Fenway Park

Fenway Park is a Major League Baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, near Kenmore Square, in the city's dense Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood. Since 1912, it has been the home field of the Boston Red Sox, and while the stadium was built in 1912, it was substantially rebuilt in 1934 and underwent major renovations and modifications in the 21st century — making it the oldest active ballpark in the MLB. Fenway Park has hosted the World Series 11 times, with the Red Sox winning six of them and the Boston Braves winning one. Because of its age and constrained location, the park features many quirky characteristics, including "The Triangle," Pesky's Pole, and the Green Monster in left field. On March 7, 2012 — Fenway Park's centennial year — the park was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

History and Construction

In 1911, Red Sox owner John I. Taylor was looking for locations to build a new ballpark, and later that year his father bought more than 365,000 square feet of land in the Boston neighborhood of Fenway-Kenmore. Work began on a stadium that Taylor called Fenway Park; while he claimed the name was inspired by the location, some suggested it promoted his family's company, Fenway Realty. Taylor himself claimed the name came from Fenway Park's location in the Fenway neighborhood, which was partially created late in the nineteenth century by filling in marshland, or "fens," to create the Back Bay Fens urban park.

The steel-and-concrete park was largely designed by James McLaughlin and cost some $650,000. Fenway was designed and built by Osborn Engineering of Cleveland, the same firm that later constructed the original Yankee Stadium in 1923. The Charles Logue Building Company broke ground on September 25, 1911, and when first completed, Fenway seated 24,400 fans: 11,400 grandstand seats, 8,000 in pavilion seating, and 5,000 in the bleachers. The construction was completed in just seven months, and yet the stadium still stands more than 100 years later.

The first baseball game at the stadium was played on April 9, 1912, with the Red Sox defeating Harvard College in an exhibition match. The first professional game was held on April 20, a 7–6 Red Sox victory over the New York Highlanders. Mayor of Boston John F. Fitzgerald threw out the first pitch, and newspaper coverage of the opening was overshadowed by continuing coverage of the Titanic sinking five days earlier.

A fire in 1926 destroyed the left-field bleachers, but new team owner Bob Quinn opted not to replace them, instead leaving just the back wall that had been built with the original stadium. After buying the Red Sox in 1933, Tom Yawkey initiated a major revitalization project that — despite another damaging fire — was completed before opening day in April 1934. Duffy's Cliff was removed during this renovation, and the wooden stands in right and center field were replaced with concrete structures, increasing the seating capacity to 33,817.

The Green Monster and Distinctive Features

The most iconic feature of Fenway Park is unquestionably the Green Monster, the towering left-field wall that has defined the ballpark's character for over a century. The Green Monster is a popular nickname for the 37-foot-2-inch-high left-field wall at Fenway Park; the wall is 310 feet from home plate at the left-field foul line, making it a popular target for right-handed hitters. The wall was part of the original ballpark construction of 1912, along Fenway's north side facing Lansdowne Street. It is made of wood and was covered in tin and concrete in 1934, then covered with hard plastic in 1976.

The wall was not painted green until 1947; before that, it was covered with advertisements. The "Green Monster" designation appeared in print by November 1956, although for much of its history it was simply called "The Wall." A manual scoreboard is set into the wall, which has been there, in one form or another, at least as far back as 1914.

In 1936, the Red Sox installed a 23-foot net above the Monster in order to protect the storefronts on adjoining Lansdowne Street from home run balls. The net remained until the 2002–03 offseason, when the team's new ownership constructed a new seating section atop the wall to accommodate 274 fans. These "Monster seats" were part of a larger expansion plan for Fenway Park seating, and the Red Sox later added a smaller seating section in 2005, dubbed the "Nation's Nest," located between the main seating section and the center field scoreboard.

Beyond the Green Monster, the park's constrained location has also given rise to other quirky features, including "The Triangle" and Pesky's Pole. 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.

Renovations and Preservation

By the 1990s, many MLB teams were constructing new ballparks, and Fenway Park faced mounting concerns about its structural integrity and outdated facilities. Discussions arose about either renovating Fenway or building a new ballpark nearby. In 2002, new ownership — John Henry, Tom Werner, and Larry Lucchino — committed to preserving and improving Fenway Park.

A significant renovation of Fenway Park stretched over a 10-year period beginning around 2002, headed by Janet Marie Smith, then vice president of planning and development for the Sox. The Boston Globe described Smith as "the architect credited with saving Fenway Park." This 10-year renovation project was undertaken at a cost of an estimated $285 million and impacted nearly every part of the park; the upgrades included the addition of seating on top of the Green Monster. The area around Fenway also underwent various developments, especially in the early 21st century, when residential properties, hotels, and restaurants were built. At completion of the renovations, it was reported that Fenway Park remains usable until as late as 2062.

In 1977, the section of Jersey Street nearest the park was renamed Yawkey Way in honor of longtime Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey, and the park's address was 4 Yawkey Way until 2018, when the street's name was reverted to Jersey Street in light of current Red Sox ownership distancing itself from Yawkey due to his history of racism. The address is now 4 Jersey Street.

In 1993, the park began offering public tours, helping make Fenway one of Boston's more popular tourist attractions. Today, the current seating capacity stands at 37,493 at night and 37,065 during the day — the fourth lowest maximum capacity in the majors.

Red Sox Championships at Fenway

Fenway Park has served as the backdrop for some of the most celebrated and heartbreaking moments in baseball history. During their first decade at Fenway Park, the Red Sox were a dominant team, winning World Series titles in 1912, 1915, 1916, and 1918. However, the 1920s marked a turning point as Babe Ruth was sold to the Yankees after the 1919 season, and other star players were traded throughout the decade.

The Red Sox's sale of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1919 gave rise to the infamous "Curse of the Bambino," believed by many to be the reason for the team's 86-year World Series drought. This curse was finally lifted in 2004, in a season filled with miraculous comebacks, bringing joy and relief to the Fenway faithful. In 2004, the Red Sox emerged triumphant after 86 years of frustration, winning the World Series in four games against the St. Louis Cardinals behind the pitching of Curt Schilling and the batting of Ramirez and David Ortiz. Just as important to Red Sox fans, they had vanquished their nemesis, the Yankees, in the American League Championship Series, coming back from a 3–0 series deficit to win 4–3, the first team in baseball history to stage such a comeback in the postseason.

Following their victory in the 2018 World Series, the Red Sox became the first team to win four World Series trophies in the 21st century, with championships in 2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018.

Fenway Park is also home to the longest streak of consecutive sold-out games in baseball history, beginning on May 15, 2003, and running through Opening Day 2013.

Beyond Baseball: Other Events

Besides baseball games, Fenway Park has been the site of many other sporting and cultural events, including professional football games for the Boston Redskins, Boston Yanks, and the Boston Patriots; concerts; soccer and hockey games, including the NHL Winter Classic in both 2010 and 2023; and political and religious campaigns.

From 1963 to 1968, Fenway was home to the Boston Patriots (later New England Patriots) of the American Football League, and various collegiate football teams also competed there. The Boston Redskins played four seasons at Fenway Park before moving to Washington after the 1936 season due to low fan support.

Fenway Park has hosted ice hockey games on five separate occasions, beginning in 2010 when the third annual NHL Winter Classic was held at the stadium on New Year's Day. The Boston Bruins beat the Philadelphia Flyers 2–1 in sudden-death overtime, securing the first home-team victory in the relatively short history of the annual series. The 2010 Winter Classic paved the way for further use of the stadium for ice hockey, including the "Frozen Fenway" series, a semi-annual collection of collegiate and amateur games featuring ice hockey teams from local and regional high schools, colleges, and universities.

Fenway has also hosted a number of political events, including rallies by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1944), Barry Goldwater (1964), and Eugene McCarthy (1968).

Since at least 1997, Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" has been played at Fenway Park during Red Sox games, in the middle of the eighth inning since 2002. On opening night of the 2010 season at Fenway Park, the song was performed by Diamond himself in the middle of the eighth inning.