Fenway Park

Fenway Park

Fenway Park, baseball park in Boston that is home to the Red Sox, the city’s American League (AL) team. Opened in 1912, it is the oldest stadium in Major League Baseball and one of its most famous.

Fenway Park

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 (33,900 square metres) of land in the Boston neighborhood of Fenway-Kenmore. In September 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. The steel-and-concrete park was largely designed by James McLaughlin and cost some $650,000.

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 there was held on April 20, a 7–6 Red Sox victory over the New York Highlanders (later Yankees). (Navin Field [later Tiger Stadium] also officially opened that day in Detroit, but the ballpark closed in 1999 and was demolished in 2008–09.) At the time, however, Fenway was unfinished. Plans for a second deck had been scrapped, and much of the seating was not in place. Construction continued throughout the season, with right- and left-field bleachers being installed by the start of the World Series, which Boston won over the New York (later San Francisco) Giants.

Fenway Park: “Green Monster”

In the ensuing years, Fenway underwent a number of changes. 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, which had been built with the original stadium, designed to prevent non-paying spectators from watching the game. 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. Notable changes included a new, massive left-field wall that was 37 feet (11 metres) high. In 1946 an upper deck was finally added to Fenway, and the following year lights were installed, thus allowing for night games. Also in 1947 the left-field wall was painted green, and it eventually became one of the park’s most iconic features, known as the “Green Monster.” After a change of ownership in 2002, a 10-year renovation project was undertaken that cost 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.

In addition to the Red Sox, Fenway hosted numerous other games and events. From 1963 to 1968, it was home to the Boston Patriots (later New England Patriots) of the American Football League, and various collegiate football teams also competed there. Other sporting contests included boxing and wrestling matches and ice hockey games. Fenway also hosted a number of political events, including rallies by U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1944), Barry Goldwater (1964), and Eugene McCarthy (1968). In 1993 the park began offering public tours, helping make Fenway one of Boston’s more popular tourist attractions.