Boston's Ballparks and Arenas
Volumes have been written about Fenway Park, the fabled home of the Boston Red Sox, and Boston Garden, the site of countless memorable hockey and basketball games. But the history of Boston's big league teams also unfolded at other venues, some of which opened with parades and fanfare, only to be abandoned, replaced and all but forgotten. Foulds, a local historian, takes a fond look at Boston's sports palaces, focusing on nine of the most significant sites and a number of lesser ones. Readers with a strong sense of Boston's geography will get the most out of this amply illustrated book, but anyone who appreciates the important role that Beantown's teams played in the development of pro sports will learn a thing or two. Baseball draws much of its unique charm from its setting, so it's natural that Foulds leads off with several chapters on ballparks. Fenway, dating from 1912, is just one of several sites that hosted big league baseball in Boston. Foulds offers vivid descriptions of the long-gone ballparks that gave birth to the Braves (who left town in 1953) and the Sox, chronicling the on-field milestones and giving readers a feel for what it must have been like to watch a game amid the raucous crowds of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Other sports receive attention, too. Boston hosted a series of basketball and football teams in the early years, and Foulds pays homage to them. He also looks at a number of more obscure sports, such as early professional soccer leagues and even lacrosse teams. At a time when Boston's baseball fanatics hold center stage thanks to the Red Sox's first championship since 1918, this book provides an entertaining look at the roots of New England's sports mania.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.