Alex's Baseball Across America: Fenway Park Review

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F E N W A Y P A R K

August 30, 2011

New York Yankees v. Boston Red Sox

7:10pm

New York 5, Boston 2

WP: Sabathia (18-7, 2.99 ERA)

LP: Lackey (12-10, 5.94 ERA)

S: Rivera (35)

Attendance: 37,773

Time: 3:59

72 degrees, partly cloudy

Everyone knows Fenway Park. It’s the last of the old ones around and doesn’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon, nor should it. It turns 100 next year. It is arguably the most unique park in all of baseball. There’s very few things here that you’ll find in other places. It also houses some of the rowdiest fans in baseball.

This was the first game of a three game series between the Yankees and the Red Sox, the biggest rivalry in baseball, and probably the biggest in all of U.S. professional sports. The only problem when these two get together is that they take FOREVER. This was 1 minute shy of a 4 hour game. Nope...no extra innings. Just a lot of moping around the mound after EVERY SINGLE PITCH. I love baseball, but even I was getting impatient. Get the ball and throw it. Oh, it actually was a decent game. The Yankees won 5-2. The Yankees’ Cervelli absolutely cranked one over the Monster in the 5th. The Sox did manage to get the tying run to the plate in the 9th, but Rivera was on the mound and the Yankees are now only 1/2 game behind the Sox.

The Atmosphere: It’s Fenway. It’s good any day of the year. This was Red Sox/Yankees. I actually expected it to be a little more keyed up than it was. I got there almost 4 hours before first pitch and there were plenty of people around. The bars around the park were full. There is something in the air here when it comes to baseball. It’s hard to know where to rank this place, because it’s apples and oranges. It’s a good atmosphere but it’s different. There’s a friendliness at other places that isn’t here, but it’s Fenway!

The Scorecard: Disappointing. I thought they’d have a real one here. It’s an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of paper shoved in a $5 program. You have to buy the program to get this sheet of paper. Trust me, it is no more than a sheet of paper. The piece of paper does have empty boxes. The guy over from me commented, “How do you keep score without the diamond in there?” Seriously? I ranted about how much diamonds irk me and directed him to my blog.

The Hot Dog: The Fenway Frank. A classic. It was good but not a top 5. Not grilled, and that was the big kicker because it actually did have descent taste. The bun is a sandwich-like bun and was good. “Dog and a beer.”

The Broadcasters: Called a good game. Not classic radio voices. Not top 5, but I’d listen to them again.

Entertainment: I was surprised at how quiet the 7th inning stretch was. That was actually kind of weird. They do belt out “Sweet Caroline” after the top of the 8th. The mascot is a green something known as “Wally the Green Monster”. They advertise a Red Sox personality signing autographs everyday on Yawkey Way. I was too busy to go.

Piece of paper.

For game-used items they direct you to Steiner Sports if you want specifics. The Yawkey store does have used balls from random games, along with other game-used items.

Views from Around the Park:

Other words: A baseball icon...go see it!

Gripes: Scorecard...fix it.

F E N W A Y P A R K

B O S T O N , M A S S A C H U S E T T S

H O M E O F T H E R E D S O X

If you ever go to a game a Fenway, go early. Not because of the crowd but because there’s stuff to do. Get there early enough and you can take a tour during BP and watch some from the Green Monster. The best thing to do, though, is to get there early and lineup outside Gate C. If you are a member of Red Sox Nation, you can get in almost an hour before fans are allowed in the bleacher area to take in BP (you can become a member while standing in line, just give the lady your $15). Not only can you go to the bleachers, but you can go to the Green Monster and sit there for the entire hour. Balls scream up here. BRING A GLOVE. I didn’t. Wish I had or I would have had a good souvenir. The gates at Yawkey Way open a couple hours prior to game time giving you infield access. The rest of the park opens 1-1/2 hours prior, and that is when you must exit the Monster if your seats aren’t there. The bleachers are also a good place to try to get a bouncer during BP.

The Crowd: Loud. There is absolutely no artificial noise here. None. No organ. No “Let’s Get Louder”. No “Clap your hands”. It’s all the fans here. I was surprised that they left early here. It was only a 3-run game and at least 1/3 were gone by the last out. I saw no scorekeepers and no radios. I stood by some guys who work somewhere around the metro area. One was from New Hampshire and this was his first Sox game in 10 years.

The Stadium: The oldest in baseball. 1912. The Green Monster. Pesky’s Pole. The Triangle. The Fenway Frank. Yawkey Way. The Red Sox. The stadium itself has undergone a lot of changes over the years, but it’s changed little since the 1940s. The tall wall in left has always been there. The manual scoreboard was added in 1934. The upper deck was installed in 1946. Lights came around in 1947--how long did Chicago wait? Seats were added to the Green Monster in 2003. New outfield scoreboards were added this year--I like them. Not to digress here too much, but the new scoreboards at many of the stadiums look great! You can tell a real difference. Busch will need to upgrade. Some places I’m surprised not to see them. The stadium sat 35,000 when it opened. Now, you can get close to 38,000. There were talks of a new park in the late-1990s, either building it around Fenway or doing something similar to what Philadelphia did and having a Sports Complex with other stadiums. That would have been a disaster. The seats are mostly new except for the upper grandstand. Those are still old wood seats, which are classic! I don’t think you find those anywhere else anymore. They actually removed and refurbished them this year. There are lots of obstructed view seats around. You can get some of those pretty cheap. I got a $25 standing room ticket for the first base pavilion. Perfect! Had a drinking bar so I could sit my scorecard there (at least what they consider a scorecard...see below). Stadium is easy to access from “the T” and there are bars all over the place. One is called The Bleacher Bar, and you can actually sit there and see inside Fenway anytime of the year!

The Green Monster stands 37 feet, 2 inches. 310 feet down the line. There’s even a ladder on it which serves no purpose. It’s known as “The Ladder to Nowhere”. If a ball gets stuck here, it’s a ground-rule triple! The only place that can happen in baseball. Pesky’s Pole is crazy. I never realized the angle it was in comparison to everything else. If you hit it directly down the line in right, you only need to chip it out there 302 feet. I’d recommend not aiming for center, as you will need 420 feet and some height--the area out here is The Triangle.

I could go on forever, but I’ll stop. Get in your car, go on a plane, or jump a train and go. Take the tour. Go to a game.

S T A T I S T I C S U P D A T E

MLB Games Seen

23 of 31

Days

60 of 86

Driving Miles

12,680 of an estimated 18,735

Estimated Gallons of Gas

667 of an estimated 1,102

States

Hot Dogs Eaten

Too Many

Border Crossings

0 of 2

P R E D I C T I O N S U P D A T E

(AFTER 22 OF 30 GAMES)

Runs

195 of 249

Hits

393 of 512

Errors

29 of 36

Home Runs

51 of 65

Doubles

85 of 101

Triples

9 of 10

Sacrifices (Hits & Flies)

23 of 31

Strikeouts

342 of 415

Walks

130 of 189

Home Team Wins

15 of 17

Complete Games

1 of 1

Shutouts

1 of 2

Saves

13 of 15

Blown Saves

5 of 7

Balks

1 of 2

Wild Pitches

7 of 19

Hit Batters

9 of 18

(4 in this game!)

Walk-offs

2 of 2

Stolen Bases

23 of 40

Caught Stealing

9 of 15

Ejections

3 of 4

(2 in this one. Yankees Pitching Coach Rothschild in the 7th and Yankees Manager Girardi in the 9th)

Smallest Crowd

18,640

The Coliseum, Oakland

July 27th, Tampa Bay v. Oakland

Largest Crowd

45,633

Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia

August 18th, Arizona v. Philadelphia

B A L L P A R K R A N K I N G S

The Stadium

1. PETCO Park, San Diego

2. AT&T Park, San Francisco

3. Fenway Park, Boston

4. Target Field, Minneapolis

5. Comerica Park, Detroit

6. Wrigley Field, Chicago

7. Safeco Field, Seattle

8. PNC Park, Pittsburgh

9. Minute Maid Park, Houston

10. Chase Field, Phoenix

11. Progressive Field, Cleveland

12. Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia

13. Citi Field, New York

14. Miller Park, Milwaukee

15. Coors Field, Denver

16. Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati

17. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington

18. U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago

19. Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City

20. Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles

21. Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim

22. The Coliseum, Oakland

The Atmosphere

1. AT&T Park, San Francisco

2. Fenway Park, Boston

3. Target Field, Minneapolis

4. PETCO Park, San Diego

5. Wrigley Field, Chicago

The Crowd

1. AT&T Park, San Francisco

2. Fenway Park, Boston

3. Target Field, Minneapolis

4. Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia

5. Miller Park, Milwaukee

The Scorecard

1. Target Field, Minneapolis

2. Comerica Park, Detroit

3. AT&T Park, San Francisco

4. Citizens Bank Ballpark, Philadelphia

5. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington

The Hot Dog

1. Coors Field, Denver

2. AT&T Park, San Francisco

3. Progressive Field, Cleveland

4. Citi Field, New York

5. Wrigley Field, Chicago

The Broadcasters

1. Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles

2. AT&T Park, San Francisco

3. Miller Park, Milwaukee

4. Target Field, Minneapolis

5. Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia

The Fenway Frank.

One of the highlights came when Derek Jeter fouled a ball up our way. It bounced around and a guy down and to the left came up with it. The ball was perfect. Big black mark from the bat just below the MLB logo, and it was off the bat of Mr. 3000! What a keeper!

File Photo. Freda and Wally in 2007.

The Monster. Most of it is manually controlled behind the wall. The National League scores are done outside the wall. A guy comes out with a ladder and fixes them between innings. I like this “Fenway Green” color.

The Bleacher Bar. Of note, Fenway actually has no bleachers at all. They are all real seats. This bar is actually outside the stadium, meaning you don’t need a ticket to get in. NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY. This is the batter’s eye.