The Boston Globe’s Movies and Book Development Editor Janice Page said the Globe has “a treasure trove” of information on Fenway Park in a panel discussing a book that commemorates the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park, “Fenway Park: A Salute to the Coolest, Cruelest, Longest-Running Major League Baseball Stadium in America.”
Tuesday’s panel consisted of several current and former Boston Globe staff members, including Page, sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy and book authors Ron Driscoll and John Powers.
Bill Littlefield, the host of WBUR’s “Only a Game,” served as the interviewer for the panel.
The Globe has had a long-standing relationship with Fenway Park that dates back to when Charles Taylor, one of the paper’s early publishers, purchased the Red Sox as a gift for his son John Taylor in 1904.
“I think there was always a sense and a knowledge that the Globe was going to do a book about Fenway Park’s 100th anniversary because of the ties that Joe and Bill alluded to between the park and the Taylor family that owned the Globe from the beginning, and the close ties that they had,” Driscoll, a former copy editor for the Globe, said.
The members on the panel said that the Globe felt compelled to write the book because of the prominence Fenway Park has had as an institution in the city of Boston.
“There’s a reason why people think of it as a combination of a town hall, a temple, cathedral, backyard and living room,” Page said. “We own that park as citizens of this place as much as anything else.”
Powers, a sports writer for the paper, said while doing research for the book it was interesting to see how the practice of journalism has evolved with the game of baseball.
Powers said when he tried to find a quote from the park’s opening day he could not because the journalists did not include any in their stories.
“It was fascinating to see not only how baseball has changed, and how Boston has changed, but also how journalism has changed,” Powers said.
But one thing that has not changed over the years is Fenway Park itself.
When Littlefield asked the panel how close the owners came to building a new park in the early 2000s, the panel was unanimous in their assertion that it was never close to happening.
Powers said the fans would have never allowed it.
“We like keeping old stuff around,” he said. “How many cities have an old state house and the new state house, the old city hall and the new city hall, the old Hancock building and the new Hancock building?”
Shaughnessy said that the fans’ devotion to the park, despite its age and all of its obstructed views, is a testament to their loyalty.
“I’m amazed. The fans really don’t complain about it,” Shaughnessy said. “That’s a credit to the people who soldier on there, year after year.”
The crowd cheered when they heard things they liked, hissed when a New Yorker asked a question and heckled when they disagreed with the speakers.
Allan Knowles, an attendee, said at his first Fenway game he was struck by the Green Monster, Fenway’s famous wall in left field and how green the field was.
“It was incredible,” Knowles said. “I heard that same feeling described by several other guys tonight, which was nice.”
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