BallparkFenway Park measures 310 feet (94.5 meters) down the left field line: 379 feet (115.5 meters) in left center field; 390 feet (118.9 meters) in center field; 420 feet (128 meters) in deep center field; 380 feet (115.8 meters) in deep right field; and 302 feet (92 meters) down the right field line.
The left field wall -- also known as the Green Monster -- measures 37 feet (11.3 meters) high. The center field wall is 17 feet (5.2 meters) high, the bullpen fences measure five feet (1.5 meters) and the right field fence is 3 to 5 feet (0.9 to 1.5 meters) high.
Opening Day for Fenway Park was April 20, 1912. The Red Sox defeated the New York Highlanders (later named the Yankees) 7-6 in 11 innings before 27,000 fans. Tris Speaker drove in the winning run.
Fenway Park was actually due to open two days earlier, on April 18; however, there were two postponements due to rain.
Of course, the opening of Fenway Park was pushed off the front pages of Boston newspapers by news of the Titanic sinking. Navin Field (later known as Tiger Stadium) in Detroit opened the same day as Fenway Park.
Prior to 1912, the Red Sox played their home games at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, now part of Northeastern University.
The Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds, an all-wooden structure, had a seating capacity of 9,000. The Boston gmes in the first World Series in 1903 were played there. The first game at the Huntington Grounds was played on May 8, 1901 in front of an overflow crowd of 11,500 fans as hurler Cy Young pitched the Boston team to a 12-4 win over the Philadelphia Athletics.
Besides the Red Sox, several other teams have played in Fenway Park.
In 1914, while Braves Field was under construction, the "Miracle Boston Braves" played their World Series games in Fenway. The Braves swept the favored Philadelphia A's in four games.
The Boston Patriots — now the New England Patriots — were fall occupants from 1963-68 before eventually ending up in Foxboro. The Patriots, however, were not the first pro football team in Fenway. The Boston Redskins played four years here before heading to Washington in 1937. The Boston Yanks played here from 1944-48 prior to traveling to New York, Dallas, Baltimore (where they became the Colts) and now Indianapolis.
Collegiately, Boston College teams mostly of the Frank Leahy era, and Boston University with stellar quarterback Harry Agganis (later a promising Red Sox first baseman who died during the 1955 season) also played home games in Fenway Park.
Constructed for the 1912 season, the new ballpark was named by then Red Sox owner John I. Taylor because it was built in an area of Boston known as the Fens. As Taylor said, "It's in that section of Boston, isn't it? Then call it Fenway Park."
Taylor, by the way, was also the person who changed the club's name from the Pilgrims to the Red Sox in 1907.
The biggest baseball crowd at Fenway ever was 47,627 for a Yankees doubleheader on September 22, 1935.
Previous to that, 46,995 fans attended a Detroit Tigers doubleheader on August 19, 1934. One week earlier, on August 12, 1934, a crowd of 46,766 said goodbye to Babe Ruth at a Yankees doubleheader. (The Babe actually did not retire after the 1934 season, but played one more year with the Boston Braves.)
Those crowds will never be equaled under Fenway's current dimensions. After World War II, more stringent fire laws and league rules prohibited the overcrowding that was so common in the 1930s. The current capacity of Fenway Park is 36,108 for night games and 35,692 for day games.
From 1912 to 1933, there was a 10-foot-high mound that formed an incline in front of the left field wall at Fenway park, extending from the left-field foul pole to the centerfield flag pole. As a result of the mound, a left fielder in Fenway Park had to play the entire territory running uphill. Boston's first star left fielder, Duffy Lewis, mastered the skill so well that the area became known as Duffy's Cliff.
In 1934, Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey arranged to flatten the ground in left field so that Duffy's Cliff no longer existed and became part of the lore of Fenway Park.
Absolutely! Fenway Park has one of the last hand-operated scoreboards in the Major Leagues in the left-field wall. Green and red lights are used to signal balls, strikes, and outs.
Each scoreboard number used to indicate runs and hits measures 16 inches by 16 inches and weighs three pounds. The numbers used for errors, innings, and pitcher's numbers measure 12 inches by 16 inches, and weigh two pounds each.
Whereas all other ballgame scores used to be displayed on the manual scoreboard, only scores from other American League games are posted there now during Red Sox games. That change to the scoreboard occurred in 1975, when the wall was remodeled and when Fenway Park's first electronic scoreboard was installed. Scores from ongoing National League games are now displayed on the electronic scoreboards around Fenway Park.
Behind the manual scoreboard is a room where the walls are covered with signatures of players who have played at Fenway Park over the years. Also, the initials TAY and JRY — for Tom Yawkey and Jean Yawkey — appear in Morse code in two vertical stripes on the scoreboard.
