It was a short poke for righthanded pull hitters. Our three kids were young, but they were versed in the nuances of Fenway Park, and it didn't take long for someone to suggest that we paint the left-field wall green.
Not the whole thing, mind you. Just the two inside sections in the corner.
We were lucky. I knew a guy who had real Fenway paint.
When Boston's beloved baseball theater opened in 1912, its color was described as "Dartmouth Green," but in the early 1990s, the official hue was a lighter shade called "field green." In the latter part of the 20th century, the Smith family of Wilmington painted Fenway's Wall, using a custom blend made for the Red Sox by the California Paint Co.
Joe Mooney was the Sox' groundskeeping guru in those days. When I asked Mooney where I could find a close replica of official Fenway paint, he gave me a half-bucket of the green gold. The Sox always had a few cans handy for small jobs and touch-up work.
Our backyard project didn't take long. The kids helped with the green part. Armed with rollers, 4-inch brushes, and a dented can we relabeled "Monster Green," they were latter-day, baseball-crazed Tom Sawyers.
I took care of the detail work - the white trim that would replicate Fenway's left-field scoreboard.
Decisions had to be made. Declaring an opponent was easy. We were going to stencil a single game on our Wall for eternity, so the Sox had to be playing the Yankees.
Today, the fixed numbers on the old wall serve as an archaeological dig of sorts. The starting pitchers are No. 21 for the Red Sox and No. 46 for the Yankees: Roger Clemens vs. Andy Pettitte. The identities of the starters certify the Wall was painted in 1995 or '96. Clemens's last year with the Sox was 1996 and Pettitte did not pitch in New York until '95. All those years ago, how could we have known the infamous manner in which the two would be linked in the Mitchell Report of winter 2007-08?
It was agreed we would feature Mo Vaughn (No. 42) batting for Boston. Mo was MVP of the American League in 1995, and every kid in New England loved him.
