MLB parks

[SnB]

This weekend i went and caught a game at the skydome and thought this could be a thread. What parks do you like? Dislike?

And please, lets not turn this into a f*** wrigley thread.

 

 

Well anyways, skydome to me was very....blah.

I'll never get into baseball indoors. Going to the turnstiles was like walking into an office.

The food followed with some very.....ok hot dogs. Makes me appreciate our food at the park.

It's also the quietest sports setting i've ever seen. The only time i heard the crowd make any noise was when the jays rallied in the ninth, only to fall 4-3 to the twins.

 

I did like the location of the park though. I understand why toronto is compared to chicago alot, it looks so similar. The skydome is in the heart of downtown, right next to the CN tower. So it was a fun walk through the city to get to the park.The biggest plus for the stadium was the giant videoboard in centerfield + the ones on the wall that had the out of town scoreboard, very detailed. Too bad the sox game was rained out that day (saturday).

 

 

I'm sure we'll get some good responses in this thread.

Edited May 31, 2005 by Soxnbears01

[Rowand44]

Good idea Snb. I've been to the Cell, Miller Park, Yankee Stadium, Fenway, and Wrigley. Personally, I guess I'm just not a fan of the old time stadiums because I didn't like the Stadium, Fenway, or Wrigley. Just to boring for me I guess plus the fact Fenway and Wrigley were as cramped as you could be and the UD at yankee stadium was as steep as can be. I love the cell, don't really have much more to say then that, I just love that place. I also think Miller is a grea park, beautiful stadium, great views all around, and I always wanted to go down Bernie's slide.

[CWSGuy406]

Hmm...

 

In the AL, I've been to Texas (Ballpark in Arlington) -- loved it. I've been to the Humpdome in Minny (meh), US Cellular (duh), Tiger Stadium and Comerica (loved 'em both, though didn't like the neighborhood around Comerica), Cleveland (ehh -- OK) and finally, Tropicana and Skydome (didn't like either of 'em very much).

 

In the NL, I've been to Atlanta (pretty solid), Wrigley, Miller (awesome park -- if I go to Marquette, I'm going to quickly become a Brewer fan), and that's it.

 

I really want to make my way to the Pirates stadium (PNC?), as well as Pac-Bell in San Fran.

[Be Good]

I've been to only Yankee-10 times and Shea stadium-30 times. And Yankee Stadium was much better

[RockRaines]

Old Tiger stadium-basically a lot like Comiskey, steep UD

Wrigley-worst I've been to, bad placement of everything, cramped, terrible exit and entry, horrible food.

Miller Park-great stadium, I wish I was there when the roof was open, beer vendors are extremely plentiful, food was just ok.

Coors field-blah everything was stupid and cartoonish, didnt like it at all, great city though.

Great American Ballpark-great stadium, sat in the club level, had fast service great food and very nice seats.

[SnB]

i should have added, besides the dome, the only other mlb park i've been to besides the cell has been wrigley. Which was pretty...meh. What a pain in the ass to get to, i did like the way the stadium looked though, that was about it.

[The Critic]

I like Miller Park - moreso when the roof's open. There's a warehouse feel when the roof is closed, but it's still a nice enough place to see a game.

I really enjoyed Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix. It has a similar feel to Miller Park, but not quite as boxy with the roof closed. Too bad that on the day I was there, NO ONE in the pool in RF should have been allowed to wear a swimsuit! .....insert vomit smiley here....

Hated Busch Stadium, I thought it was an armpit. I'm happy for the Cardinals fans that they'll finally have a real ballpark next year.

I like Wrigley OK once I'm in my seat, as long as I'm not behind a post or back too far to see flyballs or the scoreboard.

Of course, I think USCF blows any of these parks away. They've done a really spectacular job of enhancing the park.

[whitesoxin']

I've been to:

 

The Cell.

Wrigley

Twinkee Dome

Comerica

Tiger Stadium

Miller Park

 

I'm going to be going to the Jake a lot from now on since my sister is going to college in Cleveland next year.

 

The Cell is of course awesome.

 

Wrigley of course sucked, but the area around the park is nice.

 

Twinkee dome sucked the big one. Area around the park was dead and inside the Nazi dome it was too much of a football feel.

 

Comerica was really nice. I had awesome seats right behind home plate because my uncle has season tickets. They copied off of our concourse and the statues are cool. It is basically a city block built right in.

 

Tiger Stadium was great. I went there a lot when I was younger and remember having great times there.

 

I've been to Miller Park three times and it is awesome. Very underrated. If Milwaukee ever gets a competing team, that place will be rocking.

 

Places on my list to visit are GAB and PNC.

[CanOfCorn]

Been to Comiskey, Wrigley, Busch, Pac Bell, Ballpark at Arlington, the Juice Box aka Minute Maid.

 

In order of likeyness:

 

Pac Bell -- Best...stadium...ever!

Comiskey -- Totally underrated

Juice Box -- Fantastic with the roof open

Busch -- A literal sea of red

Ballpark at Arlington -- meh, too closed in

Wrigley -- see other posts

 

Also been to County Stadium. Great place to root against Molitor, Yount, Stormin' Gorman Thomas, Cecil Cooper and Joe Ogilvie.

[bjm676]

Been to:

 

Comiskey (refuse to call it the Cell)

Old Comiskey (ahh, the Memories )

Wrigley

Skydome

Kingdome

Dodger Stadium

Kauffman Stadium

Candlestick Park

Oakland Coliseum

Fenway

Miller Park

 

I'll be going to Citizen Bank Ballpark this summer since sister and her family moved to Philly.

 

Miller Park is an awesome park. Was there twice actually. For a regular season game a few year ago and for the Sox exhibitions this year.

 

As far as Kauffman Stadium, it's a beautiful park. We stayed at the Sox hotel. I was in the elevator with Greg Hibbard I also got the Hawkaroo's autograph, as well as Tim Raines, Warren Newson and Ron Karkovice to name a few.

 

Fenway was awesome. It's indescribable.

 

Dodger Stadium : Bad hot dog. No beer in the bleachers. 'nuff said

Edited May 31, 2005 by robinventura23

[ChWRoCk2]

f*** wrigley field

 

Ones i like that ive been to:

Rockies

Boston

Orioles

Milwaukee

Cell

Houston

Seattle

Pittsburgh

Angels

 

Dislike:

Wrigley

San Fransisco

Florida

Tampa Bay (worst stadium ever)

Royals

Oakland

Edited May 31, 2005 by chi-guy2

[Benchwarmerjim]

Ive only been to Metrodome

 

I hate it

 

My goal in life is to see a major league game outdoors

except I cant really afford a trip anywhere

:/

[Leonard Zelig]

I have been to:

 

Old Comiskey: went several times as a kid, but didn't really look at stadiums the same way I do now

 

New Comiskey: only went once, in 1990, I moved out of Chicago shortly after, but I will be back Friday!(first time at the Cell)

 

Wrigley Field: I lived a lot closer as a kid so I went here more often

 

County Stadium (Milwaukee): was 11, don't remember much, eccept the city smelled like beer

 

Busch Stadium: i now live less than a mile from here, go 6-8 times a year, just to see some baseball; smells like beer here too

 

Turner Field: visited once, don't remember much, I was drunk

 

Bank One Ballpark: seemed very phony like most everything else in Phoenix

 

Fenway Park: froze my ass off on Easter Sunday 2003, actually bought a $60 Red Sox sweatshirt(it was either that, or leave) Nomar hit a walkoff HR

 

Tropicana Field: didn't see a game, it was fan appreciation day, I got to go onto the field and into the dugout & clubhouse which was cool. they have that new fake grass turf, interesting to see that up close

 

Kauffman Stadium: closest place for me to see the Sox, I'll be back in July!

Edited May 31, 2005 by Leonard Zelig

[ZoomSlowik]

I've been to a couple of parks, some of which have closed, and I might be missing one or two (don't remember which, think Anaheim and one or two others). Here are the current ones:

 

The Cell- Obvious. I love it. I always liked the lower deck and the place has a little more personality after the changes

 

Wrigley- Absolutely hate it, and I was never in the bleachers either. I had seats right on the Cubs dugout and seats in the skybox and had a tough time enjoying the game. Mediocre food, can't park, crowded and cramped, and everyone gets up every 3 seconds because no one cares about the game.

 

Miller Park- Very nice park. We bought some $5 bleacher seats and had a blast (helped that Ben Sheets shut out Clement and the Cubs 1-0). I only had two gripes: one it was hard to get out of the park because there is only one walkway over the expressway, and the traffic was brutal around the park; two, our beers were more than the seats.

 

Pac Bell (not sure what they hell they call it now)- Another really nice park. There were a lot of neat features, and we had a good view from our seats even though they were mediocre. Pretty good food too.

 

Coors Field- This park was pretty cool. The view was only okay, food was pretty good (solid hot dogs). One major complaint was the sea of concrete that surrounded the park. Our car was so far away we had to take a tram.

[farmteam]

I've been to the Cell, Wrigley, and Busch. Busch was...meh. Since it's a bowl, if you sit in the wrong spot, you can't see the whole field. For example, from where our seats where (Left field UD near the foul pole) you couldn't see the Left Field corner. There was one play where the ball flew into the corner, and flew out a few moments later. Quite strange.

 

One place I've only heard good things about is Camden Yards.

[whitesoxmurph]

Old Comiskey - Loved it, ghosts of players past seemed to lurk around every corner.

The Cell - Underrated. Great food.

Dodger Stadium - Did not like it at first but it grows on you.

Anaheim Stadium - This stadium sucked until, they made it over into Edison.

Edison - Nice park great for kids. Lose the sushi stand though.

Petco - Not bad, tried too hard to be unique. Great location, next to Gaslamp Qtr.

The BOB - It's July & 110 in the shade, but 75 in the BOB, can't beat that.

Candlestick - Sucked always was chilly and/or foggy.

Oakland - Boring

Riverfront - see above

Pacbell - Cool, great location.

 

But my all time favorite : The Murph (Now Qualcomm and no baseball) but hands down the best named stadium in the history of baseball. It was named after me ( Okay so maybe it wasn't).

[IlliniKrush]

Simple lists of parks i've been to other than comiskey and us cellular:

 

Likes:

PNC - amazing

Fenway

Camden Yards

Miller

Great American Ballpark - not spectacular, but i still like it

Wrigley

 

Dislikes/Meh:

Shea - Worst. Yes, even the Vet was better

Yankee Stadium - doesn't feel like an old park at all anymore

The Vet

Twinkie Dome

Busch

County Stadium

[Chisoxfn]

Parks I've been too:

Oakland - craphole...only nice thing about it is that baseball is played there. That and I'm a fan of the big foul territory

 

San Francisco (SBC) - beautiful ballpark when the weather is nice. Sat in the UD behind home plate and its just awesome looking out into the bay. Stadium has good food too.

 

Anaheim - nice stadium. Nothing fancy, I rate the Cell just ahead of it, but its a good place to watch a game and the fans are very friendly

 

San Diego (Petco and Jack Murphy) - The Murph is one of my all time favorite parks and Petco is very pleasing. The only game I went to there I sat in the UD and the seats were god awful (viewing angle). However the park is very nice and in a week and a half I'll get to see what field level seats are like there

 

Dodger Stadium - s***hole, s***hole, s***hole. I absolutely hate this stadium. Dodger fans (some are good) but its a park filled with assholes and the food royally blows. Tix are a ripoff as well. My dad loves the stadium though but I tell him he's biased cause he's a Dodger fan.

 

Wrigley Field - Like the park. It just takes you back watching the game there. However, it is very run down and you better get a good seat because you can be stuck behind a pole or something else. I think its a must see for a true baseball fan because so much history has taken place there (and it really does take you back in time).

 

US Cellular - ranks right outside my top 10. Very nice park, can't wait to see the changes made to it this year (from last year) and I think its very underrated. Good food, great seats, and I love how you can watch the game from anywhere in the concourse (Thats a very underrated thing, imo). I hate stadiums where when you walk around you can't watch...at the Cell you can see the game even when you wait in lines to a point.

 

Camden Yards - awesome park. Definately in my top 5. Great food (I can remember the bbq sandwich I got there) plus the area right outside the park is nice too. Good seats, just a really nice stadium.

 

Jacobs Field - ranks just below Camden. I liked the stadium a lot and the fans were awesome. Sat around the dugout and it was a great view.

 

Old Tiger Stadium - my personal favorite stadium. We ended up sitting pretty much right behind home plate and I was just awwed by the stadium. Really glad I got to see it before it was destroyed. Only knock on the park was I whacked my head on a beam in the bathroom (LOL).

 

Fenway Park - s***hole. This part ranks dead last. They could blow it up today for all I care. Absoltuely god awful. I hated it, the weather was horrid (it was like 110 degrees) and the seats are so tiny and squished. Plus the views from the seats weren't very good. The area outside the park is awesome though.

 

Yankee Stadium - cool stadium. Fans are really really into the game and far less of assholes as I thought they would be (although some of the fans told my dad and I some horror stories of what happens to opposing fans) and we even saw a KC fan really get rattled (they stole his hat). Also cool seeing the museum and knowing that so many great players played there. Found a really good jewish deli a few blocks from the stadium as well and had a pastrami sandwich (and damn was it good).

 

Brewers (Both Muni and Miller) - Muni was an alright stadium. When I was there they had already ripped out quite a few of the seats (It was just after the accident where some of the stadium collapsed and killed some of the people working on miller park). Awesome brats though. Miller is a real nice park, although its a funny stadium too. Very unique in the sense that its also a lot like a mall. Just a weird seating arangement and it feels like a really cozy stadium.

 

Metrodome - baseball isn't meant to be played in doors and if it were, I'd rather see it played at the skydome. Saw a double header there (they played the Yanks I think and we didn't even know it was a double dipper and saw part of the 1st game and all of the 2nd game). Why there was the delay, I have no idea, but If I remember the Yanks had a game rained out at home and it was near the end of the season so they just played the extra game in Minn.

 

Skydome - better than metrodome, plus the exchange rate is awesome (well it was when I was there) and Toronto is a fun city. I like Canada. Fans aren't very into the game but its a friendly atmosphere. Food was ehh...but I did get annoyed at the HOOHA that went off all the time at the game

 

Phillies (old park) - craphole (so was the Pirates and Reds park...they were the same stadium basically). On a sidenote the Phillies and Reds had impressively good fans. OH and the Philly Fantatic is the man.

 

Reds (old park) - See Phillies

 

Pirates (old park) - See Phillies

[RockRaines]

I forgot to add that one of my favorite things about Great American, when I went to school in cincinatti I didnt have much money, and the Reds still have 9 dollar bleacher seats that are easy to get. Its pretty sweet.

[gettysburg32]

I and two high school friends went on a cross country, every stadium (33 games in 49 days, w/ 2 gms in ATL, NYY, and CHW) trip in summer 2001. So I've been to all the current parks except Philadelphia, Cincy, San Diego, and RFK (although I've been to RFK for soccer matches ).

 

To keep it short, overall speaking, Camden Yards is my favorite. There is absolutely nothing to complain about whenever I see a game there, and I've been there probably 18-20 times. It's place in downtown Baltimore is perfectly situated, the food, beverage, and general atmosphere are all perfect for a baseball stadium. The ushers, vendors, etc, are all the best and most friendly in any other sports stadium (of any size or sport) that I've been to. There are very few bad places to sit in the stadium, and compared to all the other "most popular" stadiums (ie Fenway, Yankee, Wrigley, Pac Bell, SafeCo, Jacobs), the ticket prices are the most reasonable.

 

Of the old 3, Yankee Stadium was actually my favorite. I expected I'd like Fenway more than Yankee, and while I liked Fenway a lot, I loved Yankee Stadium. True, the surroundings, transportation to and from, and area around the stadium are all wretched, but once inside Yankee Stadium, it truly is a cathedral to the game. Monument Park is a one-of-a-kind place and the whole time sitting in the stadium, I couldn't help but look around at the stadium instead of actually watching the game.

 

I also really liked Pittsburgh, Seattle, SanFran, Cleveland, and Kansas City. KC was very surprising to me, and I can't really explain why I liked it so much other than to say it was like a super-sized minor league park with minor-league prices to everything, and if I lived in/around KC, I'd go there to watch games a lot, even if someone other than the Sox were visiting. PNC and PacBell are both similar in that no seats are bad seats in the entire park. The layout and design of the stadiums are both asthetically beautiful and perfect for the fans. Good food, good neighborhoods around the parks, lots to do and see inside the park without it being tacky or not about baseball anymore.

 

Parks I considered bad/poor -

 

Wrigley - everything is gross. Yeah the history I guess is cool, but that got old for me after about the first half inning. I'm sure I was a bit pre-biased, but my two friends (one a Braves fan, and one a Yankee fan) also hated Wrigley, with no encouragement or help from me.

Interestingly, my friends liked Comiskey a lot better than the usual critiques of the park are. By no means was Comiskey their favorite, but they liked it quite a bit, and definitly more than Wrigley. (And both said, without my bias at all, that the food at Comiskey was at or near the best of any other stadium)

 

Veterans Stadium, Olympic Stadium, Riverfront Stadium, Qualcomm Stadium - all gone and good riddance, so I won't say any more.

 

Most domes, but especially SkyDome - the people working their know and care 0 about baseball, most of the seats are horrible for baseball, and they can have 25,000 people in it and it still seems like a huge, vacant, empty warehouse.

 

Dodger Stadium - pretty crappy place. Seats are small and crampped, the place is pretty dirty, the employees at the park are all assholes that couldn't give a s***. The design of the park and the scenery are the only good things about the place.

 

Miller Park - of the newer places, this was the most disappointing. The conveniences and good food are definite pluses, but it was a very strange place to me to watch a game. The outside of the stadium is ugly. The park to me, has no identity, it's like they took mismatched aspects of all the new parks (Camden, Seattle, Jacobs, etc) and crammed them all together.

[EvilJester99]

There are only 2 parks I really want to see Safeco and Miller Park...they both look awesome.

[Wedge]

As was said already, Miller park is really nice, but lacks any sort of character.

 

Wrigley is a dump, but it does have its charm.

 

The Cell has gotten a lot better in the last 2 or 3 years. I'm impressed with the improvements they've made. It's a great family atmosphere.

 

Comiskey always used to creep me out for some reason.

 

Busch stadium is a great park.

[Steff]

There are only 2 parks I really want to see Safeco and Miller Park...they both look awesome.

 

 

Both are awesome. I like Miller a lot.. but I like Safeco more. Probably cause I've only been there twice versus 20+ times to Miller.

[Buehrle>Wood]

Safeco is by far the best park I have ever been to.