FENWAY PARK

Fenway Park is the oldest stadium still being used in the major leagues. Built in 1912, it has outlasted all of its cotemporaries and most newer ballparks as well. It is famous for it's almost rectangular shape, made even more noticeable by the 37-foot high Green Monster that is the left field wall. It is old, and wearing down, but this grand old lady still has some years left in her, and those in Boston with a penchant for a new ballpark should spend some more time here, and appreciate this classic park that was built with the fan in mind, not the owner's pockets. 

Getting to Fenway is easy - two stops on the Green Line are very close, but the Kenmore stop is closer. Buy your return token in advance, there can be long lineups on the way home. Walking to the stadium, there are plenty of scalpers. Depending on the game, you may be able to get a deal here - with a capacity of around 34,000, Fenway is the smallest park in the majors and thus tickets are at a premium. 

Outside the park, grab a hot dog or a sausage from the many street vendors. There are plenty of souvenir shops as well that sell all things Red Sox. The atmosphere before a game is exciting, especially when the Red Sox are doing well.

The box seats and grandstand seats

The great thing about Fenway is that there are not a lot of bad seats - even seats several rows from the field are right on top of the action, as the foul territory is not very big. But it is one of the most expensive parks to see a game. The Field Box and Loge Box seats are $55 around most of the stadium. The Infield Roof Box is also $55, and provides a unique view as the seats are close to the action. The Grandstand Seats, which are benches between the bases and above the loge seats, are $40, but it is very dark in these seats as there are no lights underneath the roof. As well, avoid the grandstand seats behind home plate because the view is obstructed. As you move toward right field, there are some sections known as Right Field Boxes for $30. The grandstands above them are $25, which is still costly for these types of seats. Budget-conscious fans should go for the lower bleachers at $20, or upper bleachers at $18. The bleachers are far away, and we recommend trying to remain in the infield, as long as you can afford it.

Fenway is unique in so many ways. First is the incredibly small upper deck - about 5 rows down each line. There are some luxury suites just beneath the upper deck, while the Press Box sits on top of the premium seating area known as the 600 club. Of course, there is the Green Monster with the manual scoreboard embedded at the bottom; it is always fun to watch left fielders try to play the unpredictable caroms off the wall. One thing that surprised me was the usage of red lights for both strikes and outs - not confusing, but a bit annoying. The American League out-of-town scoreboard is also manually updated, while the NL scores are occasionally shown on the electronic scoreboard above the bleachers. As well, the Fleet MPH gun is located on one of the light standards, next to the meaningless Coca-Cola bottles, as underneath the milk bottle on the right field light standard, scoring decisions are given after every play.

The Green Monster

Red and white are the signature colours of the Red Sox franchise, and you will notice them as you walk along the dim, narrow, and low concourse - the seating above actually slopes down, so the concourse roof is sloping, a rare sight these days. The support poles that hold up the roof have been painted red, white, and blue, and have their section numbers painted so it is easy to navigate around the stadium. There is also red, white, and blue bunting along the facade beneath the luxury seats; the Bosox pennants are on the facade above those seats. Red numbers on white baseballs signify the retired numbers, including Ted Williams and Carl Yastremski.

Concourse

Food here is average, but there is a decent selection for an older park. The Fenway Frank is OK. There is no designated driver program at this park, which makes it only the second on our trip like this. Fans here have a reputation as good and knowledgeable, but the fans that I saw didn't pay attention to the game, got up repeatedly in the middle of an inning to fetch yet more beer, and left early, making them some of the worst fans on the trip.

But don't let these few morons spoil a great place. Overall, Fenway is old, and will eventually be destroyed, if only because it's capacity is so limiting. But it is unique and should be visited by any ballpark fan - it allows you to see how fans watched baseball 80 years ago. It also has the strangest sight I have seen at any park - in the bleachers, there are bird tracks in the concrete stairs from years before when the stairs were first laid. It serves as a reminder that sometimes old things should not be thrown away, as they always bring back great memories.