The Boston Red Sox field known as Fenway Ballpark was inaugurated into the league back on April 20, 1912. I was the exact same day that the new stadium in Detroit, Nevin Field (later Tiger Field), hosted its first baseball game. When the park was built in the Fenway marsh area of Boston, the-then American League Boston Pilgrims moved from their stadium located on the future Northwestern University into what has become one of the oldest and most storied ball parks in the Major League.

There’s nothing like seeing the Sox light up the baseball scoreboards at home. Here’s tthe history of, a favorite, Fenway Park.

The most defining feature of the Red Sox Fenway Park is the “Green Monster.” The stadium did not begin with this feature. Originally, there were steel bleachers in left field but these were destroyed, along with most of the park in a 1934 fire that lasted 5 hours before it was extinguished. After the stadium was rebuilt, a large metal wall was put up instead of bleachers so that non-paying fans could not see in. Ten years later it was painted green in order to hide the advertisement behind it. Today the 308 foot high wall is a favorite target for batters, who routinely try, and some succeed, to clear the wall. To prevent damage outside the part, a large net was installed to catch the balls, which was since replaced by bleachers for greater fan capacity. It has also has a ladder that runs to the top of the wall for former access, which has the distinction of being the only ground-rule triple in all of Major League baseball.

On the opposite side of Fenway Ballpark, the right hand bleachers have never seen a ball clear the top roof, which is much higher than the Green Monsteer due to the bleachers. A short 305 feet down the line to the foul pole and short wall. Though the Green Monster attracts the batters and all of the out-of-the-park home runs, the right field has a seat that is colored in red to mark the longest home run hit inside of the park. Hit by Ted Williams back in 1946, the seat is 502 feet measured from the home plate.

Through the history of Fenway Park, gthere have been many updates. It is one of only two original stadiums in the Major Leagues but has been updated innumerable times to keep up with the demands of fans and the modernization of the game. Built ot hold 35,000 fans it can now hold 39,605 and back in 1984 it was upgraded to have box suites running along the top of the stadium and near the infield. Probably the most significant upgrade in the history of Fenway Park came in 2005 on the heels of the Sox first World Series win in decades when the old field was completely removed and instead a flat field with totally new drainage was installed. Though it got rid of the famous mound shape of the old field, everyone is a lot happier when rain delays are just temporary instead of a complete postponement.