Fenway Park History
The Boston Red Sox once wrote, "One of the joys of New England life is returning to the Chapel that is the home of the Boston Red Sox: Fenway Park. Unlike other Shrines, though, this House of Worship generates electricity. It is a place where visitors can see the invisible murals that have been painted and left behind by the men who have played there in years gone by."
That glorious "chapel" called Fenway began its formal life history in September 1911 when ground was broken by the James McLaughlin Construction Company. Less than a year later the first exhibition game was played and nearly a century later, the hallowed grounds are still standing despite the commercialization of virtually every aspect of the game. Baseball Almanac is pleased to present a comprehensive ballpark analysis of Fenway Park.
The architect who designed Fenway Park was Osborn Engineering and the construction was done by James McLaughlan Construction Company at the cost of $650,000. On January 5, 1934, a major fire destroyed much of Fenway Park. Osborn Engineering & James McLaughlan Construction were brought in once again to fix the park ($575,000 worth of repairs) and the wooden grandstands were replaced with steel & concrete grandstands. The seats were and still are made of solid oak.
Did you know that the RED seat in the right field bleachers at Fenway Park marks the spot where longest home run ever hit inside Fenway Park landed? On June 9, 1946, Ted Williams hit a 502 foot home run off Fred Hutchinson of the Detroit Tigers. Sitting in Section 42, Row 37, Seat 21 was Joe Boucher — a 56-year old construction worker from Albany, New York. The ball hit Boucher on the head dislocating his straw hat and causing him to tell the media, "after it hit my head I was no longer interested (in obtaining the souvenir)."
Fenway Park unusual facts: 1. In 1974 Willie Horton once hit a foul ball that killed a pigeon in flight. 2. While many ballplayers have cleared "the green monster," not one has ever hit a ball over the right-field roof. 3. The foul ball safety screen behind home plate was the first ever in Major League history. 4. The ladder built on the green monster is thirteen feet above the field and designed to allow the groundskeeper a method to retrieve balls hit into the netting (which was removed in 2003 as seats were placed where the net once stood). The ladder still remains and if hit, is the only ground rule triple in all of Major League Baseball. 5. The manual scoreboard in left field was installed in 1934, slightly moved (twenty feet to the right) in 1976, has 16" x 16" alpha / numeric signs that weigh three pounds each & 16x12 signs that weigh two pounds each, and on the back of the scoreboard are autographs from the ballplayers who appeared in left field.
Fenway Park Information
