Fenway Park’s opening overshadowed by tragedy
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Know Thine Enemy: Over the Monster
In early August, I found myself at Wrigley Field—MLB’s second-oldest ballpark (opened in 1914). The longest-lived? The site of today’s Boston Red Sox vs. Minnesota Twins clash: Fenway Park.
On 4/20/(19)12, the Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees—the ultimate irony considering the 100+ years of misery against that particular opponent to follow—in Fenway Park’s inaugural. But was that christening treated to a blitz of media coverage? Alas, no—not when the R.M.S. Titanic had hit an iceberg and sunk five days earlier. Fenway’s opening was overshadowed by an event the next day you may not have heard of.
Photo credit should read STAN HONDA/AFP via Getty Images
On April 21, 1912, President Frank Farrell of the Yankees and President John T. Brush of the New York Giants opened up the Polo Grounds for an exhibition contest to raise money for survivors of the Titanic disaster.
Drawing a crowd of around 14,000—pretty impressive in those times for a ballgame on short notice—the exhibition raised around $9,400 (roughly $250K inflation-adjusted) via the paying customers, volunteers walking up and down the aisles collecting donations, & concessions.
Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images
The game itself proved a bit anticlimactic—a lopsided 11-2 Giants victory—with perhaps the most heralded moment being a fistfight in the stands between two men (perhaps quarreling over the slices of pie that were popular at the Polo Grounds).
I could go into further detail, but SABR already did—check that out for the particulars. I just found it interesting that I had never heard of this until searching “baseball titanic” on the interwebz.
I’m heading out to U.S. Bank Stadium for some Minnesota Vikings football today, but enjoy some Twinkie Town Before Noon (TM)!
