The Green Monster. Pesky's Pole. The Lone Red Seat. Yawkey Way. To baseball fans this list of bizarre phrases evokes only one place: Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. Built in 1912, Fenway Park is Americas oldest major league ballpark still in use. In Faithful to Fenway, Michael Ian Borer takes us out to Fenway where we sit in cramped wooden seats (often with obstructed views of the playing field), where there is a hand-operated scoreboard and an average attendance of 20,000 fewer fans than most stadiums, and where every game has been sold out since May of 2003. There is no Hard Rock Cafe (like Toronto's Skydome), no swimming pool (like Arizona's Chase Field), and definitely no sushi (which has become a fan favorite from Baltimore to Seattle). As Borer tells us in this captivating book, Fenway is short on comfort but long on character.
Faithful to Fenway investigates the mystique of the ballpark. Borer, who lived in Boston before and after the Red Sox historic 2004 World Series win, draws on interviews with Red Sox players, including Jason Varitek and Carl Yastrzemski, management, including Larry Lucchino and John Henry, groundskeepers, vendors, and scores of fans to uncover what the park means for Boston and the people who revere it. Borer argues that Fenway is nothing less than a national icon, more than worthy of the banner outside the stadium that proclaims, ?America's Most Beloved Ballpark?. Certainly as one of New England's greatest landmarks, Fenway captures the hearts and imaginations of a deferential and devoted public. There are T-shirts, bumper stickers, banners, and snow globes that honor the ballpark. Fenway shows up in popular films, novels, television commercials, and in replicated form in people's backyardsand coming in 2008 to Quincy, Massachusetts, is Mini-Fenway Park, a replica stadium built especially for kids.
Full of legendary stories, amusing anecdotes, and the shared triumph and tragedy of the Red Sox and their fans, Faithful to Fenway offers a fresh and insightful perspective, offering readers an unforgettable pilgrimage to the mecca of baseball.
Customer Reviews:
Unfaithful to Fenway October 15, 2008 0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I wanted to give this title as a gift. It is shown with a very attractive dust cover. When it arrived, there was no dustcover. So I asked to have one sent with a dustcover. Another copy was sent immediately, at no charge, but also without the dustcover. I'm giving up. But I think it is very misleading to show the product with the dustcover and ship it without it.
- Galen Pletcher
Great.read for ANY nation May 16, 2008 3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a great book. As Mets and Yanks tear down their stadiums, Fenway remains. Does this make the Red Sox the only true team left? They resisted the temptation to build a megaplex like all of the other corporate teams and it has paid off. The Yankees have lost their stripes once again demonstrating that true baseball fans have their purest outlet with Fenway and the Sox. This book is a smart take and worth reading by anyone who enjoys thinking about baseball. A nice addition to any library, but I would suggest for those who enjoy intelligent conversation about the game and what it means...
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