A Red Sox game at Fenway Park is as Boston an experience as you can get! Photo courtesy Eric Kilby via Flickr.
It’s common to hear Bostonians boast about Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox and arguably one of the coolest baseball stadiums in the country. But what exactly makes it so great?
First, it’s the oldest MLB stadium being used today; it opened in 1912 – that’s a long history of lawn-mowing, ball-catching, sobbing and cheering. If seats could talk…
Secondly, a handful of iconic features set it apart from your average MLB locale. The Lone Red Seat (exactly what it sounds like) in the bleachers in right field marks the park’s longest home run (1946, Ted Williams, 502 feet, for those who keep track). In the stadium’s initial years the uneven ground created a small hill in left field, which earned the name Duffy’s Cliff after Duffy Lewis, star left-fielder, had to run up and down it so much.
The scoreboard is still changed manually, and many of the wooden seats retain their All-American feel. Other quirks include Yawkey Way, Pesky’s Pole, Autograph Alley, Williamsburg, The Belly and (by far the most famous of Fenway’s idiosyncrasies) the Green Monster: the highest wall of any MLB field, always looming in footage of classic hits.
To this day, Fenway Park seats only 37,000 fans. Compared to L.A. (56,000) and N.Y.C. (52,000), Boston is certainly home to a baseball culture that remains intimate and old-fashioned in a very endearing way.
Getting there is one thing; getting tickets is a whole different story.
Happy 100th Birthday, Fenway!
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