When planning our first visit to Boston, it felt essential to include a Fenway Park visit to watch the Red Sox play. We had enjoyed baseball games in Seattle and Toronto before, so we were keen to experience a game at the oldest ballpark in the US. This blog is a tourist’s experience of a Red Sox game, ideal if you have never been to Fenway Park or want to know what to expect at a baseball game.
Fenway Park has been home to the Boston Red Sox since 1912 and is the oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball. Book Red Sox tickets ahead for an April to October home game, arrive early to walk the outside of the stadium, and consider a pre game stadium tour to see behind the scenes.
Home to the Boston Red Sox since 1912, Fenway Park is the oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball and known as America’s most beloved ballpark: a pilgrimage for baseball fans and a big attraction for Boston visitors. One claim to fame – JFK’s grandfather, John F Fitzgerald, threw the first pitch here.
A major renovation in 1934, squeezed by the surrounding streets, left the ground with some famous quirks:
The Triangle: A section of deep centre field where the outfield walls form an odd triangular shape, tough on fielders and occasionally the source of inside the park home runs.
Pesky’s Pole: Named after Johnny Pesky, the right field foul pole stands just 92 m (302 ft) from home plate, the shortest home run distance in MLB.
The Green Monster: The 11.3 m high left field wall, with a manual scoreboard at the bottom and seats along the top.
Capacity is just over 37,000, and despite years of calls for a bigger modern stadium, the decision is always to stick with treasured Fenway. The name comes from the Fenway-Kenmore neighbourhood, reclaimed marshland that now buzzes with green spaces, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Symphony Hall, Time Out Market and a lively restaurant scene.
The baseball season runs April to October, so plan your Boston dates around a Red Sox home game; the fixture list is a quick search away. Even better if you can catch the Red Sox against the New York Yankees, when the rivalry makes for an electric atmosphere.
From the UK we booked through Ticketmaster, which resells via MLB Ballpark – once purchased, you download the MLB App to access your tickets. All straightforward in our experience. Ours were for the Red Sox against the Detroit Tigers on a Sunday afternoon.
Check a seat view website before booking to avoid restricted views behind support posts. The main choices:
Grandstand: We sat in section 10, row 5, with a good view over the whole pitch, conveniently in the shade on an unexpectedly hot late September day.
The Green Monster: The most coveted seats in the house, on top of the famous wall, with bar stools and tables for your drinks and snacks, at a higher cost.
The Bleachers: Historically the cheap seats, tiered benches in the sun, and where locals say you get the best atmosphere and banter.
A variety of stadium tours run at Fenway, taking you behind the scenes to the press box, locker room and Green Monster seats, with pre game tours letting you look around before watching a game.
Parking is limited, so walk or take the T – the Green Line C or D to Kenmore or Fenway, the Green Line B to Kenmore, or the Commuter Rail to Lansdowne Station, a short walk away.
Anticipation builds as you walk in among the Red Sox fans and the green stadium rises on the horizon. Arrive early and lap the outside of the ground to spot:
The Bleacher Bar at Gate A: Enter at street level on Lansdowne Street and find a bar tucked beneath the bleachers, with a big window looking straight onto centre field.
The Teammates statues at Gate B: Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr and Dom DiMaggio, four Hall of Famers, teammates for years and friends for life.
The red number 34 on David Ortiz Drive: The Red Sox slugger so well regarded they named the road after him, west of the ballpark.
Expect a bag search and security check on entry – no large bags, and no food or drink brought in. Cameras with lenses under 15 cm are allowed, including detachable lenses; my digital SLR came through fine. Inside, food and merchandise stands on the ground level will kit you out with hats, t shirts and the obligatory foam hands.
The blue wooden Grandstand seats date to 1934 and have no padding whatsoever, and games run 2.5 to 3 hours. Once we tired of waving our foam hands, we sat on them. Welcome padding.
A constant stream of vendors works the aisles selling lemonade, Italian ice, cotton candy and Fenway Franks. Buying is a communal effort – gesture to the vendor, the hotdog travels down the row hand to hand, and your money travels back up. Everyone joins in.
Nut allergy alert: My son has a severe nut allergy, so I notice peanuts everywhere. Sadly a Fenway Park visit looks off the cards for him – peanuts are one of the main snacks sold, and by the end of the game the floor was covered in discarded shells. If you are travelling with a nut allergy, beware.
Unlike British football, rival fans sit together, so Red Sox and Tigers supporters surrounded us with nothing but healthy competition and fun banter, and not a hint of bad language. A refreshing change.
Between innings there is plenty to keep you occupied – the Smile Cam, a rousing rendition of Sweet Caroline, a dance off to win a pair of trainers, a Mexican wave that never quite died, and a fan behind us leading a “Let’s Go, Red Sox” clap for the entire game. Well done him.
After the seventh innings everyone stands to stretch and sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game, written in 1908 by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer, neither of whom had ever set foot in a ballpark. It tells of Katie Casey, who turns down a show to be taken to the baseball instead, and it later named a 1949 film with Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly. Fenway is also one of the organ ballparks, with a resident organist keeping an 80 year tradition of live music going.
With so much happening around us, I sometimes caught myself watching the crowd rather than the game (sorry, hardcore Red Sox fans). What I remember – the Star Spangled Banner before first pitch; a serviceman honoured with a stadium of waving caps; the 1934 electronic scoreboard using red lights for strikes and green for balls; the hand operated scoreboard on the Green Monster updated after each innings, like the cricket back home; the players’ walk up songs, and my lingering question of why Red Sox player Jarren Duran does not walk up to Duran Duran (Wild Boys would be perfect, just saying); and the game’s solitary home run.
On the rules, we understood enough to get by, leaning on the rounders we played at school. Occasionally something happened that baffled us, and then the game simply moved on. You do not need to be a baseball expert to enjoy Fenway: it is fun just to sit and soak it in. The Red Sox won, so the crowd left in fine voice.
For me, baseball is akin to cricket: no early jeopardy with so many innings ahead, so you dip in and out, chat and snack, and then the closing innings hurtle towards a conclusion. It felt worlds away from an edgy British football game, and far more family orientated. We had not planned to stay for the whole game, yet 2.5 hours flew by and leaving early never crossed our minds – excellent value entertainment.
In closing
I loved Fenway Park.
Nostalgic, historic, a true slice of American sporting culture, and one of my favourite things to do in Boston.
So take me out to the ball game, but make sure it is at Fenway Park!
Join thousands of travelers looking for inspiration from our FREE Planet Travel newsletter!
Your step-by-step framework for stress-free, unforgettable trips — from first idea to final itinerary.
Your step-by-step framework for stress-free, unforgettable trips — from first idea to final itinerary.
Join thousands of travelers looking for inspiration from our FREE Planet Travel newsletter!
