Carlton Fisk’s game-winning home run in the 1975 World Series squares off against Fenway Park’s April, 1912 opening in the first round of Boston’s Greatest Sports Moment tournament.
Carlton Fisk knew it. Really, everyone watching knew. Fisk’s shot down the left-field line at Fenway Park in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series had the distance, but would it stay fair? Fisk hopped down the first-base line using both arms to wave the ball fair, and the ball clunked off the foul pole to give the Red Sox a walk-off win and force Game 7 against the Cincinnati Reds. The Sox lost Game 7, but Fisk’s home run lives on as one of the most iconic moments in Boston sports and baseball history. His shot off Pat Darcy changed the way television stations broadcast baseball games. Cameramen at the time were taught to follow the ball, but NBC cameraman Lou Gerard later said he was distracted by a rat so instead kept the camera pointed at Fisk, who was in the midst of his memorable wave. The rest, as they say, is history.
No other baseball park is like it. No other baseball park is older than it. Fenway Park opened on April 20, 1912 — two days later than scheduled due to rain – and the Red Sox beat the New York Highlanders (later the Yankees), 7-6. The grand opening was pushed off the front pages of Boston newspapers by the sinking of the Titanic, which happened on April 15, but the stadium did not remain in the shadows for long. The Red Sox won the World Series in 1912 and have been part of many historical moments at Fenway, the team’s primary home since moving from the Huntington Avenue Grounds. Fenway Park turns 100 in 2012 and has evolved into America’s Most Beloved Ballpark — one of Major League Baseball’s crown jewels, along with Wrigley Field in Chicago and Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
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