remained unchanged until a May 8, 1926 fire destroyed bleachers along the left field line. John Quinn, the owner at the time, simply carted the charred remains out of the park; because of a lack of funds, he didn't bother to rebuild the bleachers. Left fielders didn't complain - they were able catch foul balls for outs behind the stands.
Tom Yawkey, who bought the club in 1933, began a major overhaul of the park. The revitalization project, however, came to a screeching halt on January 5, 1934 when a second fire ravaged the building for five hours. Few areas of the ballpark were left undamaged. Construction crews worked diligently to reconstruct the ballpark in time for the season opener on April 17, 1934. And when Fenway Park did open that day, it had a new look.
Concrete bleachers replaced the wood bleachers in centerfield. Duffy's Cliff was leveled off - though not completely. And the 37-foot wooden left field wall was replaced by a more durable, 37-foot sheet metal structure. In 1936, a 23-1/2-foot tall screen was added on top of the wall to better protect the windows of buildings on adjoining Lansdowne Street. When the wall's advertisements were covered by green paint in 1947, Fenway Park's signature feature - the Green Monster - was born.
Three years later, sweet-swinging Ted Williams, a dead-pull left-handed hitter, came to Boston. The following year, 1940, bullpens were constructed in right field to bring the fence 23 feet closer to home plate for Williams. The new bullpens appropriately became known as Williamsburg.
The ballclub installed skyview seats at Fenway Park in 1946. Lights followed in 1947, and Fenway's first message board in was added over the centerfield bleachers in 1976. In 1988-89, stadium club seats were constructed above grandstand behind home plate - where the former press box was located. Before the 2003 season, a seating section was constructed on top of the Green Monster.
Other than those additions, Fenway Park for the most part is unchanged. With its manually operated scoreboard, its geometrically peculiar shape (including the only ladder in play in the majors) and the stories of the legends that have played there for more than eight decades, Fenway remains a link to the legends of baseball's past.
Iconic Moments: October 21, 1975. World Series, Game 6. Carlton Fisk smashed a Pat Darcy sinker off the left-field foul pole for a 12th-inning, game-winning home run in what many consider the most dramatic game in World Series history.
October 2, 1978: The Yankees and Red Sox, tied for first at the end of the regular season, play a dramatic one-game playoff at Fenway for the American League East title. New York prevails 5–4 behind Bucky Dent's 3-run home run off Mike Torrez.
July 13, 1999. All-Star Game. In one of the most memorable pre-game ceremonies ever in baseball, living legend Ted Williams arrives on the field to a standing ovation. After arriving at the pitchers mound to throw out the first ball he is unexpectedly mobbed by the awed crowd of all-stars and Hall of Famers already assembled on the field for the "Stars of the Century Team". Williams, McGuire, Sosa, Gwynn and others spend a few golden moments talking baseball before Williams throws the first pitch to Carlton Fisk.
The good: There's more history in this ballpark than there are calories in a Monster Dog - And finaly, a World Championship flag that isn't more than 80-years old.
The bad: Ticket prices for decent seats are so high, if you have to ask - you can't afford them.
The ugly: The traditional Fenway organ has been silenced most of the game in favor of loud, canned muzak and cell-phone yakkers. The historic sounds of the ballyard are slowly dying.
4 Yawkey Way
Boston, MA 02215
(617) 267-1700
Radio: WEEI 850 AM
TV: WSBK-38, NESN
In-park dining choices: Fenway Grill, Bob The Chef's, Legal Sea Foods.
Concession items include 1/2 lb Monster Dogs, pre-made subs from D'Angelo's, fajitas, clam chowder from legal Sea Foods, Papa Gino pizzas, chicken fingers, plus all the usual ballpark fare.
Boston Dining Guide - Best Bets
Directions & Parking Info
Ballpark/Tour Vacation Packages
Field Box $95
Loge Box $85
Right Field Box $45
Right Field Roof Box $45
Infield Grandstand $45
Outfield Grandstand $27
Bleachers $23
Upper Bleachers $12
Standing Room $20
Green Monster $110
Right Field Roof Deck Tables $115
Pavilion Level Seating $90 to $275
Seating Chart
Purchase Tickets
Tiger Stadium in Detroit opened the same day as Fenway Park.
Boston home games in the first World Series in 1903 were played at Huntington Avenue Grounds. The first game at the Huntington Grounds was played on May 8, 1901 in front of an overflow crowd of 11,500 fans as hurler Cy Young pitched the Boston team to a 12-4 win over the Philadelphia A's.
In 1914, while Braves Field was under construction, the "Miracle Boston Braves" played their World Series games in Fenway. The Braves swept the favored Philadelphia A's in four games.
The Boston Redskins played four years in Fenway before heading to Washington in 1937. The Boston Yankees played at Fenway from 1944-48 prior to traveling to New York, Dallas, Baltimore (where they became the Colts) and now Indianapolis.
The biggest baseball crowd at Fenway ever was 47,627 for a Yankees doubleheader on September 22, 1935.
The current capacity of Fenway Park is 33,871, lowest in the Major Leagues.
From 1912 to 1933, there was a 10-foot-high mound that formed an incline in front of the left field wall at Fenway park, extending from the left-field foul pole to the centerfield flag pole. Boston's first star left fielder, Duffy Lewis, mastered the skill so well that the area became known as Duffy's Cliff.
Each scoreboard number used to indicate runs and hits measures 16 inches by 16 inches and weighs three pounds. The numbers used for errors, innings, and pitcher's numbers measure 12 inches by 16 inches, and weigh two pounds each.
Behind the manual scoreboard is a room where the walls are covered with signatures of players who have played at Fenway Park over the years.
Also, the initials TAY and JRY - for Tom Yawkey and Jean Yawkey - appear in Morse code in two vertical stripes on the scoreboard.
The seat in the right field bleachers is painted red to mark the spot where the longest measurable home run ever hit inside Fenway Park landed. Ted Williams hit the home run on June 9, 1946 off Fred Hutchinson of the Detroit Tigers. The blast was measured at 502 feet.
No player has ever hit a home run over the right-field roof at Fenway Park.
The screen behind Fenway's home plate that protects fans and allows foul balls to roll back down onto the field was the first of its kind in the Major Leagues.
Some other notable Fenway moments:
July 25, 1941: Lefty Grove gets win number 300.
July 9, 1946: Ted Williams goes into All Star Game record books by getting 4 hits, 4 runs, 2 homeruns, 5 RBI.
October 10, 1946: The St. Louis Cardinals get a World Series record 20 hits in Game 4 against the Red Sox.
June 8, 1950: The Red Sox score a record 29 runs against the then St. Louis Browns.
September 12, 1979: Carl Yastrzemski collects hit number 3,000.
April 29, 1986: Roger Clemens strikes out a record 20 batters in nine innings.
October 10, 1999: The Red Sox get a record 23 runs and 24 hits in a post season game.
April 27, 2002: Derek Lowe throws a no hitter.
September 12, 1979: Carl Yastrzmski's 3,000th career hit.
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