OT: Favorite (and least favorite) MLB ballparks
I made a quick trip to Dallas this weekend ---- saw the Reds @ Rangers game Saturday afternoon, knocking off my 29th MLB ballpark (Citi Field remains as #30). I didn't like the ballpark at all --- like watching baseball in a warehouse, and the roof was strangely closed for the mid-afternoon game (it was ~ 83 degrees and muggy, but, hey, it's Texas and it wasn't July 100-degree heat either. There were big storms in the southern Plains this weekend but they didn't come anywhere near DFW until well after Midnight).
Anyway, interested other's thoughts on their favorite/least favorite. My personal Top 5/Bottom 5 (besides Texas, which probably IS in the bottom 5):
- Best: San Diego (PetCo), great city, great location, nearly always great weather, great vibes inside.
- #2: Boston (Fenway), old school charm & history, and the recent renovations have well-positioned it for decades to come. All about the baseball here: much less of the in-stadium hijinks versus other places.
- #3: LA Dodgers, awful parking but besides that, it's damn near perfect. Nearly always sold-out: Dodgers fans, hate them or love them, are passionate.
- #4: Baltimore (Camden Yards), still better than nearly all the other newer parks.
- #5: Colorado (Coors), big but it and everything else captures the Colorado vibe, party deck in RF and the mountains beyond the outfield.
I'm admittedly lower on Pittsburgh, San Fran & Wrigley (particularly Wrigley) than others. I like Comerica a good bit, FWIW --- but it's closer to 10th than the Top 5. Miami's one I like much better than most. I'll mention Oakland here too: it's actually not in my Bottom 5. Simply being baseball's last remaining "dive bar" has sort of moved it up in recent years, a reverse nostalgia effect.
- 5th Worst: LA Angels. Well, it fits Orange County. Devoid of personality and surrounded by ashpalt.
- 4th Worst: Toronto. OK, it's time, this once modern place is over the hill.
- 3rd Worst: Tampa Bay. As antiseptic as it gets. The upper deck isn't even open anymore.
- 2nd Worst: Arizona, what the hell? An airplane hanger. At least it's downtown.
- Worst: Milwaukee. Even worse. An airplane hanger, but it's not even downtown. Surrounded by a bunch of parking lots.
The Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field didn't make the cut?!? From Chicago, I'm extremely biased and haven't been to enough stadiums to really weigh in. Some I enjoyed tho, besides Wrigley:
Old Yankee Stadium (NYC) - so much history, fuggetaboudit!
PNC Park (Pittsburgh) - pretty cool park, especially with the backdrop of the yellow bridges
Comerica Park (Detroit) - nothing special here in my estimation, but the D is making a comeback and easy enough to enjoy a game there
Wrigley: Fun atmosphere inside and outside, great "neighborhood" placement, excellent transportation options if you don't want to drive, lots of history. If you ignore all that it's a bit of a dump.
In my trips to Wrigley it has smelled like a urine trough. The atmosphere had become that awful mix of douche-bro drunk college kids and corporate outing. Yes, they played Federal League games in that park and, no, it is not one of those ash trays from the 1970s. It does have better site lines that modern parks for those in the upper deck since the modern approach is to push the upper deck way back. But my sense is that Wrigley is well regarded now more because it survived an era when so many of the other parks sucked, and the list makers are scared to adjust.
It smells like a urine trough because of all of the urine troughs (been a few years since I've been there though). I absolutely hate those things.
Coming from a Cubs fan.
I don't know when you were there last but my husband works at Wrigley, has been at every home game for the past six years. The bathrooms have all been redone, the concourse has been refurbished and opened up, the seats are all new (within the last 5 years). It's all new within the context of an old park, with all its history and vintage charm. Plus, the views from inside the stadium are awesome. To see the Blue Angels or the Thunderbirds fly over during the air show, and then fly back to the city in the distance is one of the best of all Chicago experiences. And Cubs fans are there for a good time. There's nothing wrong with that.
It's been about 8 years since I've been to a game, right around the time my oldest was born.
April 30th, 2024 at 10:20 AM ^
Love em or hate em, the Ricketts have invested a lot of money in Wrigley and the surrounding area. They've been so successful, they formed a consultancy that other teams hire to help them develop the areas around their stadiums.
Pittsburgh looks cool on tv—never been though.
Pittsburgh is the best IMO. sit on the first base side. As the sun goes down the downtown lights up across the river. And the bridges look great at night, too
The worst ballpark I ever attended is the gone and thoroughly unlamented KingDome in Seattle. To call it an airplane hangar is an insult to hangers everywhere. It was a crypt with a concrete roof. Everything echoed. Miserable.
Michigan basketball won their only title there.. 😒
I saw a couple of Mariners games (Griffey!) and a Seahawks game (Kennedy!) there before they imploded it and you aren't lying...it was a concrete cave that couldn't keep it's ceiling tiles in place.
Couldn't have been any worse than the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Players would routinely lose flyballs in the cavernous ceiling, and one of the outfield walls was a giant garbage bag.
I've been to games at 15, and been around a few more but not for a game. Unfortunately, out of your top 5, i've not been to any for a game. I've walked around Petco, Fenway and Camden and the vibe and structures themselves are top notch.
I have been to 3 of your bottom 5. Agree re: Tampa and Toronto (though roof open CN Tower view is pretty awesome). I actually like Milwaukee, but that might be because we were there in early April so I appreciated not freezing my ass off.
One i find to be really nice and possibly under appreciated is Truist (Atlanta).
I haven't been to that many parks but have been to Comerica Park a fair amount and Truist even more - and I think it is a pretty nice place to see a ball game. I'd also say that the times I have been the logistics around parking and crowd movement were pretty good especially considering how consistently sucky Atlanta's traffic always is.
I'm dying to go to a weekend series at Camden.
I miss the old cookie cutter stadiums: Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia... You know, places where the stadium sucked so badly you weren't distracted by the environs and simply focused on the game?
These newfangled stadiums might be better for baseball, but if it's a boat show or ill-managed Who concert I'll take the Riverfront Coliseum every time.
Over the years I've been to a bunch of them, here would be my choices for best & worst
Best current: Dodger stadium. As the OP says, everything about it is perfect, especially the views if you're sitting around home plate and of course DODGER DOGS! Yeah parking sucks but where exactly in SoCal doesnt parking suck?
Best Former: Tiger Stadium. Yes it was in a rough section of Detroit. Yes it had poles that obstructed sightlines and even a pole in the middle of center field. And yes it was old even when I was young (Briggs Stadium anyone?). But dammit the smell of hot dogs and beer as you crossed over the lower deck (dad always liked sitting upper deck, first base side) and sight of the greeenest grass you'll ever see has been imprinted on my brain and will forevermore be part of my childhood memories.
Worst current: Oakland Coliseum. Old oval with horrible sight lines in a really rough neighborhood. Went to a bunch of A's games in the 80's and dont miss that place a bit.
Worst former: Candlestick park. Cold, colder, coldest and that's August. Place sat in the absolute worst location for weather in the bay area so the fog was always present and that kept temps down from April through September. October was nice there but the Giants only played in October once when I lived there and that series featured a massive earthquake. A horrible place to watch a ballgame.
I agree Grow Old. Tiger Stadium was the best. The wrap around upper deck, the flag pole in play, the right field over hang, and the green grass. When sitting in the upper deck you felt like you were right on top of the action with being so close to the field. I truly miss it.
Comerica is just not the same. I really wish when they made the new ballpark 25 years ago they would have incorporated some of the cool things Tiger Stadium had.
I try to explain to my son how a routine deep fly ball to right field would end up being a home run into the upper deck. How deep center field was and that only a few home runs were ever hit that far. How it was not uncommon for home runs to right field to end up going over the roof and out of the stadium.
Tiger Stadium had loads of charm and I'd take it for one game. But for a whole season I like the comfort and ease of Comerica Park. It's so open, and you can move freely around the whole park, basically sitting wherever there's an open seat. Most games by the fifth inning onward I'm sitting within 10 rows of either dugout.
Candlestick Park was....well, it was. When the wind was coming off the bay, the feeling that you were occasionally in the midst of a minor tornado was not unfounded. That was my experience having seen a game there anyway.
I went to a night game at Candlestick in the late 1980s. It had been a beautiful day and I was visiting SF on business (I always planned trips around home baseball schedules). A co-worker local to the area took me as a guest. It had been a beautiful day and I was wearing shorts and a golf shirt. The local guy carried in what looked like a winter coat to me, and I was laughing at him. Just wait, he said. I also noticed a guy sitting below us who had a hat with a bunch of buttons stuck on all around it. The buttons had the SF logo with icicles hanging from the S and the F. My friend said- oh those buttons are the "Croix de Candlestick." You have to earn them.
About the 6th inning, the wind reversed direction and the temps dropped about 25 degrees in minutes. I'm freezing my ass off and drinking coffee instead of beer, my friend was just chuckling. The game went 10 or 11 innings. I wanted to bail but my friend said we have to stay. As we left the game the ushers were passing out buttons from big barrels to everyone: Yep- the "Croix de Candlestick" earned by surviving an extra inning night game to the bitter end!
“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco”Mark Twain
I've been to a bunch of games at old Tiger Stadium. In fact, I was at the last game ever at the stadium. Awesome game! Anyway, I thought Tiger stadium was very seat dependent. I thought the bleachers were pretty bad (but paid $5 for those seats in the late 90s), but I sat in some awesome seats there for very little (maybe $35).
I was also at the last game at Tiger Stadium. I have a few strong memories of that game. First was Bobby Fick hitting a towering grand slam. Second was after the game when they had a bunch of old Tigers run onto the field. They would read a player's name and then he would trot onto the field to his old position and wave to the applauding crowd. I also remember reading the next day that Ron Leflore was arrested immediately after the game for several years of overdue child support or something. The police had caught word he was going to be there, but chose to let him have his moment before arresting him. Fidrych and Leflore were my two first "favorite Tigers" as a kid.
I have only been to ten former or current ballparks. I would classify Tiger Stadium and Wrigley as special places.
Comerica Park, Jacobs Field, Nats Park, New Camden Yards and new Yankee Stadium (actually saw a football game there, Army-ND) are all nice enough.
Cleveland Municipal was a bit of a dump, but somehow I liked it. I was there during the last season and saw Nolan Ryan pitch his last MLB "W".
RFK was falling down, but not that terrible. Old Shea Stadium is the worst ballpark I have been too
Cleveland Municipal was great for football, but bad for baseball IMO.
I was in my early 20s and it was an EPIC weekend. A group of friends and I (mostly M grads) have been going every non-Covid year since; over 30 years. The context may be why I am a little generous in my assessment.
Don't forget the troughs at Tiger Stadium. Awesome way to get a quick piss in between innings.
I haven't been to a huge number of parks, but I've been to a few and to be honest the high ranking you have for Dodger is a bit mystifying to me. Ah well, different strokes for different folks.
Haven't been to Skydome in decades. The renovations look modestly encouraging, but there's only so much you can do with that shell.
Same! I've been to 23 parks, and while not in the bottom tier, it's definitely towards the bottom.
April 29th, 2024 at 10:10 PM ^
No, Dodger Stadium is perfect. It's the third oldest park in MLB and still most modern and handsome. Views of Downtown LA and the San Gabriels, consistently delightful weather, eclectic and overpriced food that never fails to remind you that you are either in Los Angeles or another planet, gorgeous landscaping, and the pavilions which offer an opportunity to learn how to heckle opposing outfielders in dozens of foreign languages.
The only things that suck about Dodger stadium are the Dodger Dogs*, it's the worst place on earth to travel to by car (my wife and I walk from Downtown), and the fact that Frank McCourt would rather spend half a billion dollars than install a sidewalk on the downtown entrance.
*What kind of hot dog concession doesn't offer onions?!
Most over-rated to me was Fenway. I went to a few games maybe 10 years ago. The stadium was just fine I guess, considering its super old, but the surrounding area was pretty meh. If it wasn't for the Green Monster, Fenway has very little charm.
Fenway is great. Wrigley is most overrated. Fight me!
If you insist on counting the neighborhoods then that's different.
Fenway vs Wrigley ........ Wrigley is under-the-radar a dump that hasn't been kept up well (while Fenway has). Another big thing, and admittedly plays into my consideration:
- Boston fans are passionate, care about baseball and are knowledgable on it. And they want to win
- Cubs fans are mostly there for the beer and the party. If they lose, they're not passionate about it anyway. Ask Lee Elia* and Marty Brennaman what they think about Cubs fans!
When I lived in Cincinnati (2008-2016), Cubs fans would invade town when they played the Reds. Oh wait ... that didn't happen ALL the time. It only happened from 2008-2010 and 2015-2016. Those middle years when the Cubs stunk, you could barely find them. Front-runners.
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*Actually, today is the 41-year anniversary of the Lee Elia rant!!! It's classic. April 29, 1983.
I owe you a couple hundred upvotes for posting the infamous Lee Elia rant!
When was the last time you were at Wrigley? They've done SO much work in the past 8 years, like new everything while staying true to the friendly confines. As for the fans, I just saw a clip of Theo talking about the difference between Chicago and Boston fans. His take is pessimism vs optimism. Boston fans are waiting for something bad to happen and that affects their demeanor. High expectations, perennial disappointment. Cubs fans are used to losing, and 2016 was such a gift but it didn't give the fans unrealistic expectations.
I'm not much of a baseball fan, but Wrigley lost its charm about 5 years ago. Its a corporate quagmire now.
You should have bought an italian sausage sandwich with peppers and onions from a vender outside, you'd have a better opinion of Fenway.
I did exactly that, bought a couple of them on the way inside the stadium on my one visit to Fenway. Delicious!
Since you mentioned the Green Monster, I watched the Sunday night on ESPN and noticed a bunch of advertising on the monstah. Made me appreciate the clean look of the Big House. All that advertising makes it look like a minor league field.
Petco Park has over 80 craft beers available. When I was a season ticket holder (pre COVID) Elysian Space Dust was one of the house taps. It was a challenge to walk home from the game (uphill) some nights.
Seattle and San Francisco are a dead heat for second best west coast ballpark. Anaheim is notable for having nothing notable about it. Dodger stadium suffers from the same disease as Wrigley--too many fans are there to be seen, not to watch baseball.
The two other place that stand out in my mind are Camden Yards, the one that started the better ballpark boom, and walking over the Clemente bridge from a downtown Pittsburgh watering hole to PNC.
On a day with good weather, Oracle (Giants) is really tough to beat. Great food, lots of bars/restaurants/breweries within 5 min walk, public transit, etc. On a bad weather day you are a member of the Shackleton Expedition.
Best - old Tiger Stadium. Mainly just because nostalgia.
Worst - The Trop (aka Tropicana Field). I drive by it every day on the way to/from work, absolute eye sore and the epitome of sterile, garbage stadiums from the 90's. Supposedly a new stadium is in the works, but I think there's still some government loopholes to go through last I checked.
Best Camden Yards, although it's worse now that they built that conference center in center field.
Worst, not counting indoor stadiums, is whatever the White Sox are calling their monstrosity these days.
Jacob's Field (or whatever) is also pretty good.
Amen! I would never go back to the White Sox park. The old RFK was the next worse I've been to.
I like Comerica, Milwaukee and Camden, but Pittsburgh's is my favorite. I need to visit some of the western ballparks.
Milwaukee's stadium shares its grounds with the Milwaukee VA. I agree that the stadium is pretty unexciting but as a former Milwaukee VA employee, we were permitted (on occasion) to go to games during working hours, for free. Also: the Brewers have the best colors/uniforms in the sport...I am sure we can all agree on that.
As much as I hate the huge asphalt parking lots, Milwaukee Brewers baseball has always been associated with a great tailgating scene.
I also like the Brewers logo. It’s an “M” and a “b” that form a baseball glove.
As a Tampa native, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Tropicana Field should be at the absolute bottom of the list for MLB parks, and it shouldn't even be close.
There are great baseball stadiums, and then there are bad baseball stadiums. Then there is 500 yards of crap, and THEN there's Tropicana Field.
That pit is an insult to the game of baseball, and unless you live right in downtown St. Pete there is no easy way to get to the game. Tampa/St Pete do not have good public transportation between the two cities, and if you live in Tampa and don't want to drive to the game, pay for parking, etc., you're probably looking at paying at least ~$100 for Uber. Depending on where you live in Tampa, that could be $100 one way.
They've drafted up a proposal for a new stadium, but keeping it in St. Pete would be (in my opinion) a mistake. You're taking the game away from your population center in Tampa. That's why the Lightning have such a great setup. Amalie Arena is right downtown, in an area that has been completely revitalized over the last 10-15 years and packed to the gills with young up and comers with money to spend.
But I digress....
As far as my favorites. In no particular order:
- Wrigley - You really can't ever go wrong with a game at Wrigley, and sitting in the outfield bleachers is a rite of passage. The scene outside the stadium is always great too.
- AT&T Park - is that what its still called? Anywho, the park the Giants play at is beautiful. Only seen one game there like 10 years ago but I'd love to go back. I always thought people kayaking out in the water beyond the outfield, waiting for home run balls was the coolest thing.
- Fenway - only been to one game at Fenway but its another one where you just can't beat the old time charm it offers.
- Camden Yards - Can't say I've been to a ballpark that feels so new and yet so "old time" at the same time.
- Busch Stadium - I think just getting the backdrop of downtown right in the outfield made it a really cool, beautiful stadium to go see a game at. Couple that with St. Louis being a big baseball town.
think i'm around 25 parks, and a few that no longer exist (yankees, busch, atlanta, tigers).
Wrigley is my #1 for obvious reasons. Doesn't get much better than drinking suds while leaning against the LF foul pole on a warm afternoon.
Fenway is incredible, got to see a game on top of the green monster which is next level, literally.
PacBell/Giants is my favorite of the newer parks. The location on the bay is amazing.
SD, my current town is great, I spent a year a few blocks from the park. they have a great area for kids beyond CF as well.