With Fenway Park turning 100 years old next year,  you can count on a steady stream of publications, specials and documentaries on the history of the ballpark.

I mentioned one a few weeks ago (Remembering Fenway Park) and today, another crossed my desk.

Fenway Park:The Centennial by Saul Wisnia, features both a book and a DVD Documentary which is narrated by New England native and Red Sox Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk.

This beautifully illustrated 176-page coffee-table style book captures the feel and spirit of Fenway Park which has been home to the Red Sox since April 1912.  Fenway has also seen its share of  pro and college football games, major cultural and civic events, an international soccer game in 2010 between Celtic and Sporting Lisbon, and even the New Year’s Day 2010 NHL Winter Classic game won by the Boston Bruins and played on a specially built hockey rink in the middle of the field.

The book includes over 200 images, including many from the archives of the Boston Public Library – as well as rarely seen artifices and memorabilia from the decades of events held in Fenway.

While the book naturally focuses on the Red Sox, there a photos of the NFL’s Boston Yanks, who played in Fenway from 1944-1948 as well as the AFL Boston Patriots, who called Fenway home from 1963 to 1968. Even soccer legend Pele played a game at Fenway when the Boston Beacons of the North American Soccer League hosted Pele’s Santos club from Brazil in 1968.

The book includes sections on:

  • The inception, construction, and early years of Fenway
  • Detailed looks at Red Sox legends from Babe Ruth to Ted Williams to Pedro Martinez and David Ortiz
  • The greatest moments of the Green monster, Fenway’s most famous feature
  • A trip inside the Monster’s manually operated scoreboard
  • Fenway fans and their love affair with the legendary stadium through the years
  • Unforgettable seasons, including the 1967 Impossible Dream team and the 2004 World Series champs
Author Saul Wisnia is a former sports and news correspondent for the Washington Post and feature writer for The Boston Herald.  Wisnia is now a senior publications editor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.  He has authored, co-authored, or otherwise contributed to numerous books on Boston baseball history, and his essays and articles have also appeared in Sports Illustrated, Red Sox Magazine, and The Boston Globe.  He lives 6.78 miles from FenwayPark in Newton,Massachusetts.
The book is being released this coming Tuesday, September 13th. The publisher has agreed to give BSMW three copies of the book and DVD to give away to readers.
If you would like to enter the giveaway, please leave a comment below (with a valid email address so I can contact the winners) between now and the end of the day on Monday. On Tuesday, I’ll pick the three winners at random from among the commenters.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

37 thoughts on “Review (and Giveaway) of Fenway Park: The Centennial”

  4. The book would make a fine addition to anyone's collection. Great giveaway from a great site. Nice job as usual Bruce.

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  6. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this book accompanying DVD. And, thanks also to the publisher for providing a copy for me to win!

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  7. Would love to have a copy. My first memories of Fenway were a chuch bus trips in my youth. I look forward to the day I can take my four grandchildren.

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  8. Enter me in giveaway. Once gain baseball messes things up by not having All-Star game there in 2012, granted it was there less than 20 years ago, BUT, it's not every year that a stadium celebrates its 100th anniversary. Post Office also screwed up its baseball legends series – should have had DiMaggio and Williams on stamps this year-70th anniversary of 56 game hitting streak and .406, and they should have a stamp for Fenway in 2012.

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  10. Sounds like terrific book but doesn't change my mind that the place should have been blown up years ago! Those seats along right field are the worst!

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  13. Business first: please enter me in the giveaway contest.

    My favorite non-baseball memory of Fenway is one that's seldom mentioned. I'm not even sure of the year, but I think it was in the middle '70s. There was a "Harmony" concert that featured a number of acts, but what I recall most was Stevie Wonder performing, his stage built over the pitcher's mound. I think it was around the Hotter than July LP, but who knows? Anyone else remember that?

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  16. I’d like to win this because it looks like a nice book to commemorate Fenway, it’s not written by one of the usual mediots and because Carlton Fisk is the DVD show host and he looks fabulous for his age.

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  25. Fenway is amazing. How many cities are on their second stadium in just the last 50 years.

    Please put my hat in the ring for a book/dvd.

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  28. Today is a fitting day to give away this book as September 12th marks the anniversary (1979) of Yaz's 3,000th hit under Willie Randolph's glove.

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  34. Looks like a good read, Bruce…count me in please.

    FWL – I believe Ray Charles appeared in that Stevie Wonder Fenway concert you were talking about. I only know this because it's the answer to a 98.5 sports trivia question.

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  35. LOVE the Sox! Enter me please.

    This Sox team is killing me right now but panic? Don't think it's totally necessary. Maybe the magnet on my fridge is true, doc I'm cured!

    More I try to listen to sports radio midday, more I realize EEI shot themselves in the foot by breaking up Dale & Holley. Hooked on 98.5 afternoons, and Gresh & Zo ain't no great shakes but I really can't take Mutt & Merloni, they seem like total rookies.

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  36. This appears to be a fantastic collection and tribute to an architectural jewel of America’s great pastime. I can’t wait to see it!

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