Editor’s note: Fenway Park opened on April 20, 1912. NESN.com will be celebrating Fenway’s 100-year anniversary with unique content from now until April 20, 2012.
There is no doubt the dreaded Curse of the Bambino was in full swing during the Boston Red Sox' 1926 season.
The Sox finished with a woeful 46-107 record, placing them in the basement of the American League. They also finished dead last in team batting average, ERA and stolen bases, and they came just a hair shy of racking up the league's worst attendance (that distinguished dishonor went to the St. Louis Browns). The team struggled so much, in fact, that not a single starting pitcher won more than eight games. The Sox played with such ineptitude that one Boston newspaper headline in July read, "Wail Till Next Year."
While the Sox were busy getting burned by other teams, Fenway Park was plagued by a trio of fires in May that ultimately destroyed the wooden bleachers down the left-field line. They were not removed until August, and were not replaced until 1934.
With a forgetable summer of baseball and damaging fires behind it, Fenway Park gladly opened its gates to over a dozen football games in the fall, the most it had ever hosted in a single year.
For more information on Fenway Park, visit Fenway Park 100.
