|
|
|
|
|
Fenway Park | Fenway Park | | Fenway Park | | Facility Statistics | | Location | 4 Yawkey Way
Boston, Massachusetts 02215 | | Broke Ground | 1911 | | Opened | April 20, 1912 | | Surface | Grass | | Owner | Boston Red Sox | | Construction Cost | $650,000 USD | | Architect | Osborn Engineering | | Tenants | | Boston Red Sox | 1912-present | | Boston Patriots | 1963-1967 | | Boston Redskins | 1933-1936 | | Boston Yanks | 1944-1948 | | Seating Capacity | | 1912 | 35,000 | | 1953 | 34,824 | | 1965 | 33,524 | | 1977 | 33,513 | | 1989 | 34,182 | | 1993 | 34,218 | | 2001 (day games) | 33,557 | | 2001 (night games) | 33,993 | | 2003 | 33,871 | | Dimensions | | Left Field | 310 ft / 94.5 m | | Left-Center | 379 ft / 115.5 m | | Center Field | 390 ft / 119 m | | Center Field (deep) | 420 ft / 128 m | | Right-Center | 380 ft / 116 m | | Right Field | 302 ft / 92 m | | Backstop | 60 ft / 18 m | Fenway Park is the home ballpark for the Boston Red Sox baseball club. It is located near, and named for, the Fenway neighborhood in the heart of Boston, which in turn is named for the nearby fens, or marshes. It opened on April 20, 1912, the same day as the now-defunct Tiger Stadium in Detroit. This makes it the oldest ballpark still in active use in Major League Baseball. The stadium is most famous for the "Green Monster", the imposing, 37-foot-(11-meter)-tall left field wall, only 310 feet (94.5 meters) from home plate down the left field line. From 1912 to 1933, there was a 10-foot-(3 meter)-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 center field flag pole. As a result of the mound, 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 purpose of this mound was similar to that of the famous "terrace" at Cincinnati's Crosley Field: partly as a supporting earthworks for a high wall, and partly to make up the difference in grade between the field and the street on the other side of that wall. It also served as a spectator-friendly seating area during the dead-ball days when overflow crowds would sit behind ropes on that slope. As part of the 1934 remodeling of the ballpark and the wall itself, Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey arranged to flatten the ground along the base of the wall, so that Duffy's Cliff no longer existed and became part of the lore of Fenway Park. Thus the base of the left field wall is several feet below the grade level of Lansdowne Street, accounting for the occasional rat that might spook the scoreboard operators. (As per the book The Fenway Project, 2004, Rounder Books, published for The Society for American Baseball Research). Other notable features include "The Triangle", a region of center field where the walls form a triangle 420 feet (128 meters) from home plate; "Williamsburg", the bullpens built in front of the right-center field bleachers (named for Ted Williams, and parodying Yankee Stadium's much-closer right field area that was called "Ruthville"); "The Belly", the sweeping curve of the box-seat railing from the right end of "Williamsburg" around to the right field corner; "Pesky's Pole" — the foul pole down a shallow right field line named for Johnny Pesky a light-hitting shortstop when he once wrapped a homer around it; and the lone red seat in the right field bleachers (Section 42, Row 37, Seat 21). The seat is painted red to mark 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 blast was measured at 502 feet (153 meters), well beyond Williamsburg. There was once a smaller "triangle" at the left end of the bleachers, posted as 388 feet (118.3 meters). The end of the bleachers form a right angle with the Monster, and the flagpole stands within that little triangle. In 1968 the bleacher wall was extended to encase the flagpole and take it out of play. Where that extension meets the Monster a new sign was posted, 379 feet (115.5 meters). That is not the true power alley, but deep left-center. The true power alley distance is not posted. The foul line hits the Monster at a right angle, so the geometrically inclined in the audience could calculate the true power alley, based on the sine of 22.5 degrees. Companion metric distances were first posted in 1976, a time when it was thought that the United States would "go metric". Few ballparks post metrics nowadays, but this steeped-in-tradition ballpark has retained them. The posted "power alleys" are 379 feet (115.5 meters) from home plate in deep left center field and 380 feet (116 meters) from home plate to "average" right field. Straightaway center field is 389 feet 8 inches (118.8 meters), usually rounded to 390, and not posted. The 420 (128 meters) posted distance in deep right-center is usually given as the centerfield distance. For decades there was debate about the true left field distance, which was posted as 315 feet (96 meters). In 1995 the line was finally remeasured and posted as 310 feet. The companion 96 meters sign remained unchanged, until 1998 when it was finally corrected to 94.5. One theory is that the 315 came from the Duffy's Cliff days, that ballpark officials had included the slope of the incline in the measurement, and did not correct that figure when the cliff was leveled. A quick study of the geometry of it suggests that that argument has merit. Regardless of the posted distance, frustrated pitchers will always argue that the Monster is closer than the sign says. Fenway is known as a hitter's ballpark, especially during July and August when the wind blows out to left field, carrying balls up to and over the Green Monster. However, the 1990 expansion of the press box had the unintended effect of blocking these winds somewhat. As a result, the park has been less hitter-friendly since then. The park holds approximately 34,000 spectators. This number has increased over the years as seats have been added in what was once foul ground and throughout the upper decks, and most recently on top of the Green Monster and atop the right field wall. Some people have proposed increasing the seating capacity by up to 10,000 more seats through the expansion of upper decks, while others have proposed tearing down the stadium and rebuilding a similar one nearby. With seats now running along all or most of the rooftop, Fenway Park has essentially become the first double-decked ballpark in Boston since the South End Grounds. The National Football League's Boston Redskins played at Fenway from 1933 to 1936. The American Football League's Boston Patriots played at Fenway from 1963 to 1968. The one-time crosstown rival Braves used Fenway as their home ground during the 1914 World Series. External links
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|