Boston - The worst economy since the Great Depression doesn’t seem to exist at Fenway Park, where they continue to sell out every game, a streak dating back to May 15, 2003. Their average attendance computes to about 101 percent capacity. Somehow they do this with an original structure almost a century old, with cramped hard seats, corridors as claustrophobic as subway tracks and no Great Hall for the masses to behold.

“There are those who want to build the Eighth Wonder of the World,” Larry Lucchino, the Red Sox’ president and chief executive, told me Friday. “We just wanted to preserve a nice little old ballpark.”

Lucchino didn’t have to identify “who” built what. But we’ll assume he was not referring to the Houston Astrodome but to a certain South Bronx monument to excess — best known in its young life for a home team clubhouse that is more of a penthouse, a jet stream to right field and empty cushioned seats that promise to be a continuous and televised reminder of a grand and greedy overreach.

This is as good a place as any for me to disclose that I work for the newspaper company that owns a minority share of the Red Sox. But I can’t take any credit for the decision made by the majority baseball group fronted by the principal owner John Henry to embrace and enhance Fenway, not destroy it, after purchasing the team in 2002.

In fact, I once suggested in print that it was past time for the Red Sox to build a more conventional stadium because they would never win a World Series by tailoring their typically ponderous roster to Fenway dimensions. They’ve won two this decade, their talented young pitchers seem untroubled by the specter of a (Green) Monster in the outfield and my mea culpa is a matter of public record.

“We had people in our group with experience in trying to build new stadiums and knew how fraught with issues that could be,” Lucchino said. “And we also had a healthy respect for the uniqueness of Fenway. We thought we could make it work, we’ve done annual improvements, completed eight and we’re in the ninth inning now.” (Capacity is listed at 37,373, up from about 32,500.)

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Municipal conscientiousness noted, the Red Sox are no titans of philanthropy. This season, they completed a long run as the team with the most expensive ticket in Major League Baseball (ceding their dynastic title to the Yankees). It costs $325 to sit in a dugout box at Fenway Park, $160 to sit atop the Green Monster, $30 to stand. Navigating the beer-stained concourses is a rush-hour experience.

But that is also the point. It is always a mob scene at ancient Fenway, just as it usually was in recent years at old Yankee Stadium. So why was there such a dire need for a new one that required the mutilation of centralized parkland and the eventual demolition of a landmark?

Oh, right, it was all for the fans, as the Steinbrenners have made a habit of assuring us.

That got me to wondering if Red Sox fans are jealous of Yankees fans’ access to the Hard Rock Cafe when they are limited to a standard sports bar, and if they resent not having the opportunity to purchase status symbol seats that, at $2,500, make their dugout boxes look like boxed lodging under the Interstate.

Before a recent game, I wandered out to Yawkey Way to interview about 25 fans — young, old and middle-aged — and what do you know? Not one expressed an interest in trading Fenway for more legroom and state-of-the-art bathrooms.

“I’m 230 pounds and the seats are really small, but it’s part of the character and charm,” said Dan Ross of Thompson, Conn. His 14-year-old daughter, Melodie, wearing a pink cap signed by Luis Tiant, Sam Horn and other Sox luminaries, nodded and said, “The Red Sox wouldn’t be the same without Fenway.”

Jim Dever of Plaistow, N.H., said, “I’d be fibbing if I didn’t say I felt that I’d rather have more modern conditions once in a while, but too much has happened here and, to be honest, it’s just minor inconveniences.”

David Surabian of Providence, R.I., wanted to know if all the Yankee Stadium seats were cushioned, or “is it just the empty ones?”

“I like being in an old-fashioned park, where you can think it’s 70 or 80 years ago,” Chris McNaught of Providence said. His wife, Melina, said, “Ditto.”

Janice Tuffin of Acton, Mass., said she wasn’t a huge baseball fan but had sat next to a visitor from Illinois at a recent game. “And all he kept saying was: ‘This place is amazing, absolutely beautiful. Why would anyone ever want to change it?’ ”

Back inside, I asked one last person about Fenway’s constricted conditions. “No big deal, just part of the experience, what makes this place so unique and great,” Derek Jeter said.

This article, "Red Sox preserving Fenway's winning appeal," first appeared in The New York Times.

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