BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox joined in mourning the death of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer John Updike, who in a famous essay once described Fenway Park as a "lyric little bandbox of a ballpark."

The essay, "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu," was inspired by Updike's attendance at the last game Ted Williams played in 1960.

Red Sox president Larry Lucchino noted in a statement that the essay's first few lines have been inscribed on the walls of the reception area in the team's front office since 2002. He said Updike's words "serve not only as a tribute to the ballpark he described, but also to the magnificent style in which he captured it. He will be missed."

Updike called Fenway, "a compromise between Man's Euclidean determinations and Nature's beguiling irregularities."

A Massachusetts resident, Updike died Tuesday of lung cancer. He was 76.