I grew up hating the Boston Red Sox. Sorry Red Sox fans, just being honest. I hated the players, the history of the team and especially the ballpark. I thought Fenway Park was the miniature golf course of major league baseball. It had a big goofy wall in left field, a little tiny wall in right field and a center field wall that was what seemed like a mile from home plate. The only thing missing was a clown’s mouth to hit the ball in to get two runs. Whenever we’d play ball in front of my grandparents’ house on Liberty Avenue I’d always pretend I was Reggie Jackson crushing homers over the Green Monster.<\/p>\n
I’d been to Fenway once before when I was younger. It was ok. We went in the gate closest to our seats, sat down, watched the game and left. This past week I went for the second time while hosting a group trip. For whatever reason, I took the time to walk completely around the outside of the park. I did the same with the inside. I went everywhere I had access to. This time it was different. I actually felt appreciation and a little bit of love for Fenway Park! Was my loyalty to the Yankees wavering? Was I going insane? Was the combination of beer and sun making me delirious?<\/p>\n
I know I’m still not a Red Sox fan so what could it have been that changed my perspective. Then it dawned on me. Like Fenway Park – I’m old.<\/p>\n
The things I mocked as a kid came from a lack of understanding. There’s a rich history in that ballpark that just doesn’t exist anywhere else. It’s now the only existing park that Babe Ruth played in. There’s actually a red seat in the bleachers that marks the longest home run ever hit there (by Ted Williams). There’s so much to appreciate like the Pesky Pole, the ladder to nowhere on the Green Monster, the painted brick walls, the manual scoreboard and the dents on the Green Monster that are decades old. I even appreciate the narrow, dark concourses that make you feel like you’ve just traveled back in a time machine. Fenway Park is oozing with character. It’s genuine. It’s real.<\/p>\n
Fenway shouldn’t exist. Like Yankee Stadium, it should have been knocked down and replaced with some fancy, shiny, overpriced, oversied version of itself. Fenway Park is a testament that old isn’t bad. It isn’t the biggest park with the best selection of food and playgrounds for the kids. Ranking it on amenities alone would put it pretty low on anyone’s list. But none of that matters.<\/p>\n
Fenway contunues to be one of the jewels of Major League Baseball. From certain perspectives it could be mistaken as being faded and worn. But it’s not. Just like us, it just keeps gaining character.<\/p>\n
R.I.P Johnny Pesky.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I grew up hating the Boston Red Sox. Sorry Red Sox fans, just being honest. I hated the players, the history of the team and especially the ballpark. I thought Fenway Park was the miniature golf course of major league…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":177,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n