Fenway Fun Facts

Fenway is history manifest. Not surprising since it is the oldest ball park in Major League Baseball. It has been home to the Boston Red Sox since it opened in 1912, has seen 10 World Series and hosted an array of football, hockey and soccer games, musical concerts and political rallies. And as you slide down into the wooden seats, you can almost hear the roar of Sunday crowds from yesteryear fill your ears, the thwack of Ted Williams bat against a clear sky, voices mingling with cigars and cotton candy. And if you close your eyes for just a moment, you might even see Babe Ruth rounding third base, looking to the place where the ball has vanished into the blue.

In March of 2012, Fenway was added to the Register of Historic Places, validating its place as a national treasure. Is Fenway a relic, a curio from the past that longs for modernization? Some think so, finding the quirky features of the park bothersome in a contemporary game that is punctuated with state of the art technology, as it strides boldly into the 21st century.

Fenway, like Baseball, is more than a collection of statistics and numbers; more than jerseys and bats, more than dirt and grass. It is a collective sum of memories and feelings, stories and anecdotes of human experience woven over and through time. It is imbued on the psyche of those who have attended games throughout the decades and those who look forward to their turn in one of those narrow wooden seats. Those who have seen the great players come and go, and those who wait for the next to appear. In those hallowed halls, those sacred nooks and crannies, history has been made, color barriers have been broken, legends have been created, dreams have been born and shattered, and perhaps, we are the better for it. Winston Churchill said, "We shape our buildings; thereafter, our buildings shape us." To see Fenway as an outdated relic is to not see Fenway at all.

Bullseye:

Like an oasis in a sea of green, stands one lone red seat. It stands—(or sits) proudly in right field, as a testament to the greatness of Ted Williams and the game he served. The story goes like this: It was a bright, sunny day at Fenway. June 9, 1946. The sun was high in the sky; not a cloud in sight. 56-year-old Joe Boucher, a construction engineer from Albany, New York, was sitting in the right field seat. He pulled the brim of his straw hat down over his eyes to block out the sun of the day…and drifted off to a slight slumber. When falling directly from the sky, came a ball, traveling a mere 502 feet from the tip of Ted Williams bat, to land directly on the head of Mr. Boucher. The Boston Globe’s headline the next day, read, “Bull’s-eye; Ted Williams Knocks Sense Into Yankees Fan”, as Mr. Boucher held up his straw hat, complete with a ball sized hole, for all to see. When asked if he had retrieved the ball, he replied, “after it hit my head, I was no longer interested." Legend has it, that Mr. Boucher said he should take the homerun as a sign from the baseball gods to never root against the Red Sox. It was, and continues to be, the longest home run ever hit in Fenway. Today, section 42, row 37, seat 21, is most certainly, the most famous seat at Fenway.

The Green Monster:

The Green Monster is the moniker of the 37 foot high wall in left field of Fenway Park. The Green Monster wasn't always there, and it wasn't’t always green. In fact, it used to simply be a cliff and on the other side of said cliff, was known as GM Lane and was lined with car dealerships. It is located only about 310-315 feet from home plate, a great advantage for right handed hitters. Naturally balls would fly over the cliff and hit cars, break windows and wreak general havoc on the other side of the cliff. Owner, Tom Yawkey decided to go over and have a look, to see what could be done, but he discovered something much worse than broken windows and dented cars. He discovered people gathering on buildings, sitting on landings and watching the game for FREE. And this could not be. So, ‘the wall’ was erected. It was initially covered with advertisements, but then the players reported that it was hard to hit a white baseball against a white wall. So Yawkey consulted with his wife, who said that the wall should blend in and match the field; hence green was the color it would become. That was in 1947. The Sox also pay millions of dollars each year to 'rent' the airspace above the wall. The green of ‘The Green Monstah’, as it is known today, is a copyrighted, patented color—only available for a lot of moolah, if at all. Today, there are tables and chairs atop the wall. Each February, anyone and everyone can enter a lottery, for a chance to purchase tickets in this section. If you do end up sitting here, look alive: 100 MPH balls fly into this area every couple of minutes. You will most likely go home with a souvenir or a dent in your head.

5 Fun Facts About Fenway:

1) Fenway is the oldest ball park in the MLB.

2) The original wood seats that are still at Fenway are made of oak.

3) Longtime owner Thomas Yawkey, had the opportunity to rename Fenway Park to Yawkey Stadium. He didn't want to do that, to disrupt the history and magic of Fenway. He did wish to be connected to Fenway forever though. So, he chose instead to have his (and his wife’s initials), placed very subtly within the park. TAYJRY, are the initials of Thomas J. Yawkey and his wife Jean R Yawkey. They appear in international Morse code on the Left Field Scoreboard, right under the 'N' of American League.

4) The Grand Opening of Fenway, didn't make the front page of the papers. Fenway opened April 20, 1912---the Titanic sunk April 15, 1912.

5) First time players at Fenway, sign their name ‘inside’ the wall of The Green Monster.

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