Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, less than one mile from Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the ballpark of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and, since 1953, its only Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise. While the stadium was built in 1912, it was substantially rebuilt in 1934, and underwent major renovations and modifications in the 21st century. It is the oldest active ballpark in MLB. Because of its age and constrained location in Boston's dense Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood, the park has many quirky features, including "The Triangle", Pesky's Pole, and the Green Monster in left field. It is the fifth-smallest among MLB ballparks by seating capacity, second-smallest by total capacity, and one of eight that cannot accommodate at least 40,000 spectators.
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Called the "King of Horror", his books have sold more than 350 million copies as of 2006, and many have been adapted into films, television series, miniseries, and comic books. He has also written approximately 200 short stories, most of which have been published in book collections. His debut, Carrie, was published in 1974, and was followed by 'Salem's Lot, The Shining, The Stand and The Dead Zone. Different Seasons, a collection of four novellas, was his first major departure from the horror genre. The novellas provided the basis for the films Stand by Me and The Shawshank Redemption. King has published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman and has cowritten works with other authors, notably his friend Peter Straub and sons Joe Hill and Owen King.
The Curse of the Bambino was a superstitious sports curse in Major League Baseball (MLB) derived from the 86-year championship drought of the Boston Red Sox between 1918 and 2004. The superstition was named after Babe Ruth, colloquially known as "The Bambino", who played for the Red Sox until he was sold to the New York Yankees in 1920. While some fans took the curse seriously, most used the expression in a tongue-in-cheek manner.
Disco Demolition Night was a Major League Baseball (MLB) promotion on Thursday, July 12, 1979, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois, that ended in a riot. At the climax of the event, a crate filled with disco records was blown up on the field between games of the twi-night doubleheader between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. Many had come to see the explosion rather than the games and rushed onto the field after the detonation. The playing field was so damaged by the explosion and by the rioters that the White Sox were required to forfeit the second game to the Tigers.
Kevin Edmund Youkilis, nicknamed "Youk", is an American former professional baseball first baseman and third baseman, who primarily played for the Boston Red Sox. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, he was drafted by the Red Sox in 2001, after playing college baseball at the University of Cincinnati. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Red Sox, the Chicago White Sox, and the New York Yankees. He later served as a special assistant to the Chicago Cubs and former Red Sox GM Theo Epstein.
The 2004 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2004 season. The 100th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL) champion Boston Red Sox and the National League (NL) champion St. Louis Cardinals; the Red Sox swept the Cardinals in four games. The series was played from October 23 to 27, 2004, at Fenway Park and Busch Memorial Stadium, broadcast on Fox, and watched by an average of just under 25.5 million viewers. The Red Sox's World Series championship was their first since 1918, ending the Curse of the Bambino.
Victoria E. Snelgrove was an American journalism student at Emerson College in Boston, who died after being shot by officer Rochefort Milien of the Boston Police Department using a less-lethal weapon. The shooting took place following the victory of the Boston Red Sox over the New York Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series. In 2005, the city of Boston reached a $5.1 million wrongful death settlement with Snelgrove's family. After filing a wrongful death suit for $10 million against FN Herstal, the family agreed to an out-of-court settlement in June of 2006; the final amount of the settlement was not disclosed.
Faithful is a 2004 book co-written by Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan. It chronicles exchanges between King and O'Nan about the 2004 Boston Red Sox season, beginning with an e-mail in the summer of 2003, and throughout the 2004 season, from spring training to the World Series.
Stewart O'Nan is an American novelist.
Stephen John Lyons is an American former professional baseball player who previously worked as a television sportscaster for the New England Sports Network (NESN). He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for four teams over a period of nine seasons (1985–1993), including four stints with the Boston Red Sox. He was initially an outfielder and third baseman, but found a niche as a utility player. After his retirement as a player, he became a television baseball commentator. In 2021, NESN announced Lyons would not be returning to his in-studio pre- and post-game analyst role.
The Quill Award was an American literary award that ran for three years, from 2005 to 2007. It was a "consumer-driven award created to inspire reading while promoting literacy".
Louis William Merloni, nicknamed "Sweet Lou", is an American radio personality and a former Major League Baseball player. Merloni played for his hometown Boston Red Sox from 1998–2002 and again for part of 2003. He also played for the San Diego Padres, Cleveland Indians, and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Wendell Kealohepauloe Kim was an American professional baseball player, coach and manager who served as a coach for four Major League Baseball teams over the course of 15 seasons. A former infielder in the minor leagues, he stood 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m) tall, weighed 160 pounds (73 kg), and threw and batted right-handed. He was of Korean and Hawaiian descent.
The Walla Walla Sweets is an amateur baseball team located in Walla Walla, Washington. They play in the West Coast League, a collegiate summer baseball league. Walla Walla calls Borleske Stadium home which has a capacity of 2,378 spectators.
Lonely Road Books is a small press publishing company founded in 2007 by Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar and based out of Forest Hill, Maryland. They are a publishing company that specializes in deluxe signed limited edition books. Lonely Road Books has released the anthology Dark Forces: The 25th Anniversary Special Edition edited by Kirby McCauley, and they have released and are releasing books by notable writers Stephen King, Ray Garton, Douglas Clegg, Stewart O'Nan, Mick Garris, and more.
In a Major League Baseball game played on June 2, 2010, at Detroit's Comerica Park, Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga nearly became the 21st pitcher in Major League history to throw a perfect game. Facing the Cleveland Indians, Galarraga retired the first 26 batters he faced. His bid for a perfect game was ruined one out short when first-base umpire Jim Joyce incorrectly ruled that Indians batter Jason Donald reached first base safely on a ground ball. Galarraga instead finished with a one-hit shutout in a 3–0 victory. He faced 28 batters and threw 88 pitches, striking out three. The game is sometimes referred to as the "28-out perfect game", the "Almost Perfect" game, the "Extra Perfect Game", the "Imperfect Game" or simply the "Galarraga game."
The Savannah Book Festival is a literary festival held each February in Savannah, Georgia, and features authors as well as educational events. In the past, the festival has hosted best-selling authors Stephen King, James Patterson and David Baldacci, Pulitzer Prize winners Garry Wills, Geraldine Brooks and Isabel Wilkerson, National Book Award winner Ben Fountain, and Nobel Prize laureate Al Gore.
Dirty Water is the first studio album by the American rock band the Standells, released in May 1966.
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams is a short fiction collection by Stephen King, published on November 3, 2015. This is King's sixth collection of short stories and his tenth collection overall. One of the stories, "Obits", won the 2016 Edgar Award for best short story, and the collection itself won the 2015 Shirley Jackson Award for best collection. The paperback edition, released on October 18, 2016, includes a bonus short story, "Cookie Jar", which was published in 2016 in VQR.
