Faithful to Fenway: Believing in Boston, Baseball, and America’s Most Beloved Ballpark

By Michael Ian Borer

Built in 1912, Fenway Park is America’s oldest major league ballpark still in use. In Faithful to Fenway, author Michael Ian Borer, currently assistant professor of sociology and urban studies at Furman University in South Carolina, takes us out to Fenway where we sit in cramped wooden seats (often with obstructed views of the playing field), where there is a hand-operated scoreboard and an average attendance of 20,000 fewer fans than most stadiums, and where every game has been sold out since May 2003. As Borer says, Fenway is short on comfort but long on character.

      Faithful to Fenway investigates the mystique of this ballpark. Borer, who lived in Boston before and after the Red Sox historic 2004 World Series win, draws on interviews with Red Sox players, including Jason Varitek and Carl Yastrzemski; management, including Larry Luchinno and John Henry; groundskeepers; vendors; and scores of fans to uncover what the park means for Boston and the people who revere it.

      Borer argues that Fenway is nothing less than a national icon, more than worthy of the banner outside the stadium that proclaims, “America’s Most Beloved Ballpark.” Fenway captures the hearts and imaginations of a deferential and devoted public. It shows up in popular films, novels, TV commercials, and in replicated form in people’s backyards – and coming this year to Quincy, Massachusetts, is Mini-Fenway Park, a replica stadium built especially for kids.

      Faithful to Fenway is full of legendary stories, amusing anecdotes, and the shared triumph and tragedy of the Red Sox and their fans. And given the Red Sox 2007 World Series victory, the book is more current than ever.

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