MLB Ballparks: 5 worst in Major League Baseball for 2018
By Ron Juckett
MLB Ballparks: FENWAY PARK
The lyric little ballpark nestled in Boston’s Back Bay has grown to be an East Coast version of the Las Vegas Strip.
To the credit of the ownership group of John Henry, Larry Lucchino, and Tom Werner, Fenway Park avoided the wrecking ball fate of Tiger Stadium, Ebbets Field, and old Yankee Stadium. Now 106, Fenway will live on well past 125.
And, you will be squeezed into bad seats, be broke at the end of every game. The Boston Red Sox financial empire has taken the art of commercialism and brought it to a new level. There are enough neon billboards around the place to make Times Square blush.
To maximize revenue, seats were added everywhere. The Green Monster, which wears ads again after nearly 50-year hiatus, offers intimate views. The party decks on the roofs offer cash to the Red Sox. Want to buy a beer and burger where the batting cage was kept in center? Now, you can!
Always sensitive about having a capacity around 33,000, Fenway now seats above 37,000. The older seats remain narrow, and a pillar lurks to obstruct a view, but you can pay $10 for a sausage and pepper sub outside the gate and bring it in as they own that land too.
Fenway does not fit in with the surrounding neighborhood. Instead, they did their best to go full Walt Disney World and dominate it.
Most of the refurb could have kept the capacity around 34,000 with added seats and broader chairs for modern bodies. Instead, they turned a monument into an ATM. All teams do this to a degree, but Fenway brings it to a gaudy excess like a tacky strip mall.