I was the hero of Operation Shutdown, in which I decided to sulk & moan for being benched following a season in which I batted .173 for my $5M yearly salary.
Left
Field - 350 ft
Left-Center - 440 ft
Center Field - 530 ft (1901), 625 ft
(1908)
Right-Center - Unknown
Right Field - 280 ft (1901), 320 ft
(1908)
Backstop - 60 ft
Home to the Boston Red Sox (known simply as 'Boston', 'Boston
Americans' or the 'Boston Pilgrims' before 1908) from 1901-1911, the
stadium sat 11,500 (another 10,500 stood for the first game). The stadium
was located on old carnival grounds across the New York, New Haven and
Hartford Railroad tracks from the South
End Grounds, home of the Boston Braves.
The stadium was the site of the first World Series game in 1903 (with
the Pirates beating the Pilgrims - as the Red Sox were then known - 7-3),
and also saw the first perfect game in the modern era, thrown by Cy Young
on May 5, 1904.
The playing field was fairly large by modern standards. Sources say
that it was 350 ft. to left field, 440 ft. to left center field, 530 ft.
to center field in 1901 and 635 ft. to center field in 1908, and 280 ft.
to right field in 1901 and 320 ft. to right field in 1908. The field had
many quirks not seen in modern baseball stadiums, including patches of
sand in the outfield where grass would not grow, and a tool shed in deep
center field that was actually in play.
The Huntington Avenue Grounds was demolished after the Red Sox left at
the beginning of the 1912 season to play at Fenway
Park. Northeastern University, Boston now stands on the site and Tufts
Medical College is just behind where third base was. A plaque and a statue
of Cy Young commemorate the history of this ballpark.
Fly
to the site of Huntington Avenue Grounds!
If you have Google
Earth installed, click here
to be "flown" to the site of the Huntington Avenue
Baseball Grounds. Of course the stadium is no longer there, but you
can see the old neighborhood. (If you do not have it installed, get
it from Google. It allows you to view virtually anywhere on
Earth in 3D using satellite imagery.)
Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds!
Top: September 26,
1903, Boston vs. Chicago.
Bottom: Boston vs. New York, Oct 8, 1904,
American League Park, Huntington Avenue.
Attendance: 28,040.
Photos
by E. Chickering (top) and George R.
Lawrence (bottom)
FIRSTS
at HUNTINGTON AVENUE BASEBALL GROUNDS
Game
05/08/1901
Athletics 4, Americans (Red Sox) 12
Umpires
John Haskell
Managers
Jimmy Collins, Americans
Connie Mack, Athletics
Starting Pitchers
Cy Young, Americans
Bill Bernhard, Philadelphia
Ceremonial Pitch
General Arthur Dixwell
Attendance
11,500
Batting
Batter
Jack Hayden (ground out)
Hit
Dave Fultz (single)
Run
Tommy Dowd
RBI
Jimmy Collins
Single
Dave Fultz
Double
Jack Hayden
Triple
Charlie Hemphill
Home Run
Buck Freeman
Grand Slam
Harry Davis (07/08/1902)
IPHR
Buck Freeman
Stolen Base
Jack Hayden, Charlie Hemphill
Sacrifice Hit
Chick Stahl
Sacrifice Fly
George McConnell (04/27/1909)
Cycle
Herry Davis (07/10/1901)
Pitching
Win
Cy Young
Loss
Bill Bernhard
Shutout
Watty Lee (05/15/1901)
Save
N/A
Hit by Pitch
Nig Cuppy hit Doc Powers
(05/09/1901)
Wild Pitch
Chick Fraser (05/09/1901)
Balk
Tom Hughes (07/10/1903)
No-Hitter
Cy Young (05/05/1904) [perfect game]
Perfect Game
Cy Young (05/05/1904)
Primary
research by Jim Herdman & David Vincent
Courtesy of Retrosheet.
The new park introduced a novelty to baseball. As the Boston Globe
reported the day after the first game, "A new feature in baseball was
the megaphone man, who announced the change of players and other
interesting facts that the crowd were anxious to learn."
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