Embattled, Beloved Fenway To Get All-Star Farewell Party

BOSTON - It's the stadium where Carlton Fisk waved a home run fair in the 1975 World Series, and where Bucky Dent's three-run homer lifted the New York Yankees past the Boston Red Sox in the 1978 AL East playoff.

It's the stadium that will be on a national stage again Tuesday night when baseball's best gather for the All-Star Game.

And it's the stadium that, a few years from now, may not exist.

It's 87-year-old Fenway Park, where the Green Monster, 37 feet high but only 310 feet down the left-field line, turns pop flies into homers and vicious line drives into wall-banging singles.

Fisk and Dent hit their home runs over that wall. Tuesday, sluggers Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and others will take aim at it, just as opposing sides have been swinging away in the battle over renovating or replacing the 77-year-old park.

"I think the Red Sox want to look at it as somewhat of a farewell party," said Michael Governor, spokesman for Save Fenway Park!, which has an architect-designed plan to renovate the stadium. "The true all-star this coming Tuesday is Fenway Park."

Red Sox officials have met with the preservationists but say the plan doesn't have a chance of succeeding.

Tuesday's national spotlight could point out the stadium's shortcomings - narrow seats and aisles, outdated restrooms and too few concession stands.

Instead, the Red Sox have proposed a $545 million stadium project just across Yawkey Way. Groundbreaking could begin in the fall of 2000, with the first game possible in the 2003 season.

Still to be worked out is financing. The Red Sox say they'd like to keep public aid to a minimum. But they may need $200 million for infrastructure work besides the $350 million they plan to spend on the stadium. They also must obtain land now occupied by 24 businesses.

There would be about 100 luxury boxes, and the current capacity of 33,871, lowest in the majors, would be boosted to about 45,000.

The current infield, part of the grandstand and the third-base dugout would be preserved, and the Green Monster would be moved closer to the shortstop area. All that would be part of the entrance to a new stadium.