|
Today is the 95th anniversary of the first professional baseball game played at Fenway Park, home of Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox. On April 20, 1912 the Red Sox defeated the New York Highlanders, a team later known as the Yankees, by a score of 7 to 6 in 11 innings. Over 27,000 fans endured two rain delays to watch the home team win its first victory in a stadium whose dimensions weren't designed to help home-run hitters, but to keep non-paying customers out of the park. Spectators who sat near a steep, 10-foot embankment in left field watched the skillful play of Duffy Lewis, an outfielder whose mastery of the grassy ledge led to its nickname as "Duffy's Cliff".
The Boston Red Sox are older than Fenway Park, but deeply rooted in their home in the Fens. "When they raze Fenway," claims sportswriter Dan Shaughnessy, "it'll be like cutting down an old tree." In 1901, the Red Sox began life as the Boston Pilgrims, one of the charter members of the American League, and played ball at Huntington Grounds, now part of the campus at Northeastern University. In 1904, Boston Globe owner Charles Henry Taylor purchased the Old Town Team for his son, John Taylor. Three years later, the younger Taylor changed the team's name to the Red Sox. In 1910, he announced that he would build a new ballpark in the Fenway section of Boston.
Fenway Park was designed by Osborn Engineering and built by the James McLaughlan Construction Company at a cost of $650,000 (USD). Ground was broken on September 25, 1911 amidst great fanfare. The first official game, an exhibition contest between the Red Sox and Harvard University, was played less than a year later, and just two days before the first Red Sox / Highlanders (Yankees) game. Surfaced with bluegrass, Fenway Park seated 35,000 fans. Dimensions included left field at 324 ft., center field at 488 ft., left-center at 379 ft., deep-center at 510 ft., right field at 313.5 ft., and deep-right at 380 ft. The right-field power alley measured 405 ft. and the distance from the pitcher's mount to the backstop was then 68 ft.
Even after the Red Sox made Fenway Park their home, they didn't always play their games there. To accommodate larger crowds for important contests, the Red Sox sometimes played at nearby Braves Field, home of the National League's Boston Braves. Through trials of fire, however, the Red Sox would make Fenway Park what horror-writer Stephen King calls "the old green church of baseball". On May 8, 1926, fire destroyed the wooden bleachers along the left field line. When new owner John Quinn refused to rebuild the seats, left-fielders simply used the new foul territory to catch fly balls. Fortunately, Tom Yawkey's purchase of the financially-strapped franchise in 1933 signaled the beginning of a new era. Yawkey's renovations were halted, however, when a second fire ravaged Fenway Park for five hours on January 5, 1934.
During the winter of 1934, crews from Osborn Engineering and the James McLaughlan Construction Company returned to Fenway Park. They worked tirelessly to ensure that the stadium now billed as "America's Most Beloved Ballpark" would be ready for the season opener on April 17. When Opening Day finally arrived after a long New England winter, Fenway Park had a new look. Gone were Duffy's Cliff and the wooden bleachers in center field. The wooden, left-field wall was replaced by a more durable, 37-ft. sheet metal structure. A scoreboard loomed in left and a flag pole was planted right on the field. In 1936, a 23.5-ft. tall screen was added on top of the wall to better protect the windows of buildings on adjoining Lansdowne Street. When the wall's advertisements were covered by green paint in 1947, Fenway Park's signature feature - the Green Monster - was born.
Through the years, Fenway Park has undergone renovations both major and minor. In 1940, bullpens were built in right field to bring the fences 23 ft. closer to home plate for a slugger named Ted Williams. Sky box seats were installed in 1946, and lights followed in 1947. An electronic message board was positioned over the center field bleachers in 1976, and stadium club seats were built above the grandstand behind home plate. Before the start of the 2003 season, a seating section was built atop the Green Monster.
A year later, the Boston Red Sox finally exorcised the "curse of the Bambino" from Fenway Park. According to legend, the Old Town Team's team ill-fated decision to sell the services of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees had led to an 86-year long World Series drought. On October 18, 2004, David Ortiz' 12-inning home run into the visitors' bullpen led to an improbable victory over the New York Yankees and the start of the greatest comeback in sports history. Ortiz's heroics at Fenway Park sparked the Red Sox to overcome a three game deficit in a best-of-even series. Ultimately, the Red Sox team which called itself a "bunch of idiots" would go on to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals four games to none in the 2004 World Series.
Resources:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/s/2000/1106/861101.html
http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/bos/ballpark/history.jsp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenway_Park
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Duffy_Lewis
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04354/427999.stm
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2004/10/18/the_dream_stays_alive/
| 
Re: April 20, 1912 - Fenway Park
