Why A New Fenway Park?:

I have seen the plans and pictures of the new ballpark and they are nothing short of awesome. I love Fenway park as it is now, and I hate to see them tear it down but like the old saying goes, If it goes up, it will come down, and Fenway has been waiting to come down for some time now. The park has been outdated, the seats are uncomfortable, the views are obstructed, there isn’t enough seats for a contending team with the 33,000 or so. If the Sox want to continue to get great players like Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, Nomar Garciappara, and Carl Everett, than they will have to increase the income. They won’t do it by increasing the ticket prices like they have been doing for the last 10 years, they will have to build a new ballpark.

Just think of the new ballparks that were built in old cities where teams and parks already existed. I put it this way because it isn’t really to the point and along the same line to consider the expansion and new teams and their new stadiums, there draw to the ballpark is entirely new and the Red Sox and other teams that went through this are the same team with a different home field. Anyway, those teams are the Cleveland Indians, at Jacob’s Field, the Baltimore Orioles at Camden yards, the Houston Astro’s at Enron Field and the Texas Rangers at the Ballpark in Arlington. All of these teams saw immediate increase in revenue and fan interest after building a new park. The park’s they built were worth going to see alone and the ball game was just the icing on the cake. I remember visiting both Jacob’s Field and Camden Yards when they were brand new and the was extreme excitement in the crowd because of the new park. Those teams felt it was time to modernize and meet the demands of being a contender as a Major League Baseball Team.

The Old Park (current):

Fenway park as we know it won't be there much longer. In order for the Boston Red Sox to compete with other teams in the Major Leagues, they need to first compete with the growing demands that fans put on them at the ballpark. Fans demand comfort, unobstructed views, cleanliness, modern and futuristic facilities, good concessions and numerous and easy to locate bathrooms. As of now, Fenway lack most, if not all, of these. But it is still worth the trip to see this historical gem if you haven’t already taken the trip. I recommend entering the park for the first time from the home plate area so you can get a good view of the Green Monster, the left field wall that makes the park famous. There aren't many old band boxes like Fenway left, so if you can, go see it even if you aren't a Red Sox fan, I can tell you from my own experience, it is well worth it. Speaking of worth it, you better bring some cash because it will cost around $20-$30 just to park if you drive to the stadium. I recommend taking the T and saving money. The great Fenway Frank is over $3 a pop now so you might want to eat before you get there.

The park today is a historical gem of the United States. Boston is a historical Mecca, and Fenway Park is the center of it, but instead of having a wailing wall, it has a Green Monster.

The Green Monster:

This is a 36 foot high wall from left field to center that you really have to see to believe. It truly is a monster. Hitters come into Fenway and see the short poke to left field because it is only 310 feet down the line and they think they can easily hit a home run there. That monster has swallowed many balls and kept many line drives in the ball park over the years. In 1936 the team put a 25 foot high fence/net over the monster to keep balls from going across the street and breaking windows. Now a ball would have to be at least 60 feet off the ground and 310 feet away from home plate to clear the monster and it’s sidekick the net.
The fence was originally made that high because the field could be no longer in left field and they needed to make it more of a challenge to hit a home run to left. Also an even bigger reason was to keep people who didn’t buy tickets from seeing the game. It was well used from 1912 until 1947 as a huge advertisement or classified page. The team sold wall space for adds for razor blades, to hotdogs. It wasn’t until 1947 when it was totally painted over and it was named The Green Monster.
Great outfielders played under the wall over the years for the Red Sox. Ted Williams was one of the first. Others were Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, Carl Yastrzemski, and even Mike Greenwell played the wall excellently. I have seen many line drives and deep balls turned into singles by great outfielders for the Red Sox who new how to play a ball off the wall. The Red Sox have made many off season moves and line ups because of the Monster. Big slow right handed hitters who could lift the ball and hit lazy pop flies at most parks feasted at Fenway. Balls that were hit at directly at the left fielder kept the runner on second from scoring because the left fielder could afford to play shallow because the monster was so closely behind him.

Big Crowds and Little Crowds:

Fenway has seen some very big crowds over the years for a park that actually has the lowest seating capacity of all the Major League Ballparks, 33,871. The largest crowd to ever see a game at Fenway was 47,627. The game was on September 22nd and it was actually a double header against the New York Yankees. On August 12, 1934, 46,766 fans saw Babe Ruth for the last time at Fenway Park. The reason why so many people crowded into Fenway and they can’t now is because of very strictly enforced fire codes.

The Red Seat:

There is a seat painted Red in the right field bleachers that marks the spot of a Ted Williams home run that the Splendid Splinter hit on June 9th, 1946. The seat is in section 42, Row 37 and it is seat 21. It is 502 feet away from home plate, a blast. I have never sat there because it is a long way from the action but you might find me there this year before it is gone.

Pesky’s Pole:

Pesky’s Pole is the Foul Pole in Right field, another short distance from home plate like that of the right field foul pole. Red Sox great Johnny Pesky hit the pole for a game winning home run and bounced a couple more off of the pole during his career so they named the pole after him. Pesky played in the 1950's but the foul pole didn’t really get named Pesky’s pole until the announcers made it stick in the 1990's.

A Titanic Opening:
It opened on April 20, 1912. 27,000 Red Sox fans came after being rained out for two straight days prior to the 20th The game was fittingly against The New York Highlander’s, who we know today as the New York Yankees. They are the Red Sox arch rival. The Red Sox won after 11 innings when Hall of Fame’r, Tris Speaker drove in the winning run to break a 6-6 tie and put the Red Sox on top, 7-6. If that date sounds familiar to you and you can’t put your finger on it, it was the Titanic sinking that kept the Sox first game at Fenway off the front pages. Just a trivia note for you Die-Hard’s, that was the first Major League game at Fenway park, the first baseball game was against Harvard University on April 9th, the Red Sox won 2-0.

Recommended: Yes