Dave Ketchen hasn’t seen or heard any of the ghosts yet, but on the 100th year anniversary of Fenway Park, there are sure to be some appearances from the likes of Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth and Ted Williams.

Ketchen, a former three-sport athlete at Winthrop High School, is a member of the Fenway grounds crew this season. The 21-year-old is a junior at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston and lives just a 10-minute walk from the ballpark. He got the job through a couple of his buddies who worked there last year.

“It’s a dream job kind of opportunity,” he said. “I’m pretty excited for it.”

Ketchen has yet to work a baseball game at the ballpark, but he did work the Frozen Fenway games this winter and got to see the University of Maine hockey team play. And he and the rest of the employees at the park received a recent orientation from team president and CEO Larry Lucchino.

The Sox play their home opener today against the Tampa Bay Rays, 100 years to the day when they played their first game at Fenway, defeating the New York Highlanders, who a year later were renamed the Yankees. The opening was overshadowed by coverage of the sinking of the Titanic, which went down a few days earlier.

Ketchen has attended several games at Fenway growing up, but hadn’t been on the field until this year.

“It’s amazing walking out on the field and seeing how green the grass is,” he said. “Just walking around the whole field is amazing.”

Former superintendent of grounds Joe Mooney served in that capacity from 1970-2000 and today holds the title of Director of Grounds Emeritus. He’ll be inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in August. Dave Mellor succeeded Mooney and is the man responsible, among other things, for the varied designs that show up in the Fenway grass throughout the year.

Ketchen will watch what he can of games from Canvas Alley, the section down the right-field line beyond the Red Sox dugout where much of the grounds crew hangs out. He’s eagerly anticipating his first Fenway rain delay when the grounds crew takes center stage and covers the infield with a tarp.

“So far I’ve practiced pulling a tarp,” Ketchen said. “Once the season starts I’ll be involved a lot more. I’m pretty excited for my first official rain game. I’ll watch what the veterans do and try to keep out of the way. I’m really just going to learn as I go.”

Ketchen grew up admiring Nomar Garciaparra while today his favorite player is Dustin Pedroia. But the history associated with the 100-year-old ballpark is not lost on the 21-year-old.

Every great American Leaguer of the past 100 years has stepped onto the grass at Fenway along with many of the National League stars. The park was placed on the National Register of Historic Places earlier this year. From the Green Monster to the Pesky Pole to the Williams Seat in right field, nearly every inch of Fenway is etched into the consciousness of the American baseball fan.

The opening day lineup in 1912 featured the famed Red Sox outfield of Duffy Lewis, Tris Speaker and Harry Hooper. The opening day catcher that season was Bill Carrigan, who grew up in Lewiston a few miles from Ketchen’s hometown and went on to become Red Sox manager in the 1920’s. The connections to the past are simply inescapable and so are the legendary ghosts.

“It’s pretty hard to fathom that,” Ketchen said.

Gary Hawkins — 621-5638

ghawkins@centralmaine.com

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