Fenway Park, the purest baseball experience

Before 1942, all major league parks provided their fans with a pure baseball experience.  The entertainment WAS the baseball game.  There was no video entertainment.  There was no music, except that played by bands before some games.  There were usually modest amounts of advertising.  The only distractions were the yelling of vendors, things to eat and drink, and antics among the fans.

Changes began in 1942, when the first permanently installed organ began giving non-baseball entertainment to Dodgers fans at Ebbets Field.  Other teams installed organs soon after, and music became part of the baseball experience.  Most organists engaged in subtle forms of cheerleading through their musical selections.  But not at Fenway.

1960 brought the first spectacular scoreboard, Bill Veeck’s famous “exploding” scoreboard at Comiskey Park. Others followed including the Astrodome’s 50,000-light animation display. Scoreboards went beyond their function as information providers, becoming part of the entertainment.  But not at Fenway.

The Tom Yawkey years (1933-1976) were pure baseball years at Fenway.  Yawkey removed the left field wall advertising and otherwise purified the park. It was virtually a 100% baseball experience.  Yes, there was organ music, but with John Kiley at the keyboard there was no cheerleading.  Kiley refused to play bugle calls, rhythmic phrases, or anything else between pitches or between batters.

In recent decades, changes within our society have been inevitable, causing changes at all ballparks that have been driven by financial requirements.  Advertising and television coverage have changed the appearance of stadiums and the game’s timing. In efforts to keep up with society’s ever more fast pace and to attract more fans, ballparks were given more and more gimmicks such as disc jockeys in place of organists, mascots, mascot races, “kiss cams”, sound effects played between pitches, garish video effects, contests, and all kinds of promotions.  Electronic technology has allowed ever larger video displays in sharper resolution.  Now, most fans are inundated with sights and sounds during every moment when the ball isn’t in play. But not, not as much, at Fenway.

Though today Fenway is festooned with advertising in every direction, has giant video boards, and is blasted with loud music between innings, it can be argued that Fenway has the purest form of baseball among major league parks. Regardless of the fact that Fenway is the oldest major league park today and is the only one that offers wooden grandstand seats, the experience is pure in two important ways.  First, the fans are never explicitly told when to cheer as they are at every other park.  They are not told to clap or make noise at certain times, based on one employee’s judgment that those times warrant more cheering.  Giant video ribbons do not start to pulse and flash when there are two strikes on an opposing batter, to let fans know that the batter might possibly strike out on the next pitch.  Boston fans know better.  They know when to cheer!

Second, there are no sound effects added within a player’s at-bat, between pitches.  Between the catcher throwing the ball back and the pitcher peering down to read the next sign, do we really need to hear a snippet from the Banana Boat Song, electronic beats, or a bugle call?  No!  At least, during an at-bat, all Boston fans can concentrate on the game.