This article is excerpted from “Fenway Park: A Salute to the Coolest, Cruelest, Longest-Running Major League Baseball Stadium in America,” produced by The Boston Globe and published by Running Press. 
 
 The storied home of the Red Sox for a century, “America’s Most Beloved Ballpark’’ also is the oldest in the major leagues, and the most famous. From the classic brick entrance on Yawkey Way to the unique left-field wall with its manual scoreboard to Pesky’s Pole in right field, its timeless features are recognized from the Bronx to the Dominican Republic to Japan. 
 
 John Updike’s “lyric little bandbox,’’ which he likened to “an old-fashioned peeping-type Easter egg,’’ is so linked with Boston and baseball history that it is a destination in itself, equal to the Freedom Trail and the swan boats, with visitors taking guided ballpark tours even during winter. In “Cheers,’’ the long-running situation comedy based in a Back Bay tavern, bartender Sam “Mayday’’ Malone was a former Sox relief pitcher. The fan film “Fever Pitch’’ is based around Fenway, where Kevin Costner also took James Earl Jones for an inspirational outing in “Field of Dreams.’’ 
 
 Fenway’s field is like no other. Because the park was jammed into a city lot bounded by narrow streets, its dimensions are a crazy confluence of oblique angles, like the three-sided oddity in centerfield that can turn the game into Pachinko, with the ball bouncing and rattling about. There is so little playable foul territory that dozens of balls end up in the stands, which are so close to the diamond that fans can hear the players’ chatter. 
 
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 Related Photos Fenway Park before 1950 
 
 Fenway is a charmingly auditory experience, from the scalpers on Brookline Avenue (“Who needs tickets?’’) to the fans singing “Sweet Caroline’’ during the eighth inning to the playing of “Dirty Water’’ over the public address system after victories. 
 
 Fenway’s endearing quirkiness is much of its allure. Except for some increased seating and creature comforts, the park has remained largely unchanged since it opened in 1912 in the same week that the Titanic sank. 
 
 “When I brought my kids to Fenway, they never complained about the inconveniences of the ancient ballpark,’’ wrote Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy, who confessed that he still took “some weird comfort in the knowledge that the poles that occasionally obscured our vision of the pitcher are the same green beams that blocked the vision of my dad and his dad when they would take the trolley from Cambridge to watch the Red Sox in the 1920s.’’ 
 
 Babe Ruth threw his first pitch and Ted Williams hit his last home run at Fenway. From Christy Mathewson, to Ty Cobb, to Satchel Paige, to Joe DiMaggio, to Hank Aaron, most of baseball’s greatest names have appeared on Fenway’s stage, which also has accommodated an extraordinary variety of athletes, politicians, and entertainers. 
 
 Three of Boston’s professional football teams - the Redskins, the Yanks, and the Patriots - performed at Fenway. The Bruins and Flyers, two of hockey’s fiercest rivals, played in the Winter Classic there on New Year’s Day. Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave his final campaign address at Fenway. The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, and Bruce Springsteen all sang there. 
 
 Every significant moment from every year is here, and then some. The dramatic World Series victory over the Giants in 1912. The 1934 fire that scorched Tom Yawkey’s renovated park. Ted Williams’s “Great Expectoration’’ of 1956. Jim Lonborg’s “hero’s ride’’ after putting the Sox in position to secure the Impossible Dream pennant in 1967. Carlton Fisk’s dramatic “is-it-fair?’’ homer in the 12th inning of Game 6 of the 1975 World Series against the Reds. Bucky “Bleeping’’ Dent’s heartbreaking screen shot in the 1978 divisional playoff game with New York. Roger Clemens’s record 20 strikeouts against the Mariners in 1986. Dave Roberts’s stolen base against the Yankees in 2004 that was the beginning of the end of 86 years of October frustration. 
 
 Fenway is all about lore. The Royal Rooters torturing visiting ballplayers with incessant renditions of “Tessie.’’ Williams’s monster bleacher shot knocking a hole in a fan’s straw hat. Manny Ramirez’s mystery disappearance inside the belly of the Monster. Jimmy Piersall oinking like a pig on the basepaths. Luis Tiant’s rhumba windup that the New Yorker’s Roger Angell dubbed “Call the Osteopath.’’ Pedro Martinez playing matador to former skipper Don Zimmer’s enraged bull during a brawl with the Yankees. A midget coming out of the stands to cover third when the Indians used the “Williams Shift.’’ 
 
 This is the story of 100 years of Fenway Park. ||||| As thousands of elated Boston Red Sox fans poured out of Fenway Park early this morning to celebrate the first World Series win in Beantown since 1918, many made their way to the finish line of the Boston Marathon. 
 
 Traffic came to a standstill on Boylston Street as throngs of fans kneeled down to touch, and in some cases kiss, the finish line to cap off a roller-coaster season. Fans chanted "Boston Strong," a mantra that the Red Sox coined in wake of the twin bombings that rocked the marathon more than six months ago. 
 
 Boston Red Sox Fans Gather at Marathon Finish Line 
 
 Red Sox slugger David Ortiz addressed the jubilant crowd at Fenway Park, just as he did days after the bombings. "This is for you, Boston. You guys deserve it," Ortiz said after he was named World Series MVP. "We've been through a lot this year and this is for all of you and all those families who struggled." 
 
 Red Sox Clinch First World Series Win at Fenway Since 1918 
 
 The Red Sox wore "Boston Strong" logos on their left sleeves, erected a large emblem on the Green Monster and moved the logo into the center-field grass as a reminder of the bombings that rocked the city on Patriots Day. Three people were killed and more than 260 people were wounded. 
 
 The Red Sox became a source of inspiration much like the New York Yankees in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks. It's a job the Red Sox organization gladly accepted. 
 
 "There's I think a civil responsibility that we have wearing this uniform, particularly here in Boston," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "And it became a connection initially, the way our guys reached out to individuals or to hospital visits. And it continued to build throughout the course of the season. I think our fans, they got to a point where they appreciated the way we played the game, how they cared for one another. And in return they gave these guys an incredible amount of energy to thrive on in this ballpark." 
 
 Boston Police Officer's Winning Photo at Red Sox Game 
 
 As for the World Series win, it's Boston's third title in the last 10 years and perhaps the latest is the sweetest because they had the opportunity to celebrate with their fans. 
 
 The 2013 Red Sox weren't expected to make much noise this season after a last-place finish in 2012. But Boston joined the 1991 Minnesota Twins as the only teams to win titles after finishing in last place the prior season. 
 
 "We've dealt with a lot," Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia said. "But our team came together." 
 
 The Associated Press contributed to this report.
– Baseball's "Sistine Chapel" turns 100 today, a century to the day after its first regular-season game. As the oldest major-league stadium, Fenway Park has seen the Boston Red Sox through a turbulent century, hosting heroes from Babe Ruth to Ted Williams to Hank Aaron, the Boston Globe notes. Today, you can feel the stadium's age, columnist Dan Shaughnessy tells USA Today: "The seats between the aisles were built for people 5-foot-6 in 1912," and "some of the things that don't work are never going to work." "But overall, it is the jewel of baseball and the best place to watch a baseball game," he concludes. The stadium was the product of a $120,000 purchase of 8 acres of land in Boston. Nearly a century later, the park seemed old-fashioned and small compared to others, and it faced a shutdown. But new owners invested $285 million to bring it up to date, and it's expected to stay in business another 40 years. "We think of Fenway as the 'Little Engine that Could,' and it just keeps chugging along," Red Sox co-owner Tom Werner says. Today, the Sox celebrate the anniversary with a game against—who else?—the New York Yankees.