MLB History: Fenway Park, Wrigley Field debuted April 20th

Tessie sung by the Dropkick Murphys at Fenway Park

The first official game at Fenway Park featured Buck O’Brien pitching for the Red Sox and Ray Caldwell for the Highlanders. Neither pitcher lasted long in the game. Caldwell was yanked after three-and-a-third innings. O’Brien only made it through four.

Red Sox reliever Charlie Hall pitched the final seven innings in the 11-inning victory for the Red Sox. After trailing at one point 5-1, the Red Sox came back to tie it in the bottom of the eighth, then won it in the bottom of the eleventh inning by a final score of 7-6.

The Red Sox lineup had Hall of Famers Harry Hooper and Tris Speaker playing right field and center field, respectively. Hooper couldn’t muster up a hit in the game, but Speaker was three-for-six with two RBI. The most notable player in the Highlanders lineup was Hal Chase. He was a slick-fielding first baseman who would eventually be kicked out of baseball after years of suspicion that he was involved in fixing games.

According to the box score at Baseball-Reference.com, the 11-inning game lasted over three hours, which was much longer than a typical game at the time. Of course, these days Red Sox—Yankees games seem to last nearly four hours every time they get together. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Four years after Fenway Park hosted its first official MLB game, a ballpark in Chicago did the same. The ballpark we now know as Wrigley Field was originally called Weeghman Park, named after owner Charles H. Weeghman. Weeghman owned a Chicago-based team in the Federal League, which popped up as a rival league to MLB for two years (1914-1915). When the Federal League folded, Weeghman bought the Cubs and moved them to his ballpark.

This was still many years before the Wrigley Field bleachers and scoreboard were created. Also, there was no ivy on the walls in those days. Bill Veeck would have ivy planted in September of 1937. Fifty-one years later, in 1988, Wrigley Field would be the last MLB park to have lights installed.