This game action shot shows the New York Yankees against the Boston Red Sox in September 1912 during Fenway’s inaugural season.

The keys to establishing that series are the pressbox and the new box seats down the baselines.

Fenway had a small pressbox atop the stadium behind home plate when it opened. Just prior to the 1912 World Series the pressbox was greatly expanded.

The other key factor is the new pressboxes along the baselines. Our postcard shows them almost complete, but empty as of yet.

After the Walter Johnson / Joe Wood duel in early September the Red Sox left on a three week road trip prior to coming home for a single series against the Highlanders/Yankees in late September before the World Series against the Giants.  They knew ticket sales would be enormous and they wanted to sell more expensive seats to the anticipated throngs rather than standing room tickets.  According to a couple of the recent books on Fenway during its first year, they constructed the third base grandstand extension, the right field bleachers and a few rows of bleachers in left and center.  They also added box seats in front of the existing premium seats.

Put these two stadium modifications together, add in the matching Yankee uniforms from 1912 seen in the postcard and the inescapable conclusion is this image is from the Red Sox vs. Yankees series September 24-26, 1912.

Another fascinating observation about this postcard is just how shallow Tris Speaker is playing in centerfield for the Red Sox.

Here is a contemporary newspaper account of how and why Speaker played so shallow.