One of the things I love most about Boston is the incredible history that can be found around every corner of this city – from the Old State House to Southie; the Harbor to the Charles River. History is everywhere.
My good friend Eric – whom I went to high school with in Cazenovia, NY – landed a pair of free tickets to yesterday’s Boston Red Sox game, and generously invited me to join him. The weather was warm and the $12 beers were cold.
The home team was in the middle of a four-game series with the Chicago White Sox, who were ultimately the stronger team that night. The game ended as a 2-9 loss for the Red Sox.
Despite the final score, watching baseball at Fenway Park is always a great experience. The 103-year-old park at 4 Yawkey Way has remained largely unchanged – aside from a few modern renovations – and still features the famous high left field wall known as the “Green Monster.”
As the oldest (and fourth-smallest) ballpark in Major League Baseball, it’s seen its fair share of historic games, concerts and even political campaigns.
Fenway Park hosted its first game in April 1912, just a few days after the Titanic sank. Two years later, left-handed pitcher Babe Ruth joined the Red Sox, leading the team to a victory in his very first game and many more after – including the 1918 World Series.
Following the conclusion of the 1919 season, he was sold to the New York Yankees for around $100,000.
So began the “Curse of the Bambino,” the 86-year period during which the Boston ballclub failed to win the World Series. The curse ended, of course, in 2004 when the Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals.
Eric and I discussed none of this as we ate peanuts and watched the game unfold from the bleachers, but it was still neat to know that we were sitting in the century-old ballpark that helped shape Boston into the city it is today.
On my way home, I took the T – the nation’s oldest transportation system, which was established even before the country’s independence was! History is everywhere.
Pierce H. Smith 