I’ve gotta hand it to Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts: America’s oldest major league baseball park it’s been the victim of two fires (in 1926 and 1934) and almost the victim of demolition back in 1999 when owner Tom Yawkey, after years of neglecting the park, tried to sell a brand new ballpark to both Boston Politicians and faithful Red Sox fans.


After Yawkey’s sales pitch failed he sold the park to John Henry and his investors, who promised major renovations, improvements, and – most importantly – a Championship trophy. And the new owners kept their promises, revitalizing and expanding the park while keeping it’s iconic grandeur, and adding four Championship trophies along the way.

In fact, part of the renovations included transforming the original offices on the third floor to bathrooms, where in the men’s room you can now look out a window while standing in front of a urinal instead of sitting behind a desk. Nice touch, and it preserves the original 1912 Tapestry brick facade.

The renovation also added automatic hand dryers instead of the old “continuous towel” or paper towel machines.

They’re in every bathroom, and they work fine except for two things:
(1) they don’t dry too quickly (not good in a busy bathroom), and
(b) you can’t easily put your hands under them…

…and here’s why:

Who thought it was a good idea to put a 3-Way 120/208 Volt Electrical Conduit Box inches below a hand dryer blowing water onto it? What’s worse is that there’s not enough room for your hands, which is why all the paint is missing right below the dryer: Thousands of wet hands have rubbed it off.

Now I’m sure the IBEW Local 103/NECA Electrical Workers Union – or whoever wired the boxes – was only following instructions and wired the box properly for safe operation in a wet environment: Pipes screwed into the box and sealed, a watertight gasket on the box’s cover, properly spliced wiring, everything’s grounded, etc.

But, why couldn’t a baseball team that runs the most expensive stadium to see a sporting event of ANY professional team in sports, with enough money to invest in a major newspaper (The Boston Globe), a NASCAR team (Roush/Fenway), a soccer team (Liverpool), real estate, an NFL Hockey team (the Pittsburgh Penguins), an entertainment company (Spring Hill) and now pro golf (the PGA) have invested just a little more money to run the conduit about 6″ lower than the dryer for each of the (I’m guessing) 40 dryers in 15 public restrooms?

Now really, how much more would that have cost? My hands, and I’m sure the hands of thousands of other Red Sox fans, would have been eternally grateful

Thanks for Reading!