Shaikin: Janet Marie Smith has a connection to World Series stadiums; she renovated them both
From Bill Shaikin at the Los Angeles Times on October 25, 2018, with SABR member Janet Marie Smith:
We are only two games into this World Series, but we already know who is the most valuable player.
This is not about wins over replacement. This is about beloved ballparks that did not need replacement.
This is about the joy of a World Series that celebrates two of the three oldest stadiums in the major leagues. The Dodgers and Boston Red Sox would not be as classic a matchup if the games were played in sparkling modern stadiums, rather than in Dodger Stadium and Fenway Park.
For that, we can thank America’s foremost ballpark architect. With imagination, and with a love of the game, Janet Marie Smith preserved and enhanced those stadiums for future generations to enjoy.
“We’re one of the few sports that has the audacity to refer to our homes as cathedrals,” Smith told the Los Angeles Times this week at Fenway Park. “The idea of this being a place where families have gone for generations, in both Los Angeles and Boston, is something that we have looked to celebrate.”
Read the full article here: http://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/la-sp-dodger-stadium-fenway-20181025-story.html
- Related link: Listen to “Dodger Stadium Redux: A Conversation with Janet Marie Smith and Jean Hastings Ardell” at SABR 47 in New York City
Originally published: October 26, 2018. Last Updated: October 26, 2018.