Fenway Park

Fenway Park is the home ballpark for the Boston Red Sox baseball club. It is located near, and named for, the Fenway neighborhood in the heart of Boston, which in turn is named for the nearby fens, or marshes. It opened on April 20, 1912, the same day as the now-defunct Tiger Stadium in Detroit. This makes it the oldest ballpark still in active use in Major League Baseball.

Changes in the park

In 1946, upper deck seats were installed; Fenway Park is essentially the first double-decked ballpark in Boston since the South End Grounds of the 1880s.

Related Topics:
South End Grounds - 1880s

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In 1947, arc lights were installed at Fenway Park, which made the Sox the third last team out of 16 major to have lights.

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In 1976, metric distances were added to the conventional distances because it was thought that the United States would "go metric". Few ballparks post metrics nowadays, but this steeped-in-tradition ballpark retained them until mid-season in 2002, when they were painted over. Also, Fenway's first message board was added over the centerfield bleachers.

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In 2005, after the Red Sox's World Series Championship season, construction a new under-field drainage system was installed. The installation along with new sod was to prevent the field from becoming too wet to play on during light to medium rains, and to reduce the number of hours needed to dry the field after it rained. Work on the field was completed weeks prior to Spring Training.

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