Luke Scott called Fenway Park a dump:
Designated hitter Luke Scott has a different opinion, saying, “As a baseball player, going there to work, it’s a dump.”
Luke, of course, is referring to the parts of the park the fans never see. The Red Sox organization made the visible areas of Fenway less of a dump, but there are none of the modern amenities that newer parks provide in terms of training. There’s just no room. This is why, sooner or later, the Red Sox will build a new facility. Part of building a team is selecting the right players, but the team also needs to keep those players in good shape. I bet Red Sox players love going on the road to the newer parks, and get a bit jealous of the facilities. At some point, the park could become a detriment to bringing in free agents, as they may want to play with more modern training facilities.
I also want to point out a mistake in the first paragraph of the article:
Friday afternoon’s game against the Red Sox will be Boston’s home opener, kicking off the 100th season of Major League baseball at Fenway Park.
Miscounting years is a pet peeve of mine. We count birthdays and anniversaries by completed years. So, when you turned five years old, it meant that you had lived five full years, and were going into your sixth trip around the sun. Fenway completed 100 years in use, so this is the start of the 101th season.
(This is the reason that people are confused about when decades and centuries start and end. The old designation of A.D. meant year of our lord, “year of” the operative phrase. In other words, we are in the 2012th year of what is now known as the common era. So Jan. 1, 2013 will be the 2012th anniversary of the start of the common era, and the start of the 2013th year.)
Hat tip BBTF.
People aren’t confused about when decades and centuries start and end. Decades and centuries start and end every moment! They just disagree about which ones to celebrate.
But yes, since Fenway Park has already seen 100 seasons, this cannot be its 100th.
I’ve heard over the years NL players saying the same thing about the facilities at Wrigley. I actually (much as I consider Wrigley a dump to even watch a game at) sympathize with ownership. There’s only so much you can do in renovations, and it’s not like the Red Sox and Cubs have open land right next door to start new construction at while keeping the old place open.
I, too, am always peeved when someone refers to, for example, the decade of the 1990’s and marks it from 1990-1999, when, in fact, it was from 1991-2000. The first century began with year one and ended with year 100; therefore, the 21st century began Jan. 1, 2001, not Jan. 1, 2000.
Oh, right. So the Twins were the first team to win a World Series in the 1990s. Not the Reds.
This isn’t a matter of math. It’s a matter of semantics.
For my money, James has it right. Especially the point about semantics vs math.
If you want, you can celebrate an anniversary of the advent of the common era — which was not considered an event at the time, so I’m not sure what it’s an anniversary of. Or you can say that a decade is a group of ten years, and refer to groupings that make intuitive sense — e.g., all the years that begin with the digits 199.
David Pinto is spot on, of course, about it being the 101st season. That “100th season” bit was inaccurate.
Jesus Christ. Just build a guest house/ hotel with a modern gym across the street and have the home and away players stay there during the season. In the winter, lower the rates and its a decent cheap hotel in Boston.