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Such sensational reactions to Part I, here is the promised follow up. Enjoy –and send those reactions in.

Wade Boggs, he could swing that bat

(9)           Legend of the Green Monster

It was not originally green until 1947. Before that it was blue and covered with advertisements. Originally constructed to block the view of spectators on the street, the wall burned down in the 1934 fire at Fenway. It was reconstructed with tin and painted green. A journalist named it “Green Monster” for its color, 37 foot height and girth. In 1976, it was re-done in hard plastic and painted green again.  

(11)                        Hitting Bottom –1965

The Red Sox drew but 652,201—an average of 8,052 a game. On Sept. 28 against California, only 461 fans showed. The next day was just 409 were in the house. The worst had actually taken place on the 16th of September, the smallest crowd of the season made its way into Fenway Park—just 1,247 paid and 1,123 in on passes.

BOB SULLIVAN: I went to Dartmouth, and we used to road trip down to Fenway and get standing room without any trouble.   It was eight dollars for grandstand seats. But so many seats were empty. You would flip an usher a quarter and you could move down into the seats. Then it changed. What happened was ’67. The Impossible Dream season when the Sox    

(12)                                             Signing Baseballs

BOB SANNICANDRO:  In ’72 I was a clubhouse attendant. I had just graduated from high school.   I autographed baseballs for players. This was before sports memorabilia really hit.  If it’s a Yaz ball, it might not be Yaz. If it’s a Reggie Smith ball, it might not be Reggie Smith.  There was one player, I’ll leave him nameless, showed me how he signed his name.  He told me to go home and practice. I went home and the next day he says, “Not bad, keep working at it.”  

(13)                                  “F……g Bucky Dent home run ball-  October 2, 1978

JOE MOONEY: (former Fenway Park head groundskeeper) I got blamed for taking the ball Bucky Dent hit for the home run. I never touched it. I never spoke to Bucky Dent, but later I found out that he was accusing me. I know who took that ball he hit.  But I’d never say nothing.  We’ll leave that to history. 

(14)                                                  Joe DiMaggio

Opening day 1985 Vinnie Orlando was in his 51st season as a Red Sox clubhouse attendant. “I heard this loud knock,” Orlando said. The knocker    opened the door to the Red Sox clubhouse. “And here’s this guy,” Orlando continued,” with pant cuffs out to here, shirt collars down to there, looking like Hollywood in his brown pinstripe suit. He says, ‘My name’s Joe DiMaggio and I want to go upstairs. Can you tell me how to go?

(15)                                                  Rats

TOM BRUNANSKY: In the 1990s, we’d hit in the batting cages out in center field during rain delays. You never, however, wanted to be the first group to hit because once you opened the door and flipped the lights on all the rats would start running out.  You always wanted to be that second or third hitting group. By then the rats would be gone.

(16)                             Green Monster Dents

The many missed attempts of home runs over the wall that is the Green Monster has resulted in hundreds of dents according to the Boston Globe. Some spots have been banged at least a half dozen times,

(17)                           The Pesky Pole & the Fisk Pole

Boston has the only two named foul poles. The one in right field is named for legendary Johnny Pesky. The one in left field was named in 1975 after catcher Carlton Fisk who hit a 12^th inning game winner in Game 6 of the World Series that incredibly stayed fair, ricocheting off the pole.

Pesky did not hit nearly as many home runs as Fisk

JOHNNY PESKY: The term “Pesky pole” came from Mel Parnell when he was broadcasting a game with Ken Coleman and Ned Martin.  Someone hit a home run down the line and right around the pole. And Mel started talking about the time I hit a homer to win a game past the pole. I guess it was easy to recall as I only hit 17 home runs in my career.  

(18)               The Coca-Cola bottle 1997   

On March 19, 1997 a 25-foot was unveiled atop Fenway’s left-field Wall. Lots of controversy resulted as traditionalists were aghast. Over time the single bottle evolved into a three-bottle cluster.

(19)                              Breaking the “Curse of the Bambino 2004

DAN SHAUGHNESSY: 2004 in my view is still the greatest sports story ever told.  The idea that you would have the Red Sox win their first World Series in 86 years, to do it at the expense of the Yankees and to do it in something that hadn’t been done in 140 years in a seven-game series in baseball. The World Series was clearly anticlimactic.

The Sox swept the Cards four straight. The curse was broken.

GAME CALL, —Joe Castiglione, 850 AM WEEI,

“Foulke to the set, the 1–0 pitch, here it is. Swing and a ground ball, stabbed by Foulke. He has it. He under hands to first. And the Boston Red Sox are the World Champions. For the first time in 86 years, the Red Sox have won baseball’s World Championship. Can you believe it?”

(20)                     820 Game Sellout Streak at Fenway

On April 10, 2013 only 30,862 were in attendance for a game between Baltimore and the Red Sox. That game ended an 820 game streak of sold out games that began on May 15, 2003. It was the longest attendance streak in pro sports. There was something about “the streak” to some that smacked of public relations hype and padded figures.

About   Harvey  Frommer

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One of the most prolific and respected sports journalists and oral historians in the United States, author of the autobiographies of legends Nolan Ryan, Tony Dorsett, and Red Holzman, Dr. Harvey Frommer is an expert on all things baseball. 

A professor for more than two decades in the MALS program at Dartmouth College, Frommer was dubbed “Dartmouth’s Mr. Baseball” by their alumni magazine. He’s also the founder of www.HarveyFrommerSports.com.  

Mint, signed, discounted Frommer books are available from his site.

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