“I figure life’s a gift, and don’t intend on wasting it. You never know what hand you’re gonna get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you, to make each day count.”…..Jack Dawson

It was just before noon on April 10th 1912 when the good ship Titanic left the port of Southampton England bound for Cherbourg France, Queenstown Ireland and then across the Atlantic to New York City.

She was the grandest of ladies, the largest cruise ship ever built. She carried the wealthiest of the world and she was unsinkable.

Unsinkable Molly Brown.

As the Titanic was making her way east across the Atlantic, the Red Sox were making their way south on a train bound for New York where they were slated to open the 1912 season at Hilltop Park against the New York Highlanders.

Hilltop Park.

And as the Red Sox and Titanic were traveling into history, the Boston Post was informing all that Teddy Roosevelt “Buried” President Taft in the Illinois primary, Francis Bartlett donated $1,500,000.00 to the Museum of Fine Arts and the Socialist Labor Party had nominated a Boston tailor, Arthur Hellmar to run for president of the United States at the top of their ticket.

The Red Sox swept the three game series in New York to start the season 3-0 and the 14th of April was a travel day. They were headed further south to Philadelphia to play the Athletics for two games before making their way back to Boston where they would open Fenway Park and the 1912 season against New York.

The Red Sox first loss of 1912 came at Shibe Park.

The Red Sox were settled in, well maybe, in the City of Brotherly Love as they prepared to take on the A’s. It was 20 minutes to midnight on April 14th, as the 2,224 passengers of the Titanic settled in for their fourth night at sea.

The Titanic encountered a force in the North Atlantic leaving damage which breached five of her compartments below the waterline.

At 2:20 AM April 15, 1912, only two hours and forty minutes after striking the iceberg, the Titanic was resting at the bottom of the ocean, 12,415 feet below the surface and 1,514 people were dead.

Reports of the disaster began to trickle in to the northeastern newspapers as the Red Sox were absorbing their first loss of the season 4-1 in Philadelphia. The following day those same newspapers screamed the horror of the unthinkable!

The Red Sox righted their ship on the 16th with a 9-2 win and they headed north to Boston to open their new ball park.

The Titanic deflected the attention of the opening of the brand new Fenway Park and the tragedy was on the front page of the Boston Post and virtually every newspaper for the rest of the month. The Post carried a front page story every day until the first of May and for a week the first dozen or so pages were devoted to stories of this greatest sea disaster in history.

Fenway Park and the Titanic will forever be linked. It is estimated that approximately 75,000 people in the United States today are 100 or more years old. Those who possess a living memory of these events of 1912 is considerably less in number to be sure and as we celebrate Fenway Park’s 100th birthday we will do well to recollect the story of the Titanic and its invaluable lesson; even the unsinkables go down!

Oh and last night the Red Sox captured their first win of Fenway Park’s centennial. They scored three in the ninth to grab a 4-2 win in Toronto. They now stand at 1-3 tied for last place in the AL East, 2 1/2 games out! On this date in 1912 they were 0-0, a day away from opening.

Dustin Pedroia homered last night and he doubled leading off the ninth and scored to tie the score.

And so it is and so it was on this date in Fenway Park history, April 10, 1912, April 10, 2012.

About fenwaypark100

Hello and welcome, my name is Raymond Sinibaldi. An educator for more than two decades, a baseball fan for nearly 60 years, I have authored four books about baseball and her glorious history; with a fifth on the way in late spring of 2015; the first, The Babe in Red Stockings which was co-authored with Kerry Keene and David Hickey. It is a chronicle of Babe's days with the Red Sox. We also penned a screenplay about Babe's Red Sox days so if any of you are Hollywood inclined or would like to represent us in forwarding that effort feel free to contact me through my email. In 2012 we three amigos published Images of Fenway Park in honor of the 100th birthday of Fenway Park. That led to the creation of this blog. The following year, 2013 came my first solo venture, Spring Training in Bradenton and Sarasota. This is a pictorial history of spring training in those two Florida cities. The spring of 2014 brought forth the 1967 Red Sox, The Impossible Dream Season. The title speaks for itself and it also is a pictorial history. Many of the photos in this book were never published before. The spring of 2015 will bring 1975 Red Sox, American League Champions. Another pictorial effort, this will be about the Red Sox championship season of 1975 and the World Series that restored baseball in America. I was fortunate enough to consult with sculptor Franc Talarico on the “Jimmy Fund” statue of Ted Williams which stands outside both Fenway Park and Jet Blue Park Fenway South, in Fort Myers Florida. That story is contained in the near 300 posts which are contained herein. This blog has been dormant for awhile but 2015 will bring it back to life so jump on board, pass the word and feel free to contact me about anything you read or ideas you may have for a topic. Thanks for stopping by, poke around and enjoy. Autographed copies of all my books are available here, simply click on Raymond Sinibaldi and email me.

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