Chase Field is the BoB's new name. Contrary to popular opinion it's not named for Chase Utley.

Thanks for the info. I prefer the BoB. Anytime a fielder runs down a ball hit into the gap, I have images of someone saying "Chase, fielder!"

~Adam

And now that I've add two more to my list...

1. PNC Park
2. Camden Yards
3. Citizens Bank Park
4. PETCO Park
5. AT&T Park
6. Wrigley Field
7. Yankee Stadium
8. Fenway Park
9. Dodger Stadium
10. US Cellular Field
11. Rogers Centre aka Skydome
12. Veterans Stadium (R.I.P.)
13. Qualcomm Stadium
14. Olympic Stadium
15. Shea Stadium
16. Candlestick Park

I decided to check out a men's room at Wrigley to confirm a suspicion I had. Sure enough, they had a trough instead of urinals. But it looked really new, like it recently replaced the old trough. Obviously there's not going to be any advertising on the outfield wall with all that ivy, but there was a distinct lack of signage throughout. They've got some electronic boards now and they display ads when they're not showing game information, but the ads are not nearly as obtrusive as in other parks.

US Cellular is nice, though it wasn't built with any kind of old-fashioned look the way Camden Yards and its disciples have been designed. I got a kick out of the concession stands being named after various White Sox figures from their history. However, a huge minus is that if you have tickets in the upper level you can't go to the lower level at all, not even to just walk around. Of course, that wasn't enforced in the 9th inning the night I was there when the Indians were destroying the White Sox, so I was able to walk around the lower concourse and find "Luzinski's Rooftop Dogs and Polish" stand -- just remember, he's really a Phillie.

That ticket policy was put in place in response to the attacks on coaches and players by fans coming from the stands. An unfortunate policy indeed, even sadder that it may even be necessary.

So does that mean it's okay to attack a coach or umpire in the 9th inning when your team's being blown out?

I'll be able to add to my list of stadiums next week. I'll be seeing the Phillies vs. Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field, formerly Bank One Ballpark or "The BOB." I can't confirm that they changed the name in order to honor Chase Utley.

...and I'm back. Thus, having experienced three games between the Phillies and Diamondbacks in Phoenix, I can now add to my list of favorites:

1. PNC Park
2. Camden Yards
3. Citizens Bank Park
4. PETCO Park
5. AT&T Park
6. Wrigley Field
7. Yankee Stadium
8. Fenway Park
9. Dodger Stadium
10. Chase Field
11. US Cellular Field
12. Rogers Centre aka Skydome
13. Veterans Stadium (R.I.P.)
14. Qualcomm Stadium
15. Olympic Stadium
16. Shea Stadium
17. Candlestick Park

About Chase Field, reportedly (in my mind, at least) named after Chase Utley -- It doesn't really resemble an old-fashioned park like the more recently-built places. Besides, a ballpark with a retractable roof just isn't a ballpark, even though the roof was open for the Monday and Tuesday night games. Wednesday afternoon it was closed as the temperature hit the upper 90s outside (the only day that happened when I was there). Still, it isn't all that bad a place to watch a game. Even when the roof was open they had the cooling system working so it was very comfortable. The seats were okay and the hot dogs were very good.

Unfortunately, there's no real baseball atmosphere. The crowds aren't really into it. The scoreboards almost constantly had "MAKE SOME NOISE" messages flashing, and sometimes there was noise and sometimes the messages were ignored. Monday night the announced attendance was only 19,000, Tuesday I believe it was 21,000-22,000. Wednesday afternoon there was a large group of people in the upper deck wearing the same white t-shirts, which is probably why that day the attendance was over 25,000. There were a decent number of Phillies fans all around. We would've been louder except the team didn't give us much to yell about until the 7th inning on Wednesday afternoon.

16 to go jip.......way to go

Incidentally, I didn't like Chase Field either....I felt like I was watching a game in an airplane hangar or a huge warehouse....and I hate that pool beyond the right field fence!

I kind of don't mind the pool. It's a cute novelty. I might like it more if I were in it.

I'm not sure I'll be making other trips this year, though one never knows. One I definitely need to get to is RFK Stadium, since the Nationals' new park is scheduled to open in 2008. It would probably have to be a day game unless I get a hotel room for a night.

Looks like I'm going to see the Phillies in Cleveland next week. My brother has passes to the US Open (which is in PA but not far away) so he's extending the trip to see a game or two in Cleveland. I don't know if I'll actually see any of the golf, though.

As it turned out, I actually got to see golf on Sunday, and for a couple of hours on Friday afternoon. But that's not the topic of this thread. Time to update my list. (Note-parks that no longer exist or parks where the team moved are in italics.)

1. PNC Park
2. Camden Yards
3. Citizens Bank Park
4. PETCO Park
5. AT&T Park
6. Wrigley Field
7. Yankee Stadium
8. Fenway Park
9. Dodger Stadium
10. Jacobs Field
11. Chase Field
12. US Cellular Field
13. Rogers Centre aka Skydome
14. Veterans Stadium (R.I.P.)
15. Qualcomm Stadium
16. Olympic Stadium
17. Shea Stadium
18. Candlestick Park

So...my brother and niece and I got to the ticket window yesterday. I asked what the best available seats were. Turns out they had tickets behind home plate, in the second row from the field. $125 each. I splurged.

Seats in the same location at Citizens Bank Park, to my knowledge, have never been available at a ticket window; if you don't buy them for a full season or if a full season owner isn't selling them, you can't get them. But if you do, those seats get you:

• Exclusive access to the climate-controlled Diamond Clubhouse Lounge
• Sit-down dining options at our upscale bistros
• Two full-service bars
• In-seat wait service
• Private concessions
• Access to the Hall of Fame Club

And the front rows of these sections get a $30 credit to use at the concession stands.

In Cleveland, these seats get you:

(long silence with occasional sound of crickets chirping)

Other than being two rows from the front, there's no benefit to buying these tickets...which may explain why they were available. That doesn't explain why so much of the rest of the ballpark was empty, as the attendance was under 19,000. Someone tell the Indians fans they have a contending team. And tell them, at least those who were still around in the 8th inning, to stop doing the wave.

Other items of note:

The concession prices weren't out of line with other ballparks, and were slightly cheaper for some items...the view of the skyline wasn't impressive...the park seems to be facing away from the tall downtown buildings...they don't have one long scoreboard showing all the out-of-town scores, they only flash them two-by-two on the electronic boards...before the game the board showed the pitching matchup. They had the name of Cole Hamels but the picture was of Jon Lieber.

Oh, and two Cleveland Browns draft picks threw out ceremonial first pitches. They would be Joe Thomas and...Brady Quinn.

I've now got 14 of the 30 current ballparks in my book. I want to try to get to RFK in Washington, but that won't be a current ballpark next year.

JIP adding RFK to the list!

I'll be in DC on Friday for the Phillies-Nationals game -- thus probably dooming the Phils, but that's another story.

So I'll hit the halfway point of the current ballparks, but only temporarily since the Nats will go into the new ballpark next year. Interesting, though -- once I get into the new DC ballpark, I'll have seen the franchise in three of their home stadiums.

Anyone in the DC area want to go to the game? Let me know. I don't plan to get a ticket until I get to RFK.

After my visit to RFK last night... (Note-parks that no longer exist or parks where the team moved are in italics.)

1. PNC Park
2. Camden Yards
3. Citizens Bank Park
4. PETCO Park
5. AT&T Park
6. Wrigley Field
7. Yankee Stadium
8. Fenway Park
9. Dodger Stadium
10. Jacobs Field
11. Chase Field
12. US Cellular Field
13. Rogers Centre aka Skydome
14. Veterans Stadium (R.I.P.)
15. Qualcomm Stadium
16. RFK Stadium
17. Olympic Stadium
18. Shea Stadium
19. Candlestick Park

RFK beats Shea...woo-hoo!

Interesting story: I bought a ticket from a scalper outside. Face value said $92.50. I bought it for $50.00. Turns out, the ticket was for a party suite on the mezzanine level. (Note: this being extremely old RFK stadium, it wasn't exactly stylish. The seats were folding chairs and the inside portion of the suite had little or no furniture or anything.) The suite was rented out by a group from Kimberly-Clark. They had been there since 1:30 for some work stuff. They had boxes lying around with various cloth products. They had no idea how I could've gotten a ticket. Some of them had tickets that didn't have the usual section-row-seat format, they were more like special passes. It could've even been a counterfeit, but when I got to the gate the scanner registered or else they wouldn't have let me into RFK. A few of them speculated that some tickets were given to their warehouse employees and someone decided to make some money. One other guy showed up with a ticket like I did. We probably bought them from the same scalper.

Anyway, they had tons of food and drink and said I was welcome to help myself. So even though I had already eaten dinner, I managed to put down 3 hot dogs. Oh, and six or so beers. All free. In terms of ballpark prices, I probably had over $40 worth of hot dogs and beer. And every last one of the Kimberly-Clark people left by the end of the 6th inning, leaving me and the other guy who bought a ticket outside for the rest of the game. Along with their remaining food and beer and boxes of their products. Very weird but it all worked out.

And....?
Did you and the other scalper patron get it on?
You had all those paper products to clean up with afterwards.

Excuse me, but I was there to watch baseball. Even if we were so inclined, the outside seating areas had no walls between them so everyone in the other suites could look at each other. And there were plenty of stadium employees around.

I haven't gotten anywhere yet to update my rankings -- and when I do, I'll have to remember to note that Jacobs Field is now Progressive Field -- but here's one writer's ranking of all 30 current parks.

I made it down to Nationals Park today! It's not the best of the new parks but it's not bad. The huge scoreboard is awesome! And the stats on it were updated quickly and correctly -- so many times when I go to Phils games they take their sweet time adding a run or a hit, or else they don't change the "now batting" info when there's a pinch-hitter quickly enough. Anyway, what's not so awesome is how they built a big club for their Diamond Club seats near home plate in the lower level, so when you walk around the concourse the club pretty much blocks your view of the field for a decent stretch. I thought there'd be a better view of the Capitol but you can only see it from certain sections upstairs. Not sure if you can see it at all from downstairs. Since there's a limit on the height of skyscrapers in DC the skyline beyond the outfield isn't as impressive as at PNC Park or Camden Yards. And the Anacostia River runs around the southern end of it (first base/home plate) so there's no water beyond the outfield like PETCO or AT&T (and PNC for that matter).

The ticket I bought was in the uppermost section behind third base, for $18. Not bad for that location (and they have $10 seats a few sections over, and day-of-game $5 seats in the two outermost sections on that level) but some of the lower-level prices are MUCH higher than comparable seats in Philadelphia -- like lower-level box seats down the left/right field lines. $58 in DC, $37-40 in Phila. Lower-level outfield seats $35-36 in DC, $24-28 in Phila. Ouch!

I bought a foot-long hot dog and it was $7.00. Some of their other food/drink prices seemed a bit high as well.

And I still wish they didn't have to get rid of the gay strip clubs.

So it's time to update my standings. Now that I've seen the Nats' new place I'm back to 15 of the 30 current parks...but that will again change when the Mets and Yankees open up their new digs next year. Parks that have been vacated and/or no longer exist are in italics.

1. PNC Park
2. Camden Yards
3. Citizens Bank Park
4. PETCO Park
5. AT&T Park
6. Wrigley Field
7. Nationals Park
8. Yankee Stadium
9. Fenway Park
10. Dodger Stadium
11. Progressive Field
12. Chase Field
13. US Cellular Field
14. Rogers Centre aka Skydome
15. Veterans Stadium (R.I.P.)
16. Qualcomm Stadium
17. RFK Stadium
18. Olympic Stadium
19. Shea Stadium
20. Candlestick Park

#$@%!!! Joe, you beat me there!

21st and 22nd can't come fast enough.....

<Nelson Muntz voice> Ha ha! </Nelson Muntz voice>

The luckiest part of the day was that, in near-100-degree heat, my seat was shade-covered for the entire day. I put on sunblock for nothing!

Been to 19 and this is my order:


1.- PNC Park - Pittsburgh PA
2.- AT&T Park - San Francisco CA
3.- Fenway Park - Boston MA
4.- Wrigley Filed - Chicago IL
5.- Dodger Stadium - LA CA
6.- Petco Park - San Diego CA
7.- Miller Park - Milwaukee WI
8.- Yankee Stadium - NYC NY
9.- Jacobs field (now Progressive) - Cleveland OH
10.- Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia PA
11.- U.S. Cellular Field - Chicago IL
12.- Turner Field - Atlanta GA
13.- Dolphin Stadium - Miami FL
14.- Shea Stadium - NYC NY
15.- Tiger Stadium - Detroit MI
16.- Angels Stadium - Anaheim CA
17.- RFK Stadium - Washington DC (obviously doesn't count anymore but I was there...)
18.- McAfee Coliseum- Oakland CA
19.- Tropicana Park - Tampa FL