Fenway Park is a ballpark in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, close to Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home field of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Boston Red Sox. While the stadium was built in 1912, it was substantially rebuilt in 1934, and underwent major renovations and modifications in the 21st century. It is the oldest active ballpark in MLB. 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 Park has hosted the World Series 11 times, with the Red Sox winning six of them and the Boston Braves winning one. Besides baseball games, it has also 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.
On March 7, 2012 (Fenway Park's centennial year), the park was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It is a landmark at the end of the Boston Irish heritage trail. Former pitcher Bill Lee has called Fenway Park "a shrine". It is a pending Boston Landmark, which will regulate any further changes to the park. The ballpark is considered to be one of the most well-known sports venues in the world and a symbol of Boston.
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. 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", 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.
Like many classic ballparks, Fenway Park was constructed on an asymmetrical block, with consequent asymmetry in its field dimensions. The park was designed by architect James E. McLaughlin, and the General Contractor was the Charles Logue Building Company.
The first game was played April 20, 1912, with Mayor of Boston 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 continuing coverage of the Titanic sinking five days earlier.
In June 1919, a rally supporting Irish Independence turned out nearly 50,000 supporters to see the president of the Irish Republic, Éamon de Valera, and was allegedly the largest crowd ever in the ballpark.
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 Yawkey due to his history of racism (the Red Sox were the last team in Major League Baseball to integrate). The address is now 4 Jersey Street.
Changes to Fenway Park
Some of the changes include: In 1926, a fire burned down Fenway Park's left field bleachers, 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 started on what eventually became known as the Green Monster. Two wooden bleacher sections were reconstructed. Multiple areas of the park were renovated or were new additions, including concessions, employee rooms, the press box, and the entrance to the team offices on Jersey Street. By Opening Day 1934, the newly renovated Fenway Park had assumed the basic appearance, color (Dartmouth Green), and layout that exists to present day: A large fire caused significant damage to new seating areas in left field and center field bleachers. These areas were reconstructed before opening day 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. The scoreboard is still updated by hand today from behind the wall. The National League scores were removed in 1976, but restored in 2003 and still require manual updates from on the field. Home run and foul distances were significantly altered: From 320 feet to 312 in left 468 feet to 420 in center 358 feet to 334 in right distance to the backstop was shortened from 68 feet to 60 feet In 1946, the first upper deck seats were installed. In 1947, arc lights were installed at Fenway Park. 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 LoanDepot Park and Toronto's Rogers Centre list metric distances. Fenway Park retained the metric measurements until mid-season 2002, when they were painted over. Also, Fenway's first electronic message board was added over the center field bleachers. In 1988, a glass-protected seating area behind home plate named The 600 Club was built. After Ted Williams' death 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. 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 field. In 2000, a new video display from Daktronics, measuring high by wide, was added in center field. Before the 2003 season, seats were added atop the Green Monster. 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." Before the 2008 season, the Coke bottles, installed in 1997, were removed to return the light towers to their original state. 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-Cola Party-Deck. Before the 2011 season, three new scoreboards beyond right-center field were installed: a scoreboard in right-center field, a video screen in center field, a video board in right field, 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 15, 1999, then-Red Sox CEO John Harrington announced plans for a new Fenway Park to be built near the existing structure. 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. 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. Several groups (such as "Save Fenway Park") formed in an attempt to block the move.
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 has described Smith as "the architect credited with saving Fenway Park." At completion of the renovations, it was reported that Fenway Park remains usable until as late as 2062.
Capacity and sellout streak Fenway's capacity differs between day and night games because, during day games, the seats in center field (Section 35) are covered with a black tarp to provide a batter's eye.
Fenway's lowest attendance was recorded on October 1, 1964, when a game against the Cleveland Indians drew only 306 paid spectators."306 Watch Red Sox Edge Indians, 4-2", The Boston Globe, October 2, 1964. Accessed April 21, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "With only 306 customers in the stands, the Red Sox Thursday defeated the Indians, 4 to 2, to snap a six-game losing streak.... The 306 paid was the smallest crowd in Fenway Park history.... Previous low was 674 for a Kansas City game last season..."Simmons, James. "Boston Red Sox: The low point of attendance at Fenway Park", Fansided, July 7, 2020. Accessed April 21, 2022. "Rock bottom hit during game 160 of the year. Riding a six-game losing streak, with just three games left on the schedule, Red Sox pitcher Ed Connely scattered eight hits and seven walks over 6.1 innings to beat the Cleveland Indians 4-2. The game was played in under two and a half hours and in front of 306 fans."Nowlin, Bill. "October 1, 1964: Red Sox-Indians game draws 306 fans, lowest documented attendance at Fenway Park", Society for American Baseball Research. Accessed April 21, 2022. "Sources agree that a mere 306 fans turned out for the game on Thursday afternoon, October 1, 1964, at Boston's Fenway Park. It can stand as the lowest documented attendance of a game at the ballpark, though there was a game there in 1922 which the Chicago Tribune claimed drew only, precisely, 68.... The Boston Globe, however, provided a count of 2,800 for the 1922 game, leaving one to wonder how there could be such a discrepancy."
On May 15, 2003, the Red Sox game against the Texas Rangers sold out, beginning a sellout streak that lasted until 2013. On September 8, 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. On June 17, 2009, the park celebrated its 500th consecutive Red Sox sellout. According to WBZ, the team joined three NBA teams which achieved 500 consecutive home sellouts. The sellout streak ended on April 10, 2013 (with an attendance of 30,862) after the Red Sox sold out 794 regular season games and an additional 26 postseason games.