Housed within this frame reside some of the most hallowed artifacts from one of Baseball’s most hallowed and revered teams, the Boston Red Sox.
This season marks the 100th that the Red Sox have played in their beloved Fenway Park. The display moves from left to right in a mostly chronological fashion.
We begin with the top left, with a photo of the 1912 Red Sox team, the first to play in Fenway Park. Directly below the photo are four actual newspaper clippings taken from the boston post, detailing the 4th, 5th 6th, and 7th games ever played at Fenway.
To the right of the team photo is a photo of Babe Ruth, still a youngster, still a member of the Red Sox. Directly under Ruth’s photo is an actual Red Sox ticket from the 1918 season, the last season in which the Red Sox would win a world series, for the next 86 years. To the right of the ticket resides a copy of the contract between the Red Sox and the Yankees, between Harry frazee and Jacob ruppert, finalizing the sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees, and in so doing, bringing upon the the ‘Curse of the Bambino’, a myth that came to become larger than life, and held for nearly 9 decades as the reason for the World Series victory drought that befell the Red Sox beginning with the 1919 season.
To the right of Ruth’s photo is a print of, and signed by, Ted Williams. The print is also signed by its creator, noted artist and sculptor Armand LaMontagne. Just to the right of the Williams print is an original ticket to the 1946 All Star Game. In this game Ted Williams put on one of the most incredible offensive performances ever in an All Star Game. It’s been said that Williams practically defeated the National League team all by himself.
Below the Williams print are three artifacts from the 1946 season – a souvenir booklet that has all but vanished from history, a pin that would have been sold at Fenway during the 1946 World Series, that proclaimed (prematurely, and ultimately incorrectly) that the Red Sox were in fact the 1946 World Champions (again, this artifact is particularly rare, due to the fact that it was pulled from production right after the 1946 World Series concluded), and finally, an original ticket to Game 4 of the 1946 World Series.
The final three items along the top right of the display are sections of the upper tin and lower vinyl coating of the iconic ‘Green Monster’, as well as a portion of an actual brick taken out during a renovation of Fenway Park.
Below the All Star Game ticket is a section of the netting that hung above the ‘Green Monster’, for the purpose of preventing home runs from pelting unsuspecting pedestrians walking outside of the stadium during a game.
To the right of the netting is a souvenir ticket to the 456th consecutive sellout crowd at Fenway Park. The 456th sellout broke the all-time record for most consecutive sellout games in a major league stadium. Below the ticket is an actual base that was in use during that historic game. A photo highlighting Fenway Park in the heart of Boston completes the row.
The lower section includes, at the far left, an original ticket from the 1967 pennant winning game. This was also the game in which Carl Yastrzemski concluded his season by winning baseball’s coveted Triple Crown.
To the right of this ticket is the iconic photo of Carlton Fisk imploring his long fly ball to left field to stay fair during the 1975 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. To the right of this photo is an authentic ticket to the game in which Carl Yastrzemski reached the 3,000 hit milestone. Following this is a photo taken moments after the Red Sox won the 1986 American League Pennant. The display continues with a ticket from the 2004 season, the year in which the Red Sox ended the drought and won their first World Series in 86 years. This ticket provides the conclusion to the 1918 ticket, which was discussed earlier.
The final item in the display is a photo taken immediately after the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series. Jubilation is the only word to describe the scene.
This monumental piece measures 41 x 65 inches.
