Angi: On Fenway Park and the perspective of 100 years
From SABR member Cee Angi at The Platoon Advantage on April 20, 2012:
When I was a kid, I had no concept of what 100 years old meant. 100 years fell into a category of “old,” which could reflect any number of relative ages. My sister was 16 months older than I am, the neighbor who had new rollerblades was at least 17, and my parents were parent-aged. My grandparents were ancient.
<snip>
Today, Fenway Park turns 100, and I think I can finally grasp what that means better than I could when I was seven.
My first taste on how old Fenway Park really was came in 2004, when the Red Sox were on the verge of winning the World Series. I will never forget the images of aging men standing in front of their seats at Fenway Park during the World Series. The team they had supported their entire lifetime was just a game away from winning the World Series–something they had never seen before.
In the days that followed the 2004 championship, these elderly kept appearing in new stories, on television, in print. They were the stories of the people who were born after (or too young to remember) the World Series victory of 1918. The concept of how long it had been between victories played out in the timelines of their lives. Perceiving Fenway Park as the backdrop of a continuum in which people were born, educated, married, and had children helped drive home its longevity . They worked hard and since retired, with some of them protecting our country in times of war.
Read the full article here: http://www.platoonadvantage.com/2012-articles/april/cee-angi.html
Originally published: April 20, 2012. Last Updated: April 20, 2012.