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Fenway Park
Home of the Boston Red Sox
In 1904, General Charles Henry Taylor purchased a baseball team for his son, John I. Taylor. Formerly known as Puritans, Plymouth Rocks and Pilgrims, the team was officially renamed as the Boston Red Sox in 1907 under Taylor's direction. In 1910, Taylor announced plans for construction of a new ballpark for his team. Due to it's location in the Fenway section of Boston, the new venue was fittingly named Fenway Park. Prior to the opening of Fenway Park, the Red Sox played at Huntington Avenue Grounds, which is now part of Northeastern University.
Fenway Park, current home to the Boston Red Sox, is the oldest ballpark in the Major Leagues. The original opening day was set for April 18, 1912 but, due to rain, the date was postponed for two days. The official opening day, held on April 20, 1912, saw the Red Sox lead a 7-6 win over the New York Highlanders, now known as the New York Yankees, while 27,000 fans watched on.
While much of the world today is all about technology and innovation, Fenway Park believes in preserving the past. In fact, Fenway Park features one of the last manual scoreboards in the Major Leagues, which is used to display scores from other American League games. In 1975, Fenway Park received an electronic scoreboard, which is used to display National League game scores.
Throughout the years, many unforgettable moments have been witnessed at Fenway Park. Among them, Carlton Fisk bats a homerun during a 6-6 tie game in game six of the 1975 World Series. As everyone watched, he threw his arms into the air and began waving the ball into fair territory. Fisk's hit bounced off the foul pole, which lead the Red Sox to a 7-6 victory. Other historical moments include Carl Yastrzemski's 3000th base hit and his 400th career home run in 1979 and Ted Williams in his final major league at-bat game in 1960 during which he hit a home run.
There is a seat, located in the right field bleachers, which has been painted red in order to mark the spot of the longest measurable homerun to be hit inside Fenway Park. The homerun was hit by Ted Williams on June 9, 1946 and measured 502 feet. The theory remains that the ball landed on top of the straw hat belonging to a man sitting in Section 42, Row 37, Seat 21. To this day, that seat remains red as a marker of the longest homerun in Fenway history.
Fenway Park hosted their largest crowd in 1935 as 47,627 fans packed in to see the Red Sox take on the Yankees. Fenway Park's current accommodations, due to strict fire laws and league rules regarding overcrowding, is designed to accommodate 33,871 fans. Each year, fans gather once again to see if records can be broken and to watch for the next greatest moment to be recorded in baseball history.
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