"When they raze Fenway, it'll be like cutting down an old tree. Count the rings. There's one for each celebration and heartache suffered by Red Sox fans."
--Dan Shaughnessy, Fenway
"I can't wait to see the new park when it's done. I want Boston to have the best. If any city needed a new park, it's Boston. I won't shed a tear."
--Ted Williams, redsox.com
"I shall always treasure the sight of Brian Daubach's walk-off home run last night, the white sphere describing its arc across the night sky before just clearing the Green Monster and settling into the netting. Say what you want, but that moment would not have been the same in a mallpark."
--Rob Neyer, "Sox Fans Show Their Passion," ESPN.com
"I came to love Fenway. It was a place that rejuvenated me after a road trip; the fans right on top of you, the nutty angles. And the Wall. That was my baby, the left-field wall, the Green Monster."
--Carl Yastrzemski, Red Sox Hall of Famer
"The Green Monster cost me 10 home runs a year, maybe 20. Those are the number of line drives that I hit that went off the Wall and would have been home runs in other parks. I don't remember the Wall giving me any."
--Jim Rice, former Red Sox slugger
"I always watched these parks on TV when I was a kid. Now that I'm here, I've learned so much the last couple of days. I didn't know there was a ladder out there in left field. I didn't know that ... I didn't know that the park was tucked inside a neighborhood."
--Tony Gwynn, San Diego Padres, after his first trip to Fenway for the 1999 All-Star Game
"[Fenway Park] is a great place. It's baseball, and it's going to be sad to think that they're going to make a new one here. It's hard to think they can't redo this in a way where they can make it more comfortable."
--Mark McGwire, St. Louis Cardinals
"Fenway is the essence of baseball."
--Tom Seaver, Hall of Famer
"It comes back to why the ballparks matter to us -- because exactly comparable people played a comparable game in this ballpark for generation after generation."
"The Sox, one feels were ever touched with tragedy. But, lord, have they ever played in a beautiful ballpark. ... The beauty that is Fenway is something to behold. Go out on a bright, warm day in early summer, or a clear, crisp day in early fall, and you'll see a sight you'll never forget. The greenest green in creation sparkling beneath a perfect blue sky. 'How God meant baseball to be played,' John Pesky said to me once upon a time."
--John Anderson, Boston Magazine
"Let me get this straight. We're bulldozing real vintage ballparks like Tiger Stadium and Fenway Park to put up fake vintage ballparks?"
--Rick Reilly, Sports Illustrated
"Why do [the Red Sox] draw two million people? Why do they get 30,000 people at the end of the season, even when they're not in it? People come to see the ballpark, to see the Green Monster, to be close to the players. Boston must balance development growth with the preservation of what makes our city so livable -- our historic character, scale and charm. We are distinct from other American cities because we view our buildings as resources, not liabilities."
--Thomas Menino, mayor of Boston
"When the Red Sox win, the p.a. system immediately blares forth 'Dirty Water,' a No. 11 hit for The Standells back in 1966. It's usually little more than pleasant background music as we make our slow, slow way toward the exits. But after a dramatic win ... a good percentage of the fans hang around and sing: 'I love that dirty water ... Oh, Boston you're my home.' I don't sing along because Boston's not my home, not really. But if you're a baseball fan, you haven't lived until you've heard 30,000-some New Englanders sing their victory song, in the greatest ballpark in the world."
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ALSO SEE
Fenway: Classic or Clunker? Part I
Chart: Comparing Fenway plans
Fenway Park timeline
Pick the Best Ballpark
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