Why Boston’s Fenway Park Has One Red Seat in the Bleachers

Most legendary tales about Boston's storied Fenway Park involve a handful of men: Babe Ruth, Carl Yastrzemski, Wade Boggs and David Ortiz, to name a few. This story, like many others, involves Ted Williams.

Theodore Samuel Williams, known to baseball fans as "The Splendid Splinter" and "The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived," played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball career with the Boston Red Sox from 1939 to 1960. Williams defended Fenway's left field wall.

Born on August 30, 1918, in San Diego, California, Williams' baseball career was interrupted by military service during World War II. "Teddy Ballgame" rejoined the Red Sox in 1946 after three and a half years in the U.S. Marine Corps.

According to the New England Historical Society, Williams got four hits in the first game of a doubleheader at Fenway against the Detroit Tigers on June 9, 1946.

NEHS says Williams "launched a ball into Section 42, Row 37, Seat 21 in the right-field bleachers."

According to NEHS, "It was the longest home run (502 feet) ever hit in Fenway Park."

Williams' dinger was off a changeup thrown by pitcher Fred Hutchinson. The ball hit 56-year-old Albany, New York construction engineer Joe Boucher's straw hat, making a hole in it.

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In 1946, fans with tickets for the bleachers sat on benches. At some point, the Red Sox replaced the benches with seats. In 1984, Red Sox owner Haywood Sullivan installed a red plastic seat to mark Williams' accomplishment. It's the only red seat in the bleachers.

According to NEHS, when Williams died on July 5, 2002, "a rose appeared on the red seat."