I’ve read three previous entries in the Images of America cities, but this is the first that takes me out of state, deep into the heart of Yankeedom: Boston’s own Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox. Fenway is the oldest continually-operating major league ballpark in the nation, though Birmingham’s Rickwood Field (older by two years) is used by a minor-league team at least once a year when the Barons play a game there in honor of their Negro League namesakes. As a Red Sox fan I’m familiar with Fenway, of course, despite having never been: it features prominently in my gallery of rotating PC wallpapers, and has had a lock on my Pixel’s wallpaper for two years. Even so, this slim photo-history of the park served up surprise after surprise. I had no idea that Fenway was used by the Boston Braves (later the Atlanta Braves), as well, or that it hosted numerous football teams, including the Patriots as well as another set of Boston Braves who later became the Washington Redskins. A soccer club also called Fenway home for a few seasons. Evidently the mid-century fad of building stadiums that could accommodate multiple sports was not sui generis. Fenway has been renovated several times over the last century, of course, the most notable alteration being the arrival of the “Green Monster”. There were other changes I’d forgotten about or never heard of, like the removal of a grassy mound in one corner of the field that was known as “Duffy’s Cliff” because of an outfielder’s ability to race up it in pursuit of hit balls. There are a lot of player shots here, both posed and in-game action. One interesting one is Babe Ruth being carried off the field in his Yankee colors, having succumbed to muscle cramps, and another of two Red Sox players during World War 2 visiting their team on leave and watching the Sox beat the Yankees while in full Army uniform. I have a full history of Fenway I’m going to read next.

Related:
Images of America: Montevallo
Images of America: Selma
Images of America: USS Alabama