Monday, February 09, 2009

"New" Fenway

In 1999, I got a flier in the mail about a "new" Fenway Park. Of course, I was against the idea. But that old ownership had plenty of people on their side.

Here's the park, with its crazy huge bleacher section.

Here's what they planned on adding and saving--part of the current park would've stayed as a museum, with the new park on the other side of Yawkey Way.

They had quotes from all kinds of people who you wouldn't think would want to tear down Fenway Park. Ted Williams, Nomar, Doris KG, George Will, and even Libby Dooley, who died the next year. (When my friend's dad--they were Yankee fans--used to get us front row, on deck circle seats at Fenway in the late-80s, the box next to ours was Libby's. That same friend, years later while attending BC, gave her a ride home from Fenway once, for reasons I still can't fathom.)

Diagram of where the new park would've been.

Finally, a nice shot of Amazing Larry. My mom was here the other day and insisted I take a picture of him while he was in this position, so she gets the credit for this one:


For more info on the old new Fenway Park, click here. I'm glad they never did this. If you were pro-new Fenway, feel free to add your comments.

Comments:
This was a bit before my time (I believe I was 13 or 14 at the time, and lived thousands of miles from Boston), so I never saw any of the actual plans. By the time I got back east again, the new management was already here and committed to renovating the old park.

I have to admit, though, I'm a bit of a futurist, so it's kind of exciting seeing those concept shots. Even though the argument's off the table and probably will be for the next decade or more, the whole area is changing so much that I can't imagine the park won't eventually adopt more significant changes than the mere additions they've done so far, even if it stays where it is.

I'm still opposed to ever moving the actual location, barring catastrophic sea rise or something, obviously, but it's thrilling to think what the place could look like when we're gray and old ourselves (the year 2500, of course).
 

Post a Comment

If you're "anonymous," please leave a name, even if it's a fake one, for differentiation purposes.

If you're having trouble commenting, try signing in to whatever account you're using first, then come back here once you're signed in.



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

My Photo
Name:
Location: Rhode Island, United States