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Fenway 1912: The Birth Of A Ballpark, A Championship Season, And Fenway's Remarkable First Year (2011)

by Glenn Stout(Favorite Author)

3.78 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0547195621 (ISBN13: 9780547195629)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

review 1: Anyone who has ever spent time at Fenway must read this book. The author did some amazing research. It is a little heavy on the engineering and at times I felt like I needed to be at Fenway personally to see what he was talking about. He does bust many myths both about Fenway and early baseball although I don't think it was always intentional. The park was not built to be a "gem" and wasn't even considered one until very recently. The "green monster" was not always called as such. Oddly, he only looks at written sources for clues as to when it was first used, but I would swear that I heard it used on television earlier than he claims it was first used. Most interesting is his depiction of the ballplayers of old. They were actually probably better educated than toda... morey's players, not the drunks and roughnecks that is commonly believed. Most interesting to me was how the team was divided between warring factions of Protestants and Catholics, hard to believe today.
review 2: I'm not a Red Sox fan, but this was an enjoyable and informative read, written an expert, Glenn Stout. Fenway was one several new stadia -- including Shribe Park in Philly, among others -- that used concrete and steel in construction. This was a huge leap forward from the wooden stadiums of the earlier era; these were flimsy and often burned down. The new parks were better suited to what baseball was becoming in the modern age: mass entertainment. Perfect timing: Fenway turns 100 this year! less

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