From the South End Grounds to Fenway Park, from Boston Garden to Gillette Stadium, the history of sports in Boston has been tied to the parks and arenas in which the teams have met and the athletes competed. Beloved but abandoned sites such as the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Braves Field, and the Garden are recalled by Boston fans with the same fondness Brooklynites feel for Ebbets Field, while contemporary stadiums maintain the region's proud athletic tradition. This is the first book to tell the story of sports in Boston through the stories of these venues. Foulds gives pride of place to the region's nine best-known sites, with numerous anecdotes about such fabled teams as the Red Sox, Bruins, and Celtics along the way. But he also considers parks that have been all but forgotten, such as the Worcester County Fairgrounds, once an official National League ballpark despite the presence of a tree in left field, or Lincoln Park, the former home of black baseball in Boston. And in addition to such milestones as the first World Series and the achievements of the great Cy Young, he also recalls the Hub's support for soccer, tennis, lacrosse and, of course, the Boston Marathon.
In this illustrated history, Foulds documents the variety and vibrancy of Boston sports for over a century. This history, he shows, is firmly grounded in the stories of the sites where the games have been played.