Fenway Centennial

April 20, 1912:  Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Highlanders 7-6 in 11 Innings.  The game, marking Fenway's first, was supposed to take place on April 18, but heavy rain caused two days worth of delays.  The much ballyhooed park finally opened to a capacity crowd of 24,400.     This park served as an intimate and modern replacement to the Huntington Avenue Fairgrounds, which featured a massive outfield (635 feet to CF), but a small capacity of just over 11,000.  

Fenway Park was the Red Sox new home, and they broke it in stylishly, winning the 1912 World Series.   They also won 3 more titles by 1918.  After that, the Sox were believed to have been affected by a curse, related to the sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees.  The Sox would feel the effects of this "curse" for 86 years, finally breaking through with a World Series sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004.  They won again in 2007.

Today, coming full circle, the Sox will face their much-hated rivals in a celebration of 100 years of baseball at Fenway Park.

Renovations to Fenway since 1912

• 1934: The manual scoreboard was added, with what was then considered high technology lights representing balls and strikes.
• 1946: Upper-deck seats were installed.
• 1947: Arc lights were installed at Fenway. The Sox were one of the last teams to have lights in their home park.
• 1976: Fenway's first message board was added over the center field bleachers.
• 1999: Auxiliary press boxes were added on top of the roof boxes along the first and third base sides.
• 2003: Seats were added to the Green Monster.
• 2004: Seats were added to the right field roof, above the grandstand.
• 2005: Sox completed theiir renovations to the former .406 Club area, resulting in approximately 1300 additional seats.
• 2008: Seats were also added down the left field line called the Coca-Cola Party-Deck. All bleacher seats were also replaced.
• 2011: 3 new scoreboards beyond right-center field were installed.

Fenway Facts

• It cost $650,000 to build Fenway Park in 1912. 
  
• Hugh Bradley hit the first Home Run at Fenway on April 26, 1912. 
  
• The Green Monster was not actually painted green until 1947.
  
• The bullpens were added to help Ted Williams’ home run numbers.  Known as “Williamsburg.” The pens reduced the distance from home plate by 23 feet. 
  
• Fenway's first basketball game was played in1954 when the Harlem Globe Trotters beat the George Mikan All-Stars.
• In 1965, there were two games that had a paid attendance of under 500. 
  
• Sept 28, 1960: In his final career AB, Williams blasted a home run into the bullpen.
  
• Fenway Park has retired seven Red Sox numbers: (1) Doerr, (4) Cronin, (6) Pesky, (8) Yastrzemski, (9) Williams, (14) Rice and (27) Fisk
• Red Sox fans have sold out every Red Sox home game since May 15, 2003; a Major League Baseball record.  
  
• Current Seating Capacity: 37,493 at Night, 37,065 during the day. 
  

-Kevin Aherne