Growing up 28 miles north of Fenway Park, I believed Boston was the Hub of the Universe, with its history and culture. Moving to Rhode Island after college — Colby in Maine — I soon learned my new home state had a serious inferiority complex, thanks to neighboring Massachusetts.
Five decades later, I wonder why. Sure, we are small — Little Rhody applies, yes? — but we can match up with Boston and Massachusetts in many areas, especially sports. Think about it.
FENWAY PARK (1912) VS. CARDINES FIELD (1908)
Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox, is an American icon. Check out the documentary on PBS. The Green Monster in left, the triangle in center, the bullpens in right, the manual scoreboard, the tricky angles, the tight seats. Everybody knows the “lyric little bandbox.” Thank you, John Updike.
We can’t beat Fenway, the oldest ballpark in big league baseball and the No. 1 tourist attraction in Boston.
But we can answer with Cardines Field, home of the Newport Gulls of the New England Collegiate League. This gem near the waterfront opened four years before Fenway and has avoided the grasp of developers while providing a stage for amateur ball players to perform. The wooden grandstand puts spectators close to the action. The high fences and angles are unique. Cardines is not Fenway, but it is charming in its own way.
LONGWOOD CRICKET CLUB (1878) VS. NEWPORT CASINO (1880)
Longwood, with its manicured grass tennis courts and stately clubhouse, is beautiful. The club hosted 15 Davis Cup ties from 1900, the inaugural, to 1999, the last major tournament there. The U.S. Pro called Longwood home from 1964 to 1999.
The Newport Casino, with its shingled buildings and grass courts, is historic. Richard Sears of Boston won the first U.S. National Championship at the Casino in 1881. The International Tennis Hall of Fame opened in the Casino in 1955, the Hall of Fame Championships started as an exhibition in 1976, and the museum today is a superb repository of tennis history.
LONGWOOD COVERED COURTS (1913) VS. THE INDOOR COURT (1914)
The Covered Courts in Chestnut Hill feature a pair of indoor courts across Middlesex Street from the Longwood Cricket Club.
The Indoor Court on Blanding Avenue in East Providence is tucked in a working class neighborhood between North Broadway and Massasoit Avenue. History oozes from the century-old beams and glass roof. “Big Bill” Tilden practiced there before dominating men’s tennis in the 1920s.
THE COUNTRY CLUB (1882) VS. NEWPORT COUNTRY CLUB (1883)
The Country Club in Brookline is the oldest golf club in the U.S. It is one of five charter members of the U.S. Golf Association and has hosted 13 national championships plus the 1999 Ryder Cup. An unknown caddy, Francis Ouimet, won the 1913 U.S. Open there.
The Newport Country Club — another charter member of the USGA — hosted the first national and open championships, each in 1895. Newport’s assistant pro, Horace Rawlings, won the open title. Newport remains exclusively a golf club. No tennis courts. No swimming pool. Newport has hosted four national tournaments. Tiger Woods won the centennial U.S. Amateur in 1995, and Annika Sorenstam won the U.S. Women’s Open in 2006. The 2020 U.S. Senior Open was canceled because of COVID. The USGA awarded the 2024 event to Newport.
HARVARD STADIUM (1903) VS. BROWN STADIUM (1925)
I would argue that Harvard Stadium, the first in the nation constructed of concrete, is the best place to watch college football. Shaped like a horseshoe with a colonnade atop the stands, the stadium, when seen from street level in its Allston neighborhood, evokes the Coliseum in Rome. With a capacity of 30,323, it is big enough to convey a sense of importance, yet not so large as to overwhelm the senses. One of the most exciting games in college football history occurred there in 1968, when Harvard rallied for 16 points in the last 42 seconds for a 29-29 tie with Yale. Both teams entered the game undefeated, and to this day many fans consider the outcome a Harvard victory.
Brown Stadium’s signature trapezoid grandstand towers over Elmgrove Avenue about a mile from Brown’s College Hill campus. Capacity is 20,000. The original plan allowed for expansion on the visitor’s side of the field to increase capacity to 32,000, but expansion never happened. In 2021 Brown was the last Ivy League school to install artificial turf on its football field.
SUFFOLK DOWNS (1935-2019) VS. NARRAGANSETT PARK (1934-1978) AND LINCOLN DOWNS (1947-1976)
Thoroughbred racing was a big deal in the U.S. until the 1970s, when it began declining in popularity. Suffolk Downs in East Boston was a prominent stop on the racing circuit. Great horses like Seabiscuit, War Admiral, and Whirlaway ran the one-mile oval. As many as 35,000 spectators filled the stands. In 1964 The Beatles performed before 24,000.
Narragansett Park in Pawtucket was a worthy rival in the 1930s and ‘40s. On Labor Day 1934, 53,922 fans jammed the park off Newport Avenue. Celebrities came to see and be seen. Boston fans rode the rails on the Gansett Special from South Station. The track’s slide began in the 1950s and on Labor Day 1978 only 2,882 spectators paid for admission. A year earlier the Beach Boys performed before 40,000.
Suffolk Downs and Narragansett Park have been redeveloped.
Lincoln Downs in Lincoln had a 30-year run before becoming a greyhound dog track. Today it is the site of Twin River Casino.
BOSTON MARATHON (1897) VS. PROVIDENCE MARATHON (2008)
The Boston Marathon is the most famous 26-mile, 385-yard footrace in the world, so there is no competition for bragging rights. From a cup of beef stew in the old days to lucrative prize money today, and from the race’s start in Hopkinton, through the scream tunnel courtesy of Wellesley College students, to Heartbreak Hill in Newton, Boston is in a league of its own.
The Ocean State Marathon enjoyed a good run in Newport in the late 1970 and ‘80s, when local star Bobby Doyle was at his peak. The Providence Marathon has become a spring fixture while the renewed Ocean State has highlighted the fall running calendar in Narragansett for nine years.
Okay, they are not Boston. Still, they are 26.2 miles from start to finish.
I can go on about how we Rhode Islanders hold our own against our neighbors. They have the Cape Cod League (1923). We have the New England Collegiate Baseball League (1993). They have Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. We have Block Island. They have Marblehead. We have Newport. They have Plymouth Rock. We have King Phillip’s Seat. They have Cape Cod Bay. We have Narragansett Bay. They have the South Coast. We have South County. They have Boston Common and the Public Garden. We have Roger Williams Park. They have Beacon Hill. We have Smith Hill. They have Beacon Street. We have Benefit Street.
They have the Boston Tea Party (1773). We have the burning of the Gaspee (1772). They have James Michael Curley, the colorful Boston politician elected to the board of aldermen in 1904 while in jail on a fraud conviction. We have Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, the colorful Providence politician who was re-elected mayor after serving time in a federal prison for racketeering. They have the Southeast Expressway. We have the I-195/95/146 bottleneck.
So, we here in the Ocean State can stand with pride beside our neighbors in the Bay State. Wait! We have a bragging right that sets us apart. The Big Blue Bug!!
Mike Szostak can be reached at mszostak@thepublicsradio.org.
