10. Fenway Park celebrates 100th anniversary

By Steve Silva for Boston.com

It was a memorable anniversary weekend … for all the wrong reasons.

In a ceremony rich in pageantry, the Red Sox celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first game at Fenway Park in 1912 by bringing 213 players out onto the field to take their positions before the April 20th game against the Yankees.

Red Sox legends Carl Yastrzemski, Carlton Fisk, Pedro Martinez, Jim Lonborg, and Nomar Garciaparra were among the former players who honored the old ballpark’s 100th birthday. Two-time World Series champion manager Terry Francona received the loudest cheers, getting a standing ovation from the crowd and chants of “Tito, Tito.” At the end, 92-year-old Johnny Pesky and 93-year-old Bobby Doerr were introduced to the cheering crowd.

The Red Sox opened Fenway Park with a 7-6 victory over the New York Highlanders on April 20, 1912, but 100 years later the Sox would go on to lose to New York, 6-2, on the day of the widely-publicized celebration of “America’s most beloved ballpark.”

The next day, fans witnessed one of the most stunning collapses in team history. The Red Sox blew a 9-0 lead after the Yankees posted back-to-back seven-run innings in the seventh and eighth in a shocking 15-9 win over Boston.

The 100th anniversary season went downhill from there as the Sox found a way to lose 93 games under an avalanche of injuries and the stewardship on controversial manager Bobby Valentine.