Today's letter is Y which will showcase Yawkey Way... or in other words, the site of Fenway Park.
Have you ever had one of those serendipitous moments - when two seemingly unrelated events come together in a beneficial way? This happened to me when brainstorming ideas for today's letter.
I knew I couldn't talk about Boston without mentioning baseball. I'm not a sports fan, per se, but I do like this all-American pastime. We are Yankees fans from way back, and I fondly remember watching the sixth game of the 1986 World Series when the Mets and the Red Sox provided a nail-biter overtime game (the Mets won the series, by the way).
Finding a letter to showcase Boston's finest proved difficult. Fenway Park was eliminated in favor of Frog Pond. Baseball was replaced with Beacon Hill. Red Sox were ousted by (Paul) Revere. I was stumped.
I was also stumped for what landmark to showcase for the letter Y.
My search led me to Wikipedia, where the first sentence of the famous baseball field entry read: Fenway Park is a baseball park located in Boston, Massachusetts at 4 Yawkey Way near Kenmore Square.
Serendipity!!
Unfortunately, I did not have an opportunity to catch a game while in town. And I never saw the stadium (yet another reason why I must return to this city). So I will leave you with this lovely painting by Arthur Clifton Goodwin (courtesy Harvard Art Museum).
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| View of the Boston Fens This area of Boston was originally marshland (otherwise known as Fens). In the late 19th Century, the city backfilled the area to create what is now the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood. |
I'm not a big sports fan, but I do like going to baseball games when the weather is nice. There's something relaxing about watching it, while munching on a hot dog.
ReplyDelete... and of course, the required peanuts and cotton candy too :)
DeleteIt's interesting you post this just now, because the City of Boston has literally just approved a plan to remove the Yawkey name from the street and resume calling it by it's original name, Jersey Street. Tom Yawkey was the owner of the Red Sox from the 1930s to 1970s and during this time he was known for keeping the Red Sox segregated long after other teams added Black players and for turning a blind eye to a sexual abuse scandal. He wasn't even a good team owner as the famous Red Sox "curse" was largely due to his mismanagement. So the current Red Sox owners don't want to be associated with the Yawkey name. The Yawkey name will live on in Boston though. Despite all his flaws, Tom Yawkey and especially his wife Jean Yawkey supported a lot philanthropies, so their name will remain in various hospitals and social agencies, which seems fair to me.
ReplyDeleteThank you SO much for sharing this history - as well as current news - with me. While I understand the reason for the name change, I'm glad the Yawkey name worked for my A-Z challenge :) I do hope to catch a Red Sox game at Fenway Park some day!
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