Imitation and flattery

Nation building

September 13, 2007 5:02:51 PM

If the replica Green Monster, Citgo sign, and Coke bottles at the Sea Dogs’ Hadlock Field don’t sufficiently feed your Red Sox fever, don’t fret: there’s soon to be another Fenway facsimile in Maine. A well-known Maine philanthropist will join Major League Baseball All-Star Cal Ripken Jr. in Oakland (near Waterville) on September 9 for grand opening of a mini-Fenway Park, a two-thirds-scale reproduction that will feature a 20-foot-tall "Green Monster," (the real one is 37 feet high) and a scoreboard that mimics that of the real Fenway. The new park will be named for Harold Alfond, the founder of Dexter Shoe Co., the brain behind factory-store outlets, and a minority owner of the Boston Red Sox, who has donated money for stadiums, arenas, and youth activities around the state. Ripken Jr., who played a 20-year career for the Baltimore Orioles, and Alfond will throw and catch the first pitch at the stadium, which was constructed as a joint effort between the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation and the Boys and Girls Club and YMCA at the Alfond Youth Center in Waterville.