My First Trip to Fenway Park

I haven't been home all day. Other than reading Scott's post, I haven't seen or heard any of the A-Rod coverage yet.

Instead, I made my first visit to one of baseball's great cathedrals, Fenway Park. It is really amazing.

When you approach Fenway, it creeps up on you. It's the smallest ballpark in Major League Baseball, and even though it packs a lot of charm into its small frame, I expected it to be bigger.

It seats just over 36,000 fans, and really only has one deck. Other than the main level of the grandstand, there's a limited number of upper deck seats and they were added in the last few years.

Like Wrigley Field, where I grew up going to games, it takes you through a nostalgic trip into baseball's past, and reminds you why baseball is so great. In no other sport can you visit different ballparks and find a completely different atmosphere and a completely different feel. After all, is there a great difference between Soldier Field and and any other bowl-shaped football stadium in the country?

Fenway Park has so much history. There have been so many great players to play there. Babe Ruth pitched there. Ted Williams hit there. So did Carl Yastremski, Bobby Doerr, Jim Rice, Carlton Fisk and Manny Ramirez.

And while there have been various additions to the ball park over the years, it remains a ballpark with an intimate and romantic setting for baseball. So what if the concourse is small? So what if there are poles, or the seats are small? Wouldn't you rather watch a game there than Tropicana Field?

I feel privileged that I have been to some of the most historic ballparks in baseball. I have been to Yankee Stadium, Dodger Stadium, Wrigley Field (as previously mentioned) and now Fenway Park. I have also been to many of the new ballparks in the country and have been impressed and fascinated by the amenities now available to fans in these arenas.

But there are no better parks in baseball than the two oldest in the game. They are what define baseball's tradition and past and remind us what we love about the sport.

Now I just need to get tickets for a game at Fenway Park.