Fenway Park

Fenway Park is the oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball (MLB) and the home of the Boston Red Sox since 1912. The Red Sox are the city’s American League baseball team and, since 1953, its only MLB franchise.

In 1911, Red Sox owner John I. Taylor was looking for locations to build a new ballpark. Later that year, his father purchased more than 365,000 sq feet (33,900 sq meters) of land in the neighborhood of Fenway-Kenmore. Taylor called the stadium “Fenway Park,” and while he claimed the name was inspired by the location, some suggested it promoted his family’s company, Fenway Realty.

The first baseball game at the stadium was played on April 9, 1912. But prior to that, Boston was a dominant team in the newly created Major League, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first World Series in 1903 and winning four more championships by 1918.

However, after their winning streak the Red Sox went into one of the longest championship droughts in baseball history. It was dubbed the “Curse of the Bambino” after its alleged beginning with the Red Soxs’ sale of Babe Ruth to the rival New York Yankees. There would be an 86-year wait before the team’s next World Championship in 2004.

Due to the park’s age and constrained location, it has been renovated and expanded many times. This has resulted in some quirky features, including the 37.167 foot (11.329 m) left field wall in the park nicknamed, “The Green Monster.”

April 20, 2012 marked the park’s centennial, and the following month it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Today, Fenway Park is a pending Boston Landmark and one of the most well-known sports venues in the world.