A centennial celebration of the Boston Red Sox’s home stadium and the city’s historical landmark.
Fenway Park evokes a team and a sport that have become more synonymous with a city’s identity than any stadium or arena in the country. The park’s instantly recognizable confines have seen some of the most dramatic happenings in baseball history, including Carlton Fisk’s “Is it fair?” home run in the 1975 World Series and Ted Williams’s perfectly scripted long ball in his final at-bat. Watching a game at Fenway means recognizing that the pitcher is standing on the same mound where Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, and Babe Ruth pitched, that a hitter is in the same batter’s box where Ty Cobb and Hank Aaron and Shoeless Joe Jackson dug in to take their swings.
In its long history, Fenway has hosted football, hockey, soccer, boxing, and so much more. It has hosted hundreds of historic events having nothing to do with sports, including concerts, religious gatherings, and political rallies. It was the site of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s final campaign address, as well as performances by Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, and the Rolling Stones. Through it all, the Boston Globe has been the consistent, respected chronicler of every important moment in park history. In fact, the newspaper played a remarkable role in Fenway’s creation and evolution: the Taylor family—founders and longtime owners of the Globe—owned the ballclub in 1912, helped finance the new stadium, and renamed the team the “Red Sox”.
Fenway Park is the Globe‘s insider perspective, combined with more than a century of exemplary journalism, presenting the definitive narrative history of both park and team. It’s a centennial collectors’ item unlike any other, offering exceptional writing and hundreds of rarely seen photographs and illustrations.
Editorial Reviews
Review
Boston Red Thoughts.com
“A must read, and a must have on every Red Sox fans coffee table. Check it out!” Fenway Nation
“You know when you first pick up that fresh new copy of Sports Illustrated and rush to see the latest “how did they do that?” photos at the front? That’s what this entire book is like. Photo after photo will make your jaw drop. Whether it’s a casual pre-game street scene of Boston’s “new” ballpark in 1912, or Curt Schilling standing on the dugout in 2007 showering the crowd with champagne, each image is unforgettable. The Boston Globe’s John Powers and Ron Driscoll weave a compelling story of the park—and the photofest is also peppered with amazing commentaries by Globe writers like Dan Shaughnessy and the Great, Great, Great Bob Ryan. His essays alone are worth the price of this book. Fenway Park—A Salute to the Coolest, Cruelest, Longest-Running Major League Baseball Stadium in America will make the past come alive—from “the Lady With The Megaphone” (Lolly Hopkins) to the man who gave us all the sound of the Red Sox (organist John Kiley). Putting this book on your coffee table will make it the coolest in town.”
Longtime Boston Sportscaster Clark Booth
“We love Fenway Park because we love antiques, be they rocking chairs or ballparks. But we love it even more because the eccentricities of the place mirror our own. It is, like us, difficult and cranky. … Players come and go, but Fenway Park may become an American pyramid.”
Carl Yastrzemski
“I came to love Fenway. It was a place that rejuvenated me after a road trip; the fans right on top of you, the nutty angles. And the Wall. That was my baby, the left-field wall, the Green Monster.”
M.M. Library Journal
“This coffee-table book, commemorating the park’s 100th anniversary, painstakingly re-creates its history, from planning and construction to its role in the surrounding neighborhood and its designation as a symbol of a bygone era. Powers (sports reporter, Boston Globe) and Driscoll (formerly, Boston Globe) explore the unique character of the field and the legendary Green Monster, nemesis of many would-be home-run hitters. With large-format, archival color and black-and-white photos, stories of memorable games, and interviews with past players, this is more than a book about a stadium; it’s a testament to a city, a team, its fans, and the game itself. A treasure for all fans of baseball history, a must-have for Red Sox faithful.”
About the Author
John Powers made his first visit to Fenway on June 14, 1956 when he witnessed a normal ballgame of the era; the Sox nearly blew a five-run lead and Don Buddin made an error. Since joining the Globe sports staff in 1973 he has spent hundreds of hours watching games from the elevated perspective of the press box before heading to the clubhouse to ask the players to explain the inexplicable. He still has no idea why Johnson took out Willoughby. Powers lives outside Boston.
Ron Driscoll attended many Red Sox doubleheaders with his brother, Tom, in the mid-1960s, and later suffered the indignity of living in Kenmore Square surrounded by Yankee fans when he majored in journalism at Boston University in the late 1970s. A former copy editor for the Cape Cod Times and the Boston Globe, he lives in Marstons Mills, Massachusetts, with his wife Kathi and daughters Molly and Meg, and is manager of editorial services for the United States Golf Association.
The Boston Globe, winner of twenty-one Pulitzer Prizes, is New England’s leading daily newspaper. It is wholly owned by The New York Times Company.
