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Red Sox players line up to welcome the Vermont National Guard Elise Amendola/AP/Press Association Images

Happy Birthday Fenway! Boston stadium celebrates 100 years as home to Red Sox

One of the most famous grounds in the baseball kingdom marks a century by hosting the New York Yankees

THE RED SOX of Boston will welcome the New York Yankees to town tomorrow as they officially mark the 100th birthday of their stadium, Fenway Park.

Both sides have endured a less than spectacular start to the Major League Baseball season, with the Red Sox currently slumping at four wins and eight losses.

The Sox Nation likes to party, however, and what better reason to celebrate than the visit of the hated Yankees?

The poignancy of the 100-year festivities will be given an edge, no doubt, as the New York franchise waved goodbye to Yankee Stadium, and its 85-year history, only four years ago.

Unique memories

Each Red Sox fan would be happy to regale the nearest set of ears with their own particular Fenway story but recent, golden memories would surely include World Series matches in 2004 and 2007.

Fenway played host to the world series winning Red Sox in four of its first seven seasons before ‘The Curse of the Bambino‘ – a superstition that began when the legendary Babe Ruth was traded to the Yankees – arrived.

The team was synonymous with the ‘unlucky loser’ tag as they reached four World Series between 1946 and 1986.

Despite the two recent titles, the 1975 series against Cincinnati Reds, when Boston lost 4-3 in Game Seven, still rankles. No so for Sean Maguire (Robin Williams) in Good Will Hunting:

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The organisation, known in its formative years as the Boston Americans, previously played at Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds.

The Americans became the Red Sox in 1908 and a move to Fenway Park, near Kenmore Square, followed soon after.

The stadium can hold a maximum of 39,067 baseball fans. Moves to a larger stadium have been mooted at several times over the years but the Sox fans have voiced their preference for Fenway just as frequently and vociferously.

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