Fenway Park has not only served as the home of the Boston Red Sox, but it is one of baseball's few remaining treasures. It has stood the test of time, and given millions of baseball fans long-lasting memories.
The first major league game at Fenway Park was played on April 20, 1912, just a few days after the Titanic sunk. The first ceremonial ball was thrown out by then-Boston Mayor John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, the grandfather to be of John F. Kennedy.
Built at a cost of just $650,000 Fenway Park, according to author Dan Shaughnessy, is today as it has always been, "A friendly neighborhood joint, the corner bar of American sports palaces."
Shaughnessy, a Boston Globe sportswriter and an award winner many times over, is the author or several books including "The Curse of the Bambino." His latest work, "Fenway A Biography in Words and Pictures," stands as a tribute to beautiful Fenway Park.
"Fenway A Biography in Words and Pictures" is a loving tribute to the legends who have played at Fenway, the fans who have cheered there, and the city of Boston which has supported the little ballpark since the doors were opened in 1912.
The book also celebrates the people of Boston, the workers at the Fens like the scorekeepers who have worked the hand-operated board, and the street vendors who peddle their stuff outside the park.
The second oldest (and soon to be the oldest) ballpark in the major leagues - the last of the single-deck theaters - Fenway Park has inspired more enduring praise and outspoken criticism than any American sports arena in history. The Green Monster in left field where Ted Williams, Yaz, and Jim Rice patrolled, the lone red seat that marks Ted Williams's record-setting longest home run hit there, the hand-operated scoreboard at the base of the Wall, the luxury "600 Club" with the press box perched high above, and the Hall of Fame faces make Fenway unique.
Some of that uniqueness comes through in Stan Grossfeld's prize-winning color photography, which also appears in this book. Fenway comes across in all seasons from all vantage points. We are able to see what a home run looks like from a blimp, and what the field looks like viewed from the dugout.
Celebrity interviews give the book a special touch of class. It is very interesting to get the Fenway perspectives of David Halberstram, Stephen King, Bob Costas, Don Zimmer, George Steinbrenner, Carl Yastrzemski, George Will, Bud Selig, Jim Palmer, James Earl Jones, Dennis Eckersley, Bucky Dent, Ken Burns and Doris Kearns Goodwin. And fittingly, Ted Williams pens the foreword.
Dan Shaughnessy notes: "When they raze Fenway, it'll be like cutting down an old tree. Count the rings. There's one for each celebration and heartache suffered by Red Sox' fans."
One of the last major league parks that still features organ music between innings and before and after games, Fenway harkens back to another time, another America. It is just wonderful that this book was written. It is a keepsake for all baseball fans.
(2000)
» Harvey Frommer is the author of 30 sports books, including "The New York Yankee Encyclopedia, "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball,"and "Growing Up Baseball" with Frederic J. Frommer. His A YANKEE CENTURY: A Celebration of the First Hundred Years of Baseball's Greatest Team will be published by Berkley in October 2002.
Also by Harvey Frommer
» Baseball's Mecca: The Hall of Fame in Cooperstown
» Trade a Player a Year Too Early, Not a Year Too Late
» The Yankee Mystique
» Satchel Paige: World's Greatest Pitcher
» "Red Smith on Baseball": Sports Book Review
» The Barry Halper Collection of Baseball Memorabilia: Sports Book Review
» Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson
» Remembering Irving Rudd
» Subway Series
» Midsummer Classic: Midsummer Mockery
» Yankee Stadium's First Opening Day
» The Birth of Baseball's First Professional Team
» Yankee Stadium's First Opening Day
» Gehrig's Streak
» Willie Mays and the Month of May
» Reese was no Pee Wee
» Yankees vs. Red Sox: Baseball's Greatest Rivalry
» Celebrating Hank Greenberg
» Bobby Thomson's Famous Homer Lives On
» Remembering the Yankee Clipper: Joe DiMaggio
» Shoeless Joe Remains a Scapegoat
» The Mets Have Always Been Amazing
» More submissions
Copyright © 2002 by Harvey Frommer. Posted July 25, 2002.
BALLPLAYERS | TEAMS | CHRONOLOGY | TODAY | BOOKS | NEWSLETTER | ERRATA | FAQ
