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OPENING DAY OF FENWAY PARK |
ON THIS DATE (April 20, 1912) ...
The weather finally permitted the game to be played, however people from
out of state didn’t show up because the hundreds of excursionists who had
made plans to attend days before and had those plans cancelled
because of the weather. Both teams had a practice session in the
morning. Fans began to arrive after noon. The decorations,
which had been in place for three days, looked a bit bedraggled by the
rain, but the new park was a cheery spectacle.
Streetcars brought fans to
the corner of Lansdowne and Jersey St because the subway had not yet been
extended into Kenmore Square. Section L of the third base grandstand
had been reserved for invited guests.
The mayor of Boston John F
“Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, grandfather of President John F. Kennedy, was on
hand and threw out the first pitch, with Boston Marathon winner, Michael
Ryan at his side. Ticket prices ranged from 25c in the bleachers,
50c in the pavilion seats, 75c for unreserved grandstand, $1.25 for the
reserved grandstand and $1.50 for box seats.
The outfield was roped off
to hold back a couple of thousand standing customers. There would be
no possibility of a home run or triple, because the ground rules between
the managers, Stahl and Wolverton, stated that a ball hit into the crowd
would be a ground-rule double.
On the field, the Red Sox christened their brand new ball park with a 7-6 win over the New York Highlanders after 11 innings of great baseball. The Sox won it in the eleventh on
an error by Cozy Dolan, setting up Tris Speaker to deliver the game
winning walkoff single. Steve Yerkes was 5 for 7 at the plate. |
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