Spectator Sports

A football fact you never knew, and other local sports secrets

Photo: New England Patriots

he first game in American Football League history was played in Boston on September 9, 1960, by the team then known as the Boston Patriots against the Denver Broncos at Boston University’s Nickerson Field (above, set up for the game). The homeless Patriots also played at Harvard Stadium, Fenway Park and BC’s Alumni Field. The AFL merged with the NFL in 1970. It’s only one of the little-known sports milestones in this best sports town in America. Here are some more:

The disputed birthplace of American lawn tennis
 

A museum about the pioneer of American golf
 

The real city of champions isn’t the one you think
 

An unknown museum devoted to a Boston sports first
 

A shrine to Boston baseball, with championship wings
 

A home to both a star athlete and a civil rights icon
 

A little piece of baseball scandal right in Kenmore Square
 

Where Boston’s other ballclub played
 

The site of baseball’s first World Series is not where you think.
 

One place to relive all of this city’s great sports moments