There are a number of iconic man-made structures in the United States: the Empire State Building, in NYC; the White House, in D.C.; the Golden Gate Bridge, in S.F.; the Hoover Dam, in Nevada; and, others. In Boston, probably the most famous building is Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox baseball team.
Today, Charlie and I walked a little over a mile to the stadium to get a guided tour.
On the way, we passed the Back Bay Fens, an urban wildlands park designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, generally considered the father of American landscape architecture. He designed Central Park in NYC and Golden Gate Park in SF. The Back Bay Fens was designed in 1879, giving the neighborhood the name of Fenway.
Right around the corner from the ball park is what could be the most famous Shell gas station in America. It has a good location and probably sells a lot of gas. But, when there is an event at Fenway Park, gasoline sales are shut down, and cars are crammed onto the property at $60 per. That’s some expensive parking. But, being a Red Sox fan requires some sacrifice, I guess.
The baseball team is a big deal in this town. Red Sox merchandise is everywhere, in every store.
In front of the stadium, there is a Red Sox team merchandise store that is, swear to God, as roomy as a Dick’s Sporting Goods store. There must be 50,000 square feet in there, all stocked with Red Sox goodies: caps, shirts, balls, bats, jock straps, game-worn jerseys, autographed photos, and probably logo embossed bras and condoms, although I didn’t see any. There must be $20 million in inventory in that place.
There’s some neat sculpture outside the park. Here’s Teddy Ballgame with a young admirer.
It must cost big bucks to bring a young son to a ball game here. Seats are expensive, of course, but then the lad’s going to need some logo merchandise. I suspect that these chicken nuggets cost plenty…
…because a bottle of water costs $4.50, a can of soda $5.50. Ouch!
And, where does all of that liquid go, you ask? Here’s one of many restrooms, this one with a lineup of thirty urinals. Can you imagine this restroom with the smell of a hundred loud-talking, beer-soaked guys peeing, pooing, belching, and farting? OMG.
We got a chance to check out the Visitor Team’s Dressing Room. It is really small; my high school locker room was bigger. Of course, the Red Sox don’t want the visiting team to be too comfortable, do they? There’s probably no air conditioning, no hot water in the showers, small hand towels only, etc. Gamesmanship, they call it.
I thought that this sign on the wall was interesting, having to do with warnings about different kinds of bats, what they’re made of, and how they may splinter. Baseball’s version of OSHA bulletins, I guess.
Fenway Park is the oldest MLB stadium in America. It was originally built in 1912; i.e. it’s 105 years old! And, it is also the smallest stadium, with some unusual dimensions and characteristics.
The ball park was originally much smaller, with seating for 24,000 in bleachers that went from first base, to home plate, to third base. Additional seats were later added down the foul lines, as well as upper deck seats. Capacity is now 37,000, which is very small for a MLB stadium.
The different owners over the years have added bits and pieces, adapting the facility to the structure of the existing neighborhood. For example, there was a large, several story auto showroom adjacent to the stadium. It was purchased at some point and modified, so that the stadium gained a large “stadium club” viewing area, complete with a full bar, TV’s, etc. And, it has a great view of the ball park.
The foul line dimensions are the shortest in the major leagues. In fact, down the right field line, it is only 297 feet, a few feet short of the major league minimum. But, hey, it’s Fenway, so no problem.
The other foul line is 310 feet, where it meets the famed “Green Monster” wall, which is the 37′ tall wall with an old manually-operated scoreboard inset at its base.
The wall wasn’t there originally. It was put up to protect businesses, cars, and pedestrians from home runs flying over the fence. In fact, there used to be a net atop the wall to catch outbound baseballs. But, in 2003, the ownership wised up and installed 269 seats atop the wall, and they are very pricey ones: $165 each, face value; scalper, game day rate might go for $400.
A great place to watch a game, though.
Those seats weren’t there in 1975 when, in the 12th inning of the 1975 World Series, Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk hit a high, windblown drive to left field that curved into the left field foul pole…a game winning HOMER!
Here’s the view of that foul pole, from the pricey seats.
As I mentioned, this is a very old, unusual stadium that is cool on its own behalf, kind of like Johnny Cash’s car that was built “One Piece At A Time”. An unusual attribute of this stadium is that is has a several story-high vegetable garden (perhaps part of that old car dealership?), which produces 6,000 pounds of produce per year.
The stadium is so old that the skyline of South Boston sprung up later to give it a very urban backdrop. Many of the modern stadiums have attempted to copy the look; I’m thinking of PetCo Park in San Diego, Camden Yards in Baltimore, and others.
There have been a lot of great teams here in Boston, and quite a few Hall of Fame players. The most famous is this guy, who many say was the greatest hitter who ever lived: Ted Williams.
There is a seat way out in the right field bleachers that stands out in a sea of green seats because it is painted…red. Many years ago, Mr. Williams launched a ball that hit an old gent in his straw hat, on the fly, 502 feet from home plate…the longest ball ever struck in Fenway.
Of course, Ted Williams won a lot of accolades during his career, plenty of hardware like MVP awards, etc. There is a museum within the park that we visited on the way out which is chock full of famous photos, game-worn jerseys, bats, balls, etc. Some of Ted’s goodies are here, along with those of another pretty good ballplayer, Roger Clemens.
Like the rest of Boston, lots of history here.
I hate to say it, but…my beloved Dodger Stadium is an uninspired dump compared to Fenway Park.
What a cool place!