108 Years Ago Today, “America’s Most Beloved Ballpark” Opened

It's a great day to celebrate baseball, Red Sox Faithful! On April 20, 1912, the home of the BoSox, Fenway Park opened to the public. Fenway Park is officially the oldest park in Major League Baseball and it's also one of the smallest. There are only three other stadiums that are smaller than Fenway.

Some interesting tidbits of info regarding Fenway Park. The 37,167-foot wall known as the Green Monster was part of the park's original construction, however it was not painted green until 1947. And it didn't have the hard plastic covering until 1976.

If you ever actually attend a game at Fenway and you get there early enough before the fans start filling up their seats, you may notice a lone red-colored seat scattered among all the green-colored seats in the right-field bleachers. That seat is a tribute to baseball great Ted Williams and it marks the longest homer ever hit at Fenway. On June 9, 1946, Williams hit the ball 502 feet!

Also something of worthwhile mention. You may have even visited Fenway before and not been aware of this. There's not one, but two attractions for the kids. Wally's Clubhouse and the Kids Concourse. As a matter of fact, if you have kids 14 and younger in your group, you can enter the park through Gate K, which takes you right to the Kids Concourse which offers plenty of kid-friendly activities.

If you've never been to Fenway but you plan on attending some day(once baseball and...well, pretty much everything else finally resumes), you should probably know what to expect to hear in terms of music. During the middle of the eighth inning, you can pretty much expect to hear Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" belted out by the fans. And, if the Red Sox win, it's pretty much standard procedure to hear three songs in a row: The Standells' hit "Dirty Water", the Dropkick Murphys' "Tessie", and finally, "Joy to the World" from Three Dog Night.

You don't have to be a Red Sox fan to appreciate the beauty and time-honored traditions of Fenway Park, a classic and majestic ballpark. Happy Anniversary, Boston!