The New Green Monster (at Fenway South)

Photo courtesy of www.theawesomeboston.com

If you’ve seen anything about the new Spring Training facility for the Boston Red Sox, you’ll know that jetBlue Park is pretty close to Fenway Park in most aspects. The dimensions are pretty much the same, there’s the triangle, and it has it’s own Green Monster. However, this Green Monster is even more unusual than the original.
The original Green Monster at Fenway Park is known for its high dimensions, manual scoreboard, green color, and recently, seats on the top. The wall at Fenway South has different variations of each of these four characteristics, except for the green color. The green color is the same at both.

The Green Monster at Fenway is 37 feet high; the new Monster is 43 feet high. The six feet difference isn’t that noticeable, but what is noticeable is the seating. The seating atop the Green Monster at Fenway debuted at the beginning of the 2003 season and is wildly popular. I’ve never seen a game from those seats, but I was up there during batting practice in 2005. They are tremendous!

The seating at Fenway South is a little different. Spectators have the option of either sitting within the Monster (in the “belly of the best,” if you don’t mind my pun) or on top of the Monster. There’s netting protecting the fans who are sitting inside the monster, which some could view as a nuisance, I suspect. It think it’s a good idea because when you’re sitting inside a wall, you’re not really expecting a ball to be hit at you. Besides, if a ball did get inside that opening, it would probably rattle back and forth and could cause a lot of damage.

The manual scoreboard at Fenway South is the same scoreboard that was used over three decades before at Fenway Park. The Red Sox had been keeping it in storage and brought it out to use at the new Spring Training Park. Even with a new stadium, the Red Sox stay true to their historical significance.

There is a downside to the manual scoreboard, though. Unlike at Fenway Park where the operators are in a small room within the monster, Fenway South doesn’t have that “luxury,” if you will. Instead, the scoreboards needs to be manually changed between each half inning or if there’s a “break” in play (i.e. pitcher change, injury, etc.). This could become very tiring, especially if a team (hopefully the Red Sox) get many hits and runs in an inning. Plus, there’s only a small opening for a window for the scorekeepers to watch the view, unlike the slots at Fenway Park.

One of my goals in life is to watch a game from on top of the Green Monster at Fenway Park (I’ll have to be very lucky to have this happen, since the best way of getting tickets is through a lottery). Another goal of mine is to make it to Ft. Myers for Spring Training one year. So, logically, I think a new goal of mine will be to sit “inside” the Monster at Fenway South. It really looks like a remarkable ballpark.