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History strikes the heart

The view from the Yankee Stadium dugout. Picture: Tracey Lewis

So much history has seeped into these 102-year-old seats. Just by remaining here, they have become a sporting tradition. And by sitting on one, you can almost relive the great moments ingrained in one of the world's oldest sporting fields.

Many have tried to take the axe to Fenway Park. But Boston's iconic baseball park stands firm as a representative of the sport, the elder statesman of a code whose past has played such an important role in America's psyche.

Attending US sporting venues on non-game days has become popular. Most of the big-city venues conduct regular tours of their stands, change rooms, museums, statues and offices. Being an aficionado of a team or competition isn't a prerequisite to enjoy the journey around these American coliseums.

While the seats at Fenway still feature the same wooden panels as when Babe Ruth first played in baseball major leagues (1914-35), the ambience and features of the park, even without a crowd, are spectacular. Ruth, the Sultan of Swat who is arguably the most famous player in baseball history, started at the Boston Red Sox before he moved to the New York Yankees to become a national superstar.

He, like every other batter before and since, has had to confront the park's Green Monster.

Because Fenway Park was built in a busy area of Boston, there wasn't room to establish a full-sized baseball field. Left field was constructed only 95m from home plate, giving right-handed hitters a distinct advantage. So to make hitting home runs more difficult, an 11m wall - the Green Monster - was put in place.

The Red Sox recently opened the top of the Green Monster to public seating and the Fenway Park tour gives an insight into what batters have to do to clear the obstacle.

There are a number of quirky aspects to the ground. Deep in right field, in a sea of green, is a lone red seat. The spot stands out like a bloodied eye. On June 6, 1946, spectator Joseph Boucher left that position with a sore head. That day, Red Sox hero Ted Williams hit the longest home run recorded at the ground - 153m. Boucher wasn't paying attention and the ball struck him. To mark the event, Boucher's seat was painted red.

Even a walk outside the ground proves fascinating. Much of the Fenway Park facade features rustic red brick, and part of a grandstand lurches over the adjoining road. There are also statues of favourite sons Carl Yastrzemski, Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr and Dom DiMaggio.

In New York City, we visit Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Opened in 2009, the stadium is on the site of the car park of the original Yankee Stadium, the team's home from 1923 and known as the House that Babe Ruth built. Yankee Stadium is very different from Fenway - apt, because the Red Sox and Yankees despise each other, primarily as a result of Ruth's hotly debated transfer south in 1919.

While the feel of history here might not be as natural as at its Massachusetts rival, New York has been determined to carry over tradition to the new park. The roof decoration that was such a feature of the original facility was transplanted across the road. Honours to former players such as Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle are dotted throughout the complex.

The Yankees Museum is a delight, with a baseball display case built around the trajectory of the final pitch of the game in the 1956 World Series when Don Larsen threw the perfect game (no hits, walks, runs). Statues of Larsen and catcher Berra stand at either end of the wooden cupboard, reflecting the distance between mound and plate.

Some of the tours of Yankee Stadium are conducted by former players, including dual World Series champion Roy White. He takes people into the players' dugout, through the change rooms and around to the on-field monuments. US sporting teams prefer to retire the playing numbers of their outstanding achievers, and at the far end of the venue is Monument Park, a small garden dedicated to those greats. There is also a statue of highly controversial club owner George Steinbrenner, who was so well parodied in the Seinfeld TV series.

Major League baseball broke new ground last month when the first regular season game was held at the Sydney Cricket Ground. It was another era for the great American pastime.

But the history of its homeland parks will still deliver cherished memories.