This In-Active Profile Has Been Archived

The following profile has been archived in our database and is no longer active. Click the here to view similar profiles that are currently active and up-to-date.

Fenway Park Tours

Report Error

Email It

Write a Review

We have Not Yet Posted This Year's Information for This Event Yet

If new information for this event is already available for this year, please let us know.

Dates:	Saturday, November 1, 2014 - Monday, December 21, 2015
Hours:	Hours Vary see below
Ages:	Kids, Teens, Adults
In/Outdoor:	Outdoor
Cost:	$$ see below
Category:	Tours

Visit the park where the Babe pitched, The Kid hit, Yaz dazzled, Pedro zipped strikes, and of course, where the Sox played the Cardinals en route to win their first World Series in 86 years. Soak up the rich history; hear the echoes of the past.

Touch the Green Monster, imagine being one of the 'Knights of the Keyboard' as you see the view from the Press Box, and visit the Red Sox Hall of Fame before strolling around Fenway Park.

All stops are subject to availability. The standard tour route includes stops at the Budweiser Right Field Roof Deck, The State Street Pavillion, The Green Monster Seats and The Left Field Grandseats seats.

The tour lasts one hour long and includes a rich history of the ballpark and team. The tour does sometimes have warning track access but we only go out there with the permission of the grounds crew. They find out if we have this access every morning.

On non-game days tours run hourly from 9am until 4pm and depart on the top of the hour from the Souvenir Shop on Yawkey Way. On game days tours begin at 9:00am and run hourly up until 3 1/2 hours before the game begins. The final tour of a game day is an abbreviated tour of 45 minutes.

From 9:00am to 10:00am tickets are always sold at the Souvenir Shop on Yawkey Way. When the Red Sox ticket office opens up at 10am tickets are sold there for the tours, but if for some reason the ticket office is closed then sales will continue at the Souvenir Shop.

For more information and group reservations, call the Fenway Park Tours Hotline at 617-236-6666 or e-mail [email protected].

Visit the Boston Red Sox Homepage

Fenway Facts
What are the dimensions of Fenway Park?
Fenway Park measures 310 feet (94.5 meters) down the left field line: 379 feet (115.5 meters) in left center field; 390 feet (118.9 meters) in center field; 420 feet (128 meters) in deep center field; 380 feet (115.8 meters) in deep right field; and 302 feet (92 meters) down the right field line.

The left field wall -- also known as the Green Monster -- measures 37 feet (11.3 meters) high. The center field wall is 17 feet (5.2 meters) high, the bullpen fences measure five feet (1.5 meters) and the right field fence is 3 to 5 feet (0.9 to 1.5 meters) high.

When did Fenway Park open?
Opening Day for Fenway Park was April 20, 1912. The Red Sox defeated the New York Highlanders (later named the Yankees) 7-6 in 11 innings before 27,000 fans. Tris Speaker drove in the winning run.

Fenway Park was actually due to open two days earlier, on April 18; however, there were two postponements due to rain.

Of course, the opening of Fenway Park was pushed off the front pages of Boston newspapers by news of the Titanic sinking. Navin Field (later known as Tiger Stadium) in Detroit opened the same day as Fenway Park.

Where did the Red Sox play before Fenway Park?
Prior to 1912, the Red Sox played their home games at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, now part of Northeastern University.

The Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds, an all-wooden structure, had a seating capacity of 9,000. The Boston games in the first World Series in 1903 were played there. The first game at the Huntington Grounds was played on May 8, 1901 in front of an overflow crowd of 11,500 fans as hurler Cy Young pitched the Boston team to a 12-4 win over the Philadelphia Athletics.

What other teams have played in Fenway Park?
Besides the Red Sox, several other teams have played in Fenway Park.

Prior to 1907, The Americans (Pilgrims was one of many nicknames) played. In 1914, while Braves Field was under construction, the 'Miracle Boston Braves' played their World Series games in Fenway. The Braves swept the favored Philadelphia A's in four games.

The Boston Patriots — now the New England Patriots — were fall occupants from 1963-68 before eventually ending up in Foxboro. The Patriots, however, were not the first pro football team in Fenway.

The Boston Redskins played four years here before heading to Washington in 1937. The Boston Yanks played here from 1944-48 prior to traveling to New York, Dallas, Baltimore (where they became the Colts) and now Indianapolis.

Collegiately, Boston College teams mostly of the Frank Leahy era, and Boston University with stellar quarterback Harry Agganis (later a promising Red Sox first baseman who died during the 1955 season) also played home games in Fenway Park.

Why the name 'Fenway'?
Constructed for the 1912 season, the new ballpark was named by then Red Sox owner John I. Taylor because it was built in an area of Boston known as the Fens. As Taylor said, 'It's in that section of Boston, isn't it? Then call it Fenway Park.'

Taylor, by the way, was also the person who changed the club's name from the Pilgrims to the Red Sox in 1907.

What's the largest crowd ever to attend a game in Fenway Park?
The biggest baseball crowd at Fenway ever was 47,627 for a Yankees doubleheader on September 22, 1935.

Previous to that, 46,995 fans attended a Detroit Tigers doubleheader on August 19, 1934. One week earlier, on August 12, 1934, a crowd of 46,766 said goodbye to Babe Ruth at a Yankees doubleheader. (The Babe actually did not retire after the 1934 season, but played one more year with the Boston Braves.)

Those crowds will never be equaled under Fenway's current dimensions. After World War II, more stringent fire laws and league rules prohibited the overcrowding that was so common in the 1930s. The current capacity of Fenway Park is 37,493 - lowest in the Major Leagues.

What was Duffy's Cliff?
From 1912 to 1933, there was a 10-foot-high mound that formed an incline in front of the left field wall at Fenway park, extending from the left-field foul pole to the centerfield flag pole. As a result of the mound, a left fielder in Fenway Park had to play the entire territory running uphill. Boston's first star left fielder, Duffy Lewis, mastered the skill so well that the area became known as Duffy's Cliff.

In 1934, Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey arranged to flatten the ground in left field so that Duffy's Cliff no longer existed and became part of the lore of Fenway Park.

Is the manual scoreboard still used?
Absolutely! Fenway Park has one of the last hand-operated scoreboards in the Major Leagues in the left-field wall. Green and red lights are used to signal balls, strikes, and outs.

Each scoreboard number used to indicate runs and hits measures 16 inches by 16 inches and weighs three pounds. The numbers used for errors, innings, and pitcher's numbers measure 12 inches by 16 inches, and weigh two pounds each.

Whereas all other ballgame scores used to be displayed on the manual scoreboard, only scores from other games are posted there now during Red Sox games. That change to the scoreboard occurred in 1975, when the wall was remodeled and when Fenway Park's first electronic scoreboard was installed.

Behind the manual scoreboard is a room where the walls are covered with signatures of players who have played at Fenway Park over the years. Also, the initials TAY and JRY — for Tom Yawkey and Jean Yawkey — appear in Morse code in two vertical stripes on the scoreboard.

What is the meaning of that seat painted red in the bleachers?
The seat in the right field bleachers is painted red to mark the spot where the longest measurable home run ever hit inside Fenway Park landed. Ted Williams hit the home run on June 9, 1946 off Fred Hutchinson of the Detroit Tigers. The blast was measured at 502 feet. Legend says that the ball crashed through the straw hat of the man sitting in the seat — Section 42, Row 37, Seat 21.

What is Pesky's Pole?
Even though Pesky's Pole was dubbed that in the 1950s, the phrase really didn't become popular until the late 1980s or early 1990s. According to former Red Sox star Johnny Pesky, it was Sox pitcher Mel Parnell who coined the term, after Pesky hit a home run just beyond Fenway Park's right-field foul pole. That home run — one of only six homers Pesky ever hit at Fenway Park — won the game for Parnell.

Did you know...?
No player has ever hit a home run over the right-field roof at Fenway Park.

The screen behind Fenway's home plate that protects fans and allows foul balls to roll back down onto the field was the first of its kind in the Major Leagues.

The padding at the bottom of both left- and center-field walls at Fenway Park was installed after the 1975 World Series. In Game 6, Sox outfielder Fred Lynn crashed into the then-concrete wall in center trying to make a catch, and then lay on the field for several minutes.

In 1945, a throw by Athletics outfielder Hal Peck hit a pigeon flying over Fenway Park. The ball then deflected to the A's second baseman, who tagged out Boston's Skeeter Newsome trying to stretch his hit into a double. The pigeon flew away, minus a few feathers but otherwise unharmed. Another pigeon was not so lucky in 1974. Willie Horton hit a foul ball into the air at Fenway Park, hitting a low-flying pigeon. The pigeon fell from the sky — dead — and landed in front of home plate.

Read about Fenway Park History

HOURS

↑ top

Tours are offered 7 days a week from 9am - 4pm (on non-game days)
On Sundays during the season, the first tour is at 9:00 a.m.
Winter tours are offered 7 days a week from 10-2 every hour (Dec.-Feb)

COST

↑ top

$18 for adults, $16 for seniors 60+, and $12 for children 3-15.

WEBSITE

↑ top

boston.redsox.mlb.com/bos/ballpark/tour.jsp

LOCATION

↑ top

4 Yawkey Way, Boston, MA map
Phone: 617 226-6666

TIPS

↑ top

*The last tour on game days departs three hours before game time (3 ½ hours prior to game time for a Sunday afternoon game) and is an abbreviated tour with field and batting practice access (subject to availability). Cost per person is $20.
*IMPORTANT TOUR NOTES
November 20th - Ballpark tours are available at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 12 p.m., 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. (last tour departing at 2 p.m.)
November 21st - Ballpark tours are available 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 12 p.m., and 1p.m. (last tour departing at 1p.m.)
November 25th - Ballpark tours are available at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. (last tour departing at 1 p.m.)
November 22nd and 26th - Ballpark tours are unavailable.

REVIEWS

↑ top

Not worth it

The tour guide was good but we just didn't get to see that much of the park. Disappointing.

Fenway Tour

Absolutely a must if visiting Boston - whether your're a baseball fan or not.Very informative with historical facts about stadium and players - we had a GREAT tour guide that was entertaing as well as versed in the subject matter. Tour included access to many areas most would not see on regular admission - tour included picture of you w/the ball diamond in the back ground - our pictures turned out beautiful. Very reasonable priced.

Very Limited

What does every fan long to do? Get the view from the field and touch the Green Monster! Visit the dugout! None of this was included in the tour. I was told that ever since the team won the World Series, no tours to the dugout are given! Tour is about 1 hour and at least 15 minutes of that was taken up by a photographer taking mandantory photos of every group to be sold back to you at the end of the tour, like on a cruise ship. Wasted time we could have used to see more of the park. Did get to go up on the Monster, into the press box,(not where Don and Jerry are though), grandstand section behind homeplate, and New Budweiser section. Not worth it if you have a large family-just get cheap tickets to a game and get there early to walk around on your own.

Not Worth It

My family and I did the Fenway tour and found it a huge waste of time and money. First off, the tour was huge. There must have been at least sixty people in it. The tour guide had no microphone so we could barely hear him. The tour was disorganized and boring. We sat in the State Street Pavilion area, and walked through a restaurant. We did see the Green Monster seats but because it was so crowded we didn't really get a good view. The only way I would recommend this tour would be if you are from out of town and it is your only opportunity to see Fenway Park. Otherwise forget it. Just walk around the stadium yourself when you go to a game.

Fenway Park Tour

It is a great way to see parts of the park that you might not normally get to see, like the Press Box and sit in the Green Monster seats. They give you a good amount of history during the tour. Great for kids 7 and up if they are interested in baseball. Not recommended for toddlers.