Fenway Park

Boston

Home of the Red Sox (AL)

(1912-Present)

Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city’s American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only MLB franchise. While the stadium was built in 1912, it was substantially rebuilt in 1934, and underwent major renovations and modifications in the 21st century. It is the oldest active ballpark in MLB. Because of its age and constrained location in Boston’s dense Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood, the park has many quirky features, including “The Triangle”, Pesky’s Pole, and the Green Monster in left field. It is the fifth-smallest among MLB ballparks by seating capacity, second-smallest by total capacity, and one of eight that cannot accommodate at least 40,000 spectators.

Fenway has hosted the World Series 11 times, with the Red Sox winning six of them and the Boston Braves winning one. Besides baseball games, it has also been the site of many other sporting and cultural events including professional football games for the Boston Redskins, Boston Yanks, and the New England Patriots; concerts; soccer and hockey games (such as the 2010 NHL Winter Classic); and political and religious campaigns. *

FENWAY PARK FACTS #

Charles Logue Building Company broke ground on Fenway Park on Sept. 25, 1911
It cost $650,000 to build in the park in 1912.
When first completed, Fenway sat 24,400 fans: 11,400 grandstand seats, 8,000 in pavilion seating and 5,000 in the bleachers.
When Fenway opened, there were no stands in right field. The area was used as a parking lot for players.
Fenway Park hosted its first professional baseball game on April 20, 1912, with the Red Sox beating the New York Highlanders 7-6 in 11 innings. 27,000 fans attended the opener
JFK’s grandfather, John F. Fitzgerald, threw out the first “first pitch.”
In 1912, the team won a franchise-record 105 games and the World Series.
There were two fires at Fenway in the early years. One in 1926 burnt the left field bleachers to the ground, while another in 1934 that damaged the center field bleachers.
The team installed an all-electric scoreboard in 1934, the first to use red lights for strikes and green lights for balls.
Until 1933, there was a 10-foot incline in front of the then 25-foot wall in left field wall at Fenway Park, known as “Duffy’s Cliff” – named after outfielder Duffy Lewis
The Boston Braves played the 1914 World Series and 1915 season at Fenway prior to Braves Field being completed.
The AFL’s Boston Bulldogs and Boston Patriots were among the many football teams to call Fenway Park home. The Patriots played at Fenway from 1963-1968.
Current Seating Capacity: 37,493 at Night, 37,065 during the day – the fourth lowest maximum capacity in the majors.
Light towers were not built in Fenway until 1947.
Fenway Park has seven retired Red Sox numbers: 1 for Bobby Doerr, 4 for Joe Cronin, 6 for Johnny Pesky, 8 for Carl Yastrzemski, 9 for Ted Williams, 14 for Jim Rice and 27 for Carlton Fisk.
The four retired numbers prior to 2000 were hung in order — 9-4-1-8 – which incidentally spelled out the date one day prior to the Red Sox’ final successful World Series appearance (Sept. 4, 1918) prior to their ’04 victory.