By Jillian Saftel
With the snow gone and April right around the corner, baseball season will soon be in full swing for Boston. Although it is one of the most popular landmarks in New England, Fenway Park has more to offer than meets the eye.

Not only can fans cheer on the likes of David Ortiz and Jacoby Ellsbury at a game, but the park offers tours that give visitors a whole new view of the historic field and its home team.

In-season hours for tours begin Monday, Mar. 29. Tours are given seven days a week every hour, on the hour from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. or until three hours before game time. On game days, the last tour of the day is abbreviated, but includes field and batting practice access for $20 upon availability, according to the Fenway Park website.

Tickets for the 50-minute tours are $12 and the park is an easy trip from Northeastern, the Kenmore stop on green line, or a 15-minute walk.

The park, which opened in 1912, is the oldest of all the baseball parks in the United States. Located in the heart of the city, its huge walls are hard to miss.

An official Fenway park tour Guide leads visitors through the park, offering classic Red Sox stories and history along the way. The guides explain the secrets of Fenway, for instance, why a single red seat stands out in a sea of green or why that pole is Pesky’s.

The tours also take fans behind the scenes to the press box where sportswriters from the likes of The Boston Globe and Boston Herald sit at each game.

For those who love the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, plenty of time is spent on stories of the infamous rivals and how the “Curse of the Bambino” came to be.

Northeastern freshman Rachel Weiss visited the park last summer. She said the tours are fun even if you aren’t a Red Sox fan, but Yankees fans should be ready to get it from their tour guides.

“I went as part of a school trip, and seeing as I’m from New Jersey we had a lot of Yankees fans with us,” Weiss said. “We had a really peppy tour guide who literally knew everything about the team and the park, but she definitely teased us for being Yankees fans.”

Weiss also said it was really cool to see the stadium completely empty with a great view from the most expensive seats in the park. “The players came outside to begin practicing just as we were leaving,” said Weiss, “And that was really awesome.”

Touring Fenway Park is another way to enjoy all the history and fun Boston has to offer, especially as baseball season begins.

It is recommended by the tour website that visitors arrive in advance of the hour they wish to tour the park to purchase their tickets, as all tour tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

– Jillian Saftel, News Correspondent