Fenway Park touts itself as America’s Most Beloved Ballpark and there may be some truth in that statement. It is the oldest ballpark in MLB opening in 1912 so the 99 year old lady is doing just fine. Like Wrigley the ballpark is full of history and tradition. Fenway has more electrical paraphernalia and a lot more advertising signage. Just like Wrigley they have a scoreboard that is man operated , a man actually comes out between innings with a ladder and puts up numbers on the scoreboard. The scoreboard does have red light, green light indicators for balls and strikes. The ball park is anything but symmetrical with numerous nooks, crannies, and corners where the ball can get stuck or come off at a weird angle. Then there is the Fenway trademark, the Green Monster, the.37 foot wall in left field. There were a couple of balls hit off the wall and one barely hit on top of the wall. A few years ago the Red Sox added seats to top of the wall so now there are people to stop the balls that are not hit completely out of the park. It was a special weekend at Fenway as the cubs returned to town for the first time in 93 years. The last time the Cubs played at Fenway was in the 1918 World Series against the Red Sox. Some upstart pitcher for the Red Sox was the star of the series. I think his name was Babe Ruth. To celebrate the return of the Cubs it was turn back the clock day and both teams wore throw back uniforms from that era. The Red Sox wore a white uniform with no lettering in the front and only a number in the back, white caps and red stockings. The Cubs wore a grey pinstripe with a ubs surrounded by a block ” C ” in the front and numbers on the back, with long grey stockings that looked like Pete Maravich sweat socks. There were thousands of Cub fans in for the game and the street scene outside the stadium was like New Year’s Eve. We saw former great Red Sox star Louis Tiant outside signing autographs. This was a very tough ticket and I felt privileged to be in attendance. We sat in the grandstand which is the first section up from the box seats, in wooden seats. We were above the girder line so we did have a partially obstructed view of left field and the electronic scoreboard in right field. Fenway is a diehard Coke operation which added to the well being of all in attendance. A tradition I absolutely loved took place in the 8th inning where they play Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline and the fans really get into singing along. Again to celebrate the turn back the clock theme they turned off all electronics in the 3rd and 4th innings. Two men dressed in black suits and top hats stood on the dugouts with megaphones and did the PA announcing. I could not hear a word that was said. The game turned out to be quite entertaining. The Red Sox led 3-1 going into the 8th inning. Then the ghost of the Bambino took over and on a combination of walks, hits and errors the Cubs scored 8 runs to send many of the Red Sox faithful home. The park has great character and we had a great time at Fenway.
Game: May 21
Fenway Park, Boston
Cubs 9, Red Sox 3
Accessibility – 8
Stadium Personnel – 8
View – 7
Food – 9
