Fenway Park

Fenway Park is the home ballpark for the Boston Red Sox baseball club. Fenway Park opened on April 20, 1912, the same day as the now-abandoned Tiger Stadium in Detroit making Fenway Park the oldest ballpark still in active use in Major League Baseball.

It is located near, and named for, the Fenway neighborhood in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Its name comes from when former owner John I. Taylor said, “It’s in the Fenway section of Boston, isn’t it? Then name it Fenway Park.” Fenway hosted the 1946, 1961, and 1999 Major League Baseball All-Star Games.

	Capacity		38,805
	Opened		April 20, 1912
	Owner		Boston Red Sox
	Cost		$650,000
	Architect		Osborn Engineering Corp

Historically, Fenway Park has been decidedly unfriendly to left-handed pitchers. Babe Ruth is one of the few southpaw hurlers who found success there. Ruth started his career as a pitcher (mostly during the “dead-ball era”,) and had a career record of 94 wins, 46 losses (.671 winning percentage). Ruth also set a World Series record by pitching 29 2/3 scoreless innings, a record that lasted until broken by Whitey Ford of the New York Yankees in 1961.

Fenway Park is one of the few remaining classic parks in major league baseball to have a significant number of obstructed view seats. These are sold as such, and are a reminder of the architectural limitations of older ballparks.

‘The Green Monster’

The stadium is most famous for the left field wall called the “Green Monster”. Constructed in 1934, the 37-foot, two-inch high wall is 240 feet long, has a 22-foot deep foundation, and was constructed from 30,000 pounds of Toncan iron. Previously, a 23-1/2-foot tall screen protected cars and pedestrians on Lansdowne Street. However, the screen was replaced after the 2002 season with more seating atop the Green Monster (in an attempt to fit as many seats as possible in Fenway).

The wall measures only 310 feet (94.5 m) from home plate down the left field line (See “Duffy’s Cliff”).

‘The Triangle’

“The Triangle” is a region of center field where the walls form a triangle 420 feet (128 m) from home plate. That deep right-center point is conventionally given as the center field distance.

‘Williamsburg’

“Williamsburg” was the name, invented by sportswriters, for the bullpen area built in front of the right-center field bleachers in 1940. It was done primarily for the benefit of Ted Williams, to enable him and other lefthand batters to hit more home runs, since it was 23 feet closer than the bleacher wall. The name was inspired both by Colonial Williamsburg and Yankee Stadium’s cozy right field area that was often called “Ruthville”.

The Lone Red Seat

The lone red seat in the right field bleachers (Section 42, Row 37, Seat 21), signifies the spot where the longest measurable home run ever hit inside Fenway Park landed. Ted Williams hit the home run on June 9, 1946 off Fred Hutchinson of the Detroit Tigers.

‘The Belly’

“The Belly” is the sweeping curve of the box-seat railing from the right end of “Williamsburg” around to the right field corner. The box seats were added when the bullpens were built in 1940, to make it easier for Ted Williams to hit more home runs. They cut the 1934 remodeling’s right field line distance by some 30 feet.

‘Pesky’s Pole’

Pesky’s Pole is the name for the pole on the right field foul line. The pole was named after Johnny Pesky, a light-hitting shortstop for the Red Sox, who hit some of his six home runs at Fenway Park around the pole but never off the pole (a mere 302 feet from home plate).

Fisk Foul Pole

In a ceremony before the Red Sox’s 2005 interleague game against the Cincinnati Reds, the pole on the left field foul line atop The Green Monster was named Fisk Foul Pole, in honor of Carlton “Pudge” Fisk. Fisk provided one of baseball’s most enduring moments in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series against the Reds. Facing Reds right-hander Pat Darcy in the 12th inning with the score tied at 6-6, Fisk hit a long fly ball down the left field line. It appeared to be heading foul, but Fisk, after initially appearing unsure of whether or not to continue running to first base, famously jumped and waved his arms to the right as if to somehow direct the ball fair. It ricocheted off the foul pole, winning the game for the Red Sox and sending the series to a seventh and deciding game the next night, which was won by Cincinnati.

‘Duffy’s Cliff’

From 1912 to 1933, there was a 10-foot-high incline in front of the then 25-foot high left field wall at Fenway park, extending from the left-field foul pole to the center field flag pole. As a result, a left fielder in Fenway Park had to play part of the territory running uphill (and back down). Boston’s first star left fielder, Duffy Lewis, mastered the skill so well that the area became known as “Duffy’s Cliff”.

The incline served two purposes: 1) it was a support for a high wall; and 2) it was built to compensate for the difference in grades between the field and Lansdowne Street on the other side of that wall. It also served as a spectator-friendly seating area during the dead-ball era when overflow crowds would sit on the incline behind ropes. It is often compared to the infamous left field “terrace” at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field, but, in truth, the 15-degree all-grass incline there served an entirely different purpose: as an alternative to an all dirt warning track found in most other ballparks. It was a natural feature of the site on which Crosley Field and its predecessors were located; slightly less severe inclines were deliberately built in center and right fields to compensate.

‘The Triangle’

There was once a smaller “triangle” at the left end of the bleachers in center field, posted as 388 feet (118.3 m). The end of the bleachers form a right angle with “The Green Monster”, and the flagpole stands within that little triangle. That is not the true power alley, but deep left-center. The true power alley distance is not posted. The foul line intersects with “The Green Monster” at a right angle, so the power alley could be estimated at 336 feet (102.4 m), assuming the power alley is 22.5 degrees away from the foul line as measured from home plate.

‘Canvas Alley’

A phrase made popular by Boston television commentators, “Canvas Alley” is the open alley behind the first base line where the grounds crew sits. Canvas Alley has recently been narrowed to accommodate seats. Contrary to common belief, it does not actually house the tarp. The tarp sits next to the camera pit which is next to the Red Sox dugout.

(source .. wikipedia) reproduced under GFDL

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Fenway Park wikipedia entry
Boston Red Sox website

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