Photo Credit
This article was researched and compiled by
Carrie Birdsong
A three-part article, Part 2 will be posted on
December 17, 2024. The copyrights and
references will be posted at the end of Part 3.
1. Friendly Fenway
2. The Cathedral of Baseball
Address: 4 Jersey Street(2)
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Owner: Fenway Sports Group
Operator: Fenway Sports Group / Boston Red Sox
Capacity:
Address: 4 Jersey Street(2)
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Owner: Fenway Sports Group
Operator: Fenway Sports Group / Boston Red Sox
Capacity:
1. 37,305 (day)
2. 37,755 (night)(3)
Record Attendance: 47,627 (September 22nd, 1935)
2. 37,755 (night)(3)
Record Attendance: 47,627 (September 22nd, 1935)
(4)
Field Size: Left Field: 310 feet
Deep Left-Center: 379 feet
Center Field: 389 feet
Right Center: 380 feet
Right Field: 302 feet
Backstop: 60 feet
Surface: Kentucky Blue Grtass
Construction:
1. Broke Ground: September 25th, 1911
2. Opened: April 20th, 1912
3. Renovated: 1988, 2002 – 2011, 2017
Expanded: 1934, 1946,2002 – 2011, 2017, 2022
Construction cost: $650,000 ($20.5 million in 2023 dollars(5))
Architect: James E. McLaughlin(6)(7)
Structural engineer: Osborn Engineering Corp.(7)
General Contractor: Charles Louge Building Company, Coleman Brothers Inc.(7)
Tenants:
1. Boston Red Sox (MLB) 1912 – present
2. Boston Braves (MLB) 1914 – 1915
3. Boston Bulldogs (AFL) 1926
4. Boston Redskins (NFL) 1933 – 1936
Field Size: Left Field: 310 feet
Deep Left-Center: 379 feet
Center Field: 389 feet
Right Center: 380 feet
Right Field: 302 feet
Backstop: 60 feet
Surface: Kentucky Blue Grtass
Construction:
1. Broke Ground: September 25th, 1911
2. Opened: April 20th, 1912
3. Renovated: 1988, 2002 – 2011, 2017
Expanded: 1934, 1946,2002 – 2011, 2017, 2022
Construction cost: $650,000 ($20.5 million in 2023 dollars(5))
Architect: James E. McLaughlin(6)(7)
Structural engineer: Osborn Engineering Corp.(7)
General Contractor: Charles Louge Building Company, Coleman Brothers Inc.(7)
Tenants:
1. Boston Red Sox (MLB) 1912 – present
2. Boston Braves (MLB) 1914 – 1915
3. Boston Bulldogs (AFL) 1926
4. Boston Redskins (NFL) 1933 – 1936
5. Boston Shamrocks (AFL) 1936 – 1937
6. Boston Yanks (NFL) 1944 – 1948
7. Boston Patriots (AFL) 1963 – 1968
8. Fenway Bowl (NCAA) 2022 – Present
6. Boston Yanks (NFL) 1944 – 1948
7. Boston Patriots (AFL) 1963 – 1968
8. Fenway Bowl (NCAA) 2022 – Present
U.S. National Register of Historic Places Reference
No. 12000069(8) Added to NRHP: March 7th, 2012
Fenway Park is a baseball stadium in Boston, Massachusetts, less than one mile from Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the ballpark of Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Boston Red Sox. While the stadium was built in 1012, it was substantially rebuilt in 1934,(9) and underwent major renovations and modifications in the 21st century. It is the oldest active ballpark in the MLB(10). 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 nine that cannot accommodate at least 40,000 spectators.
Fenway has hosted the World Series 11 times, with the Red Sox winning six and the Boston Braves winning one(note 1). Besides baseball games, it has also been the site of many other sporting and cultural events including football games for the Boston Redskins, Boston Yanks, and the Boston Patriots; concerts; soccer and hockey games (such as the 2010 NHL Winter Classic); and political and religious campaigns.
On March 17th, 2012 (Fenway’s centennial year), the park was added to the National Register of Historic Places(11)(12). It is a landmark at the end of the Boston Irish Heritage Trail. Former pitcher Bill Lee has called Fenway Park “a shrine”(13). It is a pending Boston Landmark, which will regulate any further changes to the park(14). The ballpark is considered one of the world's most well-known sports venues and a symbol of Boston. (15)
History
In 1911, while the Red Sox were still playing on Huntington Avenue Grounds, owner John I. Taylor, purchased the land bordered by Brookline Avenue, Jersey Street, Van Ness Street, and Lansdowne Street and developed it into a larger baseball stadium known as Fenway Park(16). Taylor claimed the name Fenway Park came from its location in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston, which was partially created late in the nineteenth century by filling in marshland or “fens”,(16) to create the Back Bay Fens urban park. However, given that Taylor’s family also owned the Fenway Realty Company, the promotional value of the naming at the time has been cited as well. (17)
Like many classic ballparks, Fenway Park was constructed on an asymmetrical block, with consequent asymmetry in its field dimensions(18). The park was designed by architect James E. McLaughlin, and the general contractor was the Charles Logue Building Company.(19)
The first game was played on April 20th, 1912, with mayor John F. Fitzgerald throwing out the first pitch and Boston defeating the New York Highlanders, 7 – 6 in 11 innings. Newspaper coverage of the opening was overshadowed by the Titanic sinking five days earlier. (20)
In June 1919, a rally supporting Irish Independence turned out nearly 50,000 supporters to see the President of the Irish Republic, Eamon de Valera and was allegedly the largest crowd ever in the ballpark. (21)
The park’s address was originally 24 Jersey Street. 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 Yawkee due to his history of racism (the Red Sox were the last team in Major League Baseball to integrate)(23)(24). The address is now 4 Jersey Street.(2)
Changes to Fenway Park
Some of the changes include:(25)
In 1926, a fire burned down Fenway Park’s left field bleachers,(26) which were left in their empty and burned state until 1933.
In 1933, a significant reconstruction of Fenway Park began after Tom Yawkey purchased the Red Sox and Fenway Park.
Duffy’s Cliff was leveled and no longer existed, with work starting when eventually became known as the Green Monster.
Two wooden bleacher sections were reconstructed.
Multiple areas of the part were renovated or were new additions, including concessions, employee rooms, the press box, and the entrance to the team offices on Jersey Street. (27)
By Opening Day 1934, the newly renovated Fenway Park had assumed the basic appearance, color (Dartmouth Green), and layout that exists to the present day. (28)
A large fire caused significant damage to new seating areas in left field and center field bleachers. These areas were reconstructed before the opening day in 1934.
7,000 new seats were added.
The Green Monster was completed at 37 feet high, replacing the 10-foot-tall Duffy’s Cliff and the original 25-foot wall.
A hand-operated scoreboard was added, with (what was then considered cutting-edge technology) lights to indicate balls and strikes(29). Today, the scoreboard is still updated by hand from behind the wall. The National League scores were removed in 1976, but restored in 2003 and still require manual updates from the field. (30)
Home run and foul distances were significantly altered:
1. From 320 feet to 312 in left
2. 468 feet to 420 in center
3. 358 feet to 334 in right
2. 468 feet to 420 in center
3. 358 feet to 334 in right
Distance to the backstop was shortened from 68 feet to 60 feet
In 1946, the upper deck seats were installed. (31)
Arc lights were installed at Fenway Park in 1947 (31). The Boston Red Sox were the third-to-last team out of 16 Major League teams to have lights in their home park.
In 1976, metric distances were added to the conventionally stated distances because it was thought at the time that the United States would adopt the metric system. As of 2022, only Miami’s Loan Depot Park and Toronto’s Rogers Centre list metric distances. Fenway Park retained the metric measurements until mid-season 2002 when they were painted over(32). Also, Fenway’s first electronic message board was added over the center field bleachers.
In 1998, a glass-protected seating area behind home plate named The 600 Club was built. After Ted Williams died in 2002, it was renamed the .406 Club in honor of his 1941 season in which he produced a .406 batting average. The section was renamed again in 2006 to the EMC Club. (31)
In 1993 the public restrooms were renovated and the original trough urinals were removed from the men’s rooms.
In 1999 the auxiliary press boxes were added on top of the roof boxes along the first and third base sides of the fields. (33)
In 2000, a new video display from Daktronics, measuring 23 feet high by 30 feet wide, was added in the center field.
Before the 2003 season, seats were added to the Green Monster. (34)
Before the 2004 season, seats were added to the right field roof, above the grandstand, called the Budweiser Right Field Roof. In December 2017 Samuel Adams renamed the deck the “Sam Deck.”(35)
Before the 2008 season, the Coke bottles, installed in 1997, were removed to return the light towers to their original state(36). The temporary luxury boxes installed for the 1999 All-Star Game were removed and permanent ones were added to the State Street Pavilion level. Seats were also added down the left field line called the Coca-Coal Party.(37)
Before the 2011 season, three new scoreboards beyond the right-center field were installed: a 38 ft x 100 ft scoreboard in right-center field, a 17 ft x 100 ft video screen in center field, a 16 ft x 30 ft video board in right field,(38) along with a new video control room. The Gate D concourse has undergone a complete remodel with new concession stands and improved pedestrian flow. The wooden grandstand seats were all removed to allow the completion of the waterproofing of the seating bowl and completely refurbished upon re-installation.
New Fenway Park
On May 15th, 1999, Red Sox CEO John Harrington announced plans for a new Fenway Park to be built near the existing structure(39). It was to have seated 44,130 and would have been a modernized replica of the current Fenway Park, with the same field dimensions except for a shorter right field and reduced foul territory. Some sections of the existing ballpark were to be preserved (mainly the original Green Monster and the third base side of the park) as part of the overall new layout. Most of the current stadium was to be demolished to make room for new development, with one section remaining to house a baseball museum and public park(40). The proposal was highly controversial; it projected that the park had less than 15 years of usable life, would require hundreds of millions of dollars of public investment, and was later revealed to be part of a scheme by current ownership to increase the marketable value of the team as they were ready to sell(41). Several groups (such as “Save Fenway Park”) formed in an attempt to block the move. (42)
A significant renovation of Fenway Park stretched over 10 years beginning around 2002 headed by Janet Marie Smith, then Vice President of Planning and Development for the Sox. The Boston Globe has described Smith as “the architect credited with saving Fenway Park.”(43) After the renovations, it was reported that Fenway Park remained usable until as late as 2062. (44)
Capacity and Sellout Streak
Fenway’s capacity differs between day and night games because, during the day games, the seats in the center field (Section 35) are covered with a black tarp to provide a batter’s eye.
Fenway’s lowest attendance was recorded on October 1st, 1964 when a game against the Cleveland Indians drew only 306 paid spectators. (45)(46)(47)
On May 15th, 2003, the Red Sox game against the Texas Rangers sold out, beginning a sellout streak that lasted until 2013. On September 8th, 2008, when the Red Sox hosted the Tampa Bay Rays, Fenway Park broke the all-time Major League record for consecutive sellouts with 456, surpassing the record previously held by Jacobs Field in Cleveland(48). On June 17th, 2009, the park celebrated its 500th consecutive Red Sox sellout. According to WBZ-TV, the team joined three NBA teams which achieved 500 consecutive home sellouts(49). The sellout streak ended on April 10th, 2013 (with an attendance of 30,862) after the Red Sox sold out 794 regular season games and an additional 26 postseason games. (50)
Year(s) | Seating Capacity Day – Night | Year(s) | Seating Capacity Day – Night |
1912 – 1946 | 35,000 | 1992 | 33,925 |
1947 – 1948 | 35,500 | 1993 – 1994 | 34,218 |
1949 – 1952 | 35,200 | 1995 – 2000 | 33,455 / 33,871 |
1953 – 1957 | 34,824 | 2001 – 2002 | 33,577 / 33,993 |
1958 – 1959 | 34,819 | 2003 | 34,482 / 34,898 |
1960 | 33,368 | 2004 – 2005 | 34,679 / 35,679 |
1961 – 1964 | 33,357 | 2006 | 35,692 /36,108 |
1965 – 1967 | 33,524 | 2007 | 36,109 / 36,525 |
1968- 1970 | 33,375 | 2008(51) | 36,945 / 37,373 |
1971 – 1975 | 33,379 | 2009(52) | 36,984 / 37,400 |
1976 | 33,437 | 2010(53) | 36,986 / 37,402 |
1977 – 1978 | 33,513 | 2011(54) | 37,065 / 37,493 |
1979 – 1980 | 33,538 | 2012(55) | 37,067 / 37,495 |
1981 – 1982 | 33,536 | 2013 – 2014(56) | 37,071 / 37,499 |
1983 – 1984 | 33,465 | 2015(57) | 37,227 / 37,673 |
1985 – 1988 | 33,583 | 2016(58) | 37,497 / 37,949 |
1989 – 1900 | 34,182 | 2017(59) | 37,281 / 37,731 |
1991 | 34,171 | 2018 – Present(3) | 37,305 / 37,755 |
Unless noted otherwise, all capacity figures are from Green Cathedrals: The Ultimate Celebrations of All 273 Major League and Negro League Ballparks Past and Present by Philip Lowry(60)
Features
The park is located along Lansdowne Street and Jersey Street in the Kenmore Square area of Boston. The area includes many buildings of similar height and architecture and thus it blends in with its surroundings. When pitcher Roger Clemens arrived in Boston for the first time in 1984, he took a taxi from Logan Airport and was sure the driver had misunderstood his directions when he announced their arrival at the park. Clemens recalled telling the driver “No, Fenway Park, it’s a baseball stadium … this is a warehouse.” Only when the driver told Clemens to look up and he saw the light towers did he realize he was in the right place. (61)
Fenway Park is one of the two remaining jewel box ballparks still in use in Major League Baseball, the other being Wrigley Field; both have a significant number of obstructed view seats, due to pillars supporting the upper deck. These are sold as such and are a reminder of the architectural limitations of older ballparks.(62)
George Will asserts in his book Men at Work that Fenway Park is a “hitters’ ballpark”, with its short right-field fence (302 feet), narrow foul ground (the smallest of any current major league park), and generally closer-than-normal outfield fences. By Rule 1.04, Note(a),(63) all ballparks built after 1958 have been required to have foul lines at least 325 feet long and a center-field fence at least 400 feet from home plate. (This rule had the unintended consequence of leading to the “Cookie-Cutter Stadium” era, when ended when Camden Yards opened in 1992.) Regarding the narrow foul territory, Will writes:
The narrow foul territory in Fenway Park probably adds 5 to 7 points onto batting averages. Since World War II, the Red Sox have had 18 batting champions (through 1989)… Five to 7 points are a lot, given that there may be only a 15- or 20-point spread between a good-hitting team and a poor-hitting team.(64)p.175
Will states that some observers might feel that these unique aspects of Fenway give the Red Sox an advantage over their opponents, given that the Red Sox hitters play 81 games at the home stadium while each opponent plays no more than seven games as visiting teams but Will does not share this view.(64)p.177.
Fenway Park’s bullpen wall is much lower than most other outfield walls; outfielders are known to end up flying over this wall when chasing balls hit in that direction, such as with Torii Hunter when chasing a David Ortiz game-tying grand slam that direction in game 2 of the 2013 ALCS.
The Green Monster
The Green Monster is the nickname of the 37.167-foot (65) left field wall in the park. It is located 310 to 315 feet from home plate; this short distance often benefits right-handed hitters. (66)
Part of the original ballpark construction of 1912, the wall is made of wood, but was covered in tin and concrete in 1934, when the scoreboard was added. The wall was covered in hard plastic in 1976. The scoreboard is manually updated throughout the game. If a ball in play goes through a hole in the scoreboard while the scorers are replacing numbers, the batter is awarded a ground rule double(67). Similarly, if a batter hits a ball into the balls, strikes, and out lights, it is also ruled a ground-rule double.(68)
Inside the walls of the Green Monster are covered with players’ signatures from over the years. Despite the name, the Green Monster was not painted green until 1947, before that it was covered with advertisements. The Monster designation is relatively new; for most of its history, it was simply called “the wall”(69). In 2003, terrace-style seating was added on top of the wall. (34)
“The Triangle”
“The Triangle” is a region of the center field where the walls form a triangle whose far corner is 420 feet from the home plate. That deep right-center point is conventionally given as the center field distance. The true center is unmarked, 390 feet from home plate, to the left of “the Triangle” when viewed from home plate.(70)
There was once a smaller “Triangle” at the left end of the bleachers in center field, posted as 388 feet. The end of the bleachers form a right angle with the Green Monster and the flagpole stands within that little triangle. That is not the true power alley, but deep left-center. The true power alley distance is not posted. The foul line intersects with the Green Monster at nearly a right angle, so the power alley could be estimated at 336 feet, assuming the power alley is 22.5 away from the foul line as measured from home plate. (71)
“Williamsburg”
“Williamsburg” was the name, invented by sportswriters, for the bullpen area built in front of the right-center field bleachers in 1940. It was built there primarily for the benefit of Ted Williams, to enable him and other left-handed batters to hit more home runs, since it was 23 feet closer to than the bleacher wall.(72)
The Lone Red Seat
The lone red seat in the right field bleachers (Section 42, Row 37, Seat 21) signifies the longest home run ever hit at Fenway. The home run, hit by Ted Williams on June 9th, 1946,(73) was officially measured at 502 feet, well beyond “Williamsburg”. According to Hit Tracker Online, the ball, if unobstructed, would have flown 520 to 535 feet. (74)
The ball landed on Joseph A. Boucher, penetrating his large straw hat and hitting him in the head. A confused Boucher was later quoted as saying:
How far away must one sit to be safe in this park? I didn’t even get the ball. They say it bounced a dozen rows higher, but after it hit my head, I was no longer interested. I couldn’t see the ball. Nobody could. The sun was right in our eyes. All we could do was duck. I’m glad I did not stand up. (75)
There have been other home runs hit at Fenway that have contended for the distance title. In the 2007 book The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs, researcher Bill Jenkinson found evidence that on May 25th, 1926, Babe Ruth hit one in the pre-1934 bleacher configuration which landed five rows from the top in right field. This would have placed it at an estimated 545 feet from home plate(76). On June 23rd, 2001, Manny Ramirez hit one that struck a light tower above the Green Monster, which would have cleared the park had it missed. The park’s official estimate placed the home run one foot short of Williams’ record at 501 feet(77). An April 2019 home run by Rowdy Tellez of the Toronto Blue Jays was initially reported as 505 feet but later found to be significantly shorter, approximately 433 feet.
Foul Poles
Pesky’s Pole is the name for the pole on the right field foul line, which stands 302 feet from home plate,(70) the shortest outfield distance (left or right field) in Major League Baseball(79). Like the measurement of the left-field line at Fenway Park, this has been disputed. Aerial shots show it to be noticeably shorter(80) than the actual 302-foot line in right field, and Pesky has been quoted as estimating it to be “around 295 feet”. There is no distance posted on the wall.
Despite the short wall, home runs in this area are relatively rare, as the fence curves away from the foul pole sharply. The pole was named after Johnny Pesky, a light-hitting shortstop and long-time coach for the Red Sox, who hit some of his six home runs at Fenway Park around the pole but never off the pole. Pesky (playing from 1942 to 1952, except for 1943 to 1945) was a contact hitter who hit just 17 home runs in his career (6 at Fenway Park)(81). It’s not known how many of these six actually landed near the pole. The Red Sox give credit to the pitcher (and later, Sox broadcaster) Mel Parnell for coining the name. The most notable for Pesky is a two-run homer in the eighth inning of the 1946 Opening Day game to win the game. According to Pesky, Mel Parnell named the pole after Pesky won a game for Parnell in 1948 with a home run down the short right field line, just around the pole. However, Pesky hit just one home run in a game pitched by Parnell, a two-run shot in the first inning of a game against Detroit played on June 11th, 1950. The game was eventually won by the visiting Tigers in the 14th inning on a three-run shot by Tigers right fielder Vic Wertz and Parnell earned a no-decision that day.(82).
The term, though it had been in use since the 1950s, became far more common when Parnell became a broadcaster in 1965. Mark Bellhorn hit what proved to be the game-winning home run off of Julian Tavarez in game 1 of the 2004 World Series off that pole’s screen.
On September 27th, 2006, Pesky’s 87th birthday, the Red Sox officially dedicated the right field pole as “Pesky’s Pole”, with a commemorative plaque placed at its base.(83)
