Huntington Avenue Grounds
The stadium was the site of the first World Series game between the modern American and National Leagues in 1903, and also saw the first perfect game in the modern era, thrown by Cy Young on May 5, 1904. The playing field was built on a former circus lot and was extremely large by modern standards - 530 feet (160 m) to center field, later expanded to 635 feet (194 m) in 1908. It had many quirks not seen in modern baseball stadiums, including patches of sand in the outfield where grass would not grow, and a tool shed in deep center field that was in play.
The park was built on a large plot of land bounded by Huntington Avenue (northwest, left field); Rogers (now Forsyth) Street (southwest, third base); railroad tracks (southeast, first base); and various buildings to the east (right field).
The Huntington Avenue Grounds was demolished after the Red Sox left at the beginning of the 1912 season to play at Fenway Park. The Cabot Center, an indoor athletic venue belonging to Northeastern University, has stood on the Huntington Grounds' footprint since 1954. A plaque and a statue of Cy Young were erected in 1993 where the pitchers mound used to be, commemorating the history of this ballpark in what is now called World Series Way. Meanwhile, a plaque on the side of the Cabot Center (1956) marks the former location of the left field foul pole.
The Cabot facility itself is barely over a quarter mile away to the southwest from another, still-standing Boston area sports facility of that era, Matthews Arena (built in 1910), the original home of the NHL's Boston Bruins when they started play in 1924.
Gallery
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An early diagram of the grounds
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Plan of the grounds
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Huntington Avenue Grounds (left), August 5, 1911. Michael T. "Nuf Ced" McGreevy Collection, Boston Public Library
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Huntington Avenue Grounds (right), August 5, 1911. Michael T. "Nuf Ced" McGreevy Collection, Boston Public Library