I've only been to a few, but here's my list:

1. Fenway Park. Only two drawbacks, Bathrooms and sitting behind the columns sucks if you're unfortunate enough to be stuck there.

2. Yankee Stadium. Ranking probably helped by Red Sox win the day I went. 10-2

3. Joe Robbie Stadium (Call it by its true name, Pro Player isn't even in business any more.) Seeing the World Series here was awesome, but it is a football stadium and always will be. Regular season sell out is 36,000, in the '97 Playoffs they had 67,000+ in there for every game, so even when it's a "sellout" its still half empty. Very deep park; 434 to center, in the "Bermuda Triangle." At least it's real grass.

4. HHH Metrodome. Best food of any park I've been to, but it's turf so it's automatically at the bottom. Same problem as Joe Robbie, too many seats for regular season, great for the playoffs though.(At least they cover the outfield upper deck seats during the regular season.) But, hey, at least you see the Twinks play there.

The seats are old and uncomfortable, the upper deck seats we had last month were as far away as those at the Vet, if not farther, and Shea featured the SINGLE FILTHIEST BATHROOM I HAVE EVER SEEN.

The real grass argument is bogus. When you have a multi-purpose stadium like the Vet and its brethren, there are sections of seats that have to be rolled away to set up for football, and rolled back again to set up for baseball. With real grass, the field would be constantly torn up.

And that real grass didn't hold up so well last year at Giants Stadium, did it?

The grass in left field at Joe Robbie Stadium, where seats fold down over it for Dolphins games, holds up just fine in September.

Not the same type of stadium. The sections of seats at the Vet are set on wheels and rolled into place as well as unfolded. It's the wheels rolling that would do the damage, from what they've said.

ESPN.com Page2's ballpark tour just stopped in Miami to visit Joe Robbie Stadium, and gave it a good rating, better than Yankee Stadium even. In fact, the article had the best compliment I've ever heard about Joe Robbie, "Pro Player is, and always has been, a football stadium to the core. But the fact is that it works for baseball, and is the best all-purpose stadium I've ever been to." Now, before you go off about the good rating (I can see it now: "How can Pro Player be better than Yankee Stadium?!!"), read the article.

I've been reading the Page 2 reviews of ballparks, and I think Jeff Merron (the author for the Pro Player story) is completely nuts. I've been to Pro Player, and the impression I had was that baseball is an awkward fit there. I thought the sightlines were bad. The seats are all oriented to football yard lines. From where my group was sitting on the 3rd base side, we had to turn sideways to see the infield. We would have a dead-on view of midfield for a football game, though. And the Dolphins logos, colors, and retired numbers drown out anything related to baseball. The '97 Marlins champhionship sign on the teal monster is tiny.

I'd put all of the multipupose stadia (PP, Qualcomm, The Vet) at the bottom of the Page 2 rankings, along with Olympic Stadium. I don't think PP is better than Yankee Stadium, or even BankOne (both of which are behind PP in the rankings).

They're not consistent in their point-scoring. For one example: they gave the D-backs 3 points because during the 7th inning stretch their broadcasters throw out soft baseball toys from the booth to kids down below. For the Phils' 7th inning stretch they said it was "forgettable" or something--somehow failing to notice that the Phils' broadcasters toss out bags of peanuts to the fans below.

The sight-lines along the foullines outside of the infield leave a bit to be desired. However, anywhere in the infield, and in outfield fair territory, they are excellent. The upper deck is pretty good too, except a few spots where there are obstructed views of the outfield corners. Oh by the way, the 3rd base line seats and the right field seats are actually end zone seats; the first base line and the left field wall are the side lines. Neither do I .See my comments earlier in this thread as to my rankings of parks I've been to.

In ESPN Page Two's continuing tour, KC's Kauffman Stadium ranked pretty high. The writer was apparently influenced by the beautiful weather and electric atmoshphere in the stadium that night, so he throws in 10 "wild card" points at the end. I was there that night last Monday, and it really was nearly sublime, as he writes in the opening paragraphs.

I chuckled to myself when I read the last sentence of the article. As I wrote early in this thread, Kauffman Stadium is usually not defined as a "great" stadium, but it's always described as "beautiful."

[ August 18, 2003, 07:22 AM: Message edited by: maxallen ]

The final scores are in on the ESPN2 stadium rankings.

The winner: Pittsburgh's PNC Park, where I'll be this weekend.

Of course, your mileage may vary...they had two or three different writers taking turns visiting each park, and standards on how they gave out points seemed to constantly change.

OK, so I finally got around to reading their review of my home field, the SkyDome.

Their ratings are a bit inconsistant. They give us 5/5 for the "Take Me Out to the Ballgame Moment" because, they say, we sing "Let's Go, Blue Jays." Well, maybe that's the Ozzy Osborne version. It's Okay (okay) Blue Jays (Blue Jays). Let's! (lets) Play! (play) Ball! (crack of the bat sound). And they've recently remixed the song, giving it a bizarre hip-hoppy beat, that makes it unintelligible. And the Take Me Out to the Ball Game is a pallid recording which compares nothing to Wrigley Field sing-a-long. We should get 3 at best.

They give us 3.5 for access, despite the fact that you can walk from your office to the game in 10 minutes. That's what I used to do when I worked in the finanacial district. To me, this is better access than ballparks that are surrounded by a moat of parking lots.

And no mention of the "World's Fastest Groundscrew" who come running in/out from left field to clean the bases to the William Tell overture.

Just went to Fenway Park for the first time-- what a great park! Just like stepping back in time- what a trip. Fanatic fans -all that history and great seats. I love going to different ball parks.

Add my belated input to this thread: I miss the old Tiger Stadium, the one that Sparky Anderson growled was "a ballpark, dammit!" when asked on WJR whether or not it would be torn down or renovated back in 1978. Lots of great times there and in the surrounding streets and alleys after the games, where I first learned that I was born with a working Auto Pilot. Hey, Dee-troit!

But I also like Wrigley, PacBell and Camden Yards. Candlestick, Jack Murphy (dated, MUCH?) and Chavez Ravine just don't do it for me like the old ones - real or faux do.

Much as I hate to like anything associated with SBC, I have to agree, having finally been there. My brother got free bleacher tickets from a friend, so we and his two younger sons took in a Friday night game against the A's. Aside from the standup heckling between an obnoxiously loud Giants fan and an even more obnoxious and loud A's fan ("BAL-COOOOO! You're garbage, Barry! Oakland's got so much more class than San Francisco! Whatta you lookin' at, n***ah?" ), who finally got ejected four mouthing off to the ushers, it was great. The view, the food (we had passes to the club concourse too) ... the looks on my nephews' faces every time a ball or freebie came our way (the 11-year-old nabbed a jumbo bag of Cracker Jack) ... good times, good times. Of course, the 12-year-old talked my ear off about trades and team relocations on the bus ride back to the hotel ... but on the whole it was a fine ending to the vacation.

And BART goes to the airport now! Yay!

Pac Bell is the ultimate baseball experience. Just beautiful and no bad seat in the house. Plus you get to see the awesome Barry Bonds!

Last year, I took a trip to Houston to see the Giants@Astros series in late August. Minute Maid Park is very nice, they open the roof for rainless and somewhat cool night games, and close the roof for blistering hot day games or typical horrendous Houston thunderstorms.

Minute Maid Park also has a cool scoreboard feature that I've never seen before. There's a little box on the scoreboard that reports the type of pitch which was just thrown, such as "slider", "changeup", or "curveball". I don't know how the call is made as to the pitch type, and would love to know how it's done. Just a little cool thing.

One thing they need to do at this park though is to level that stupid hill in the outfield and get rid of the friggin' flagpole planted on it! Jeezus, the center fielder is always in danger of injury from running up the hill or running into the damn flagpole! What architect thought of this crap!

Great thread. I've only been to the following parks:

Yankee Stadium
Shea
Dodger Stadium
Angels Stadium
Candlestick
SBC Park
Bank One Ballpark
Quallcom
Wrigley

I love going to Dodger games...the mountains in front of you, the sun setting...it's a really cool place to see a game. I always liked getting to Shea, too, riding the #7 in from the city. That was half the experience. And I'm a big fan of The Bob in Phoenix. I just like it there...watching the lightning storms flash outside while a game is on, waiting for the roof to open after a game. It's kind of cool. Next week I will be catching games in Phoenix and San Francisco as well as at Dodger Stadium, and I can't wait.

Camden Yards is definitely still #1 on my list....even though it's 12 years old it still looks brand new and as the first of the "retro parks" it's no wonder that so many other cities have tried to build "replicas" of it over the past decade (too bad the present ownership and management of the team that plays there is so incompetent but that's completely off topic for this thread, I know).

I've yet to visit SBC or Safeco but would love to do so....from the games I've seen on television those appear to be very fan friendly with great sight lines.

This may sound sacriligious coming from a "baseball purist" like myself but even though it's been a few years since I've been there I was VERY disappointed and unimpressed by Fenway Park....I had heard the size of the seats/aisles/concourses were quite small (which is somewhat understandable given that Fenway was built nearly 90 years ago) but the overall condition of the park was very poor IMHO and the fact that I thought the seats were cramped (considering I'm a relatively small guy at 5'9'', 140) I can't imagine how uncomfortable it must have been for "average sized" guys....granted, this was in the pre-John Henry/Larry Lucchino/Theo Epstein era so I'll give em the benefit of the doubt and assume they've spent millions to upgrade the condition of Fenway for the fans (as much as possible given it's location and geographical constraints), the newly installed "Green Monster seats" notwithstanding.

[ July 13, 2004, 12:34 PM: Message edited by: gamecock ]

Would that happened to have been last July 5? If so I was there too, and there is NOTHING better than chanting "No-mar's Bet-ter" at Derek Jeter on his home turf.

To answer the question:

1) Tiger Stadium. My former home park, I miss it terribly. Went to the final game. The sightlines put it up top.

2) Wrigley Field. A close second. The bathrooms were bad, but it's a shrine. Wrigley = Baseball.

3) Coors Field. Only for a tour, but perfect setting/backdrop for baseball.

4) Fenway Park. Another shrine, but overpriced and cramped. Fenway Franks and Hilltop Steak sandwiches are awesome.

5) Comerica Park. Great food, good sightlines...upper deck is unbelievably high though.

6) Jacobs Field. Just an all-around terrific park. Shouting matches with fans drop it a notch or two.

7) Angels Stadium. Beautiful weather on our visit, good food, and cheap seats.

8. SkyDome. Location, location, location...my hotel was in the friggin' ballpark! Multipurpose stadium with turf, but great food and dirt-cheap seats.

9) Dodger Stadium. Terrific location, but traffic a nightmare and you're restricted to YOUR SECTION. Points off for that. Good Dodger Dogs though.

10) US Cellular Field. Gets a bad rap. Sterile, but not awful.

11) Astrodome. Rating boosted by sold-out crowds celebrating the final two games and a pennant race (which the Astros won). Great BBQ sandwiches, and the air conditioning felt great.

12) Yankee Stadium. Grossly overpriced, awful food. Tickets were overpriced. Parking....see above. However, the Sox won. (would have LOVED to have seen it pre-renovation.)

13) Stade Olympique. Domed stadium with turf, but definitely had its unique charm and the food was great. Terrace seats VERY uncomfortable, however!!!!!

14) Cinergy Field. Cookie-cutter with turf.

Since this post, I've been to a game at the Sky Dome. Nice looking stadium, convenient to get too, and the view from the seats are nice. I've also been to the Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. I like the design and atmosphere at the park. But I was surprised that with the number of seats that are high up that it has a capacity of only 45,000. So here's my revised rankings.

1. Yankee Stadium
2. Citizens Bank Park
3. Sky Dome
4. Oriole Park at Camden Yards
5. Le Stade Olympique
6. Network Associates Coliseum
7. Fenway Park
8. Baltimore Memorial Stadium
9. Veterans Stadium
10. Shea Stadium

The new Petco Park is pretty swell, but I'll take Wrigley Field any day. That place has the best character and atmosphere of any park that I've been to. I'd put Milwaukee's goofy retractable roof park near the bottom of the list. What an eye sore.

Hi Fiveandagame. I agree that the food is overpriced, but not any more so than the other stadiums I've been to recently. And the food doesn't seem to be any better or worse than other stadium's food. The tickets are probably overpriced, but when they practically sell out every game that's bound to happen unfortunately. As for driving to the stadium and parking, I used to have difficulty there. But the last couple of years I've found that taking Jerome Ave. off the Cross Bronx Expressway (I-95) to River Ave. (just follow the road under the el train), and park in the first stadium garage on the left. It is a fairly short walk to the stadium. Even when leaving after a sold out game, there is little traffic leaving the garage and on the streets leading back to the Expressway. I did get to go to a couple of games pre-renovation, but I was 8 years old and don't remember too much about it, except seeing the monuments on the playing field.

[ July 13, 2004, 01:28 PM: Message edited by: pat125 ]

Hey, thanks for the tips. Basically I got there via MapQuest, and that was IT. I got off, found a strip mall with gated parking about six blocks away that charged $15 IIRC.

I tried DESPERATELY not to eat at the park, since I wanted to put as little $$$ into Steinbrenner's wallet as possible. The allure of Nathan's hot dogs reeled me in like a fish on a hook....but god, they were terrible. Doughy buns and 7-11 quality meat. Four or five bucks apiece if I remember. The pretzel was awful too.

But, hey, the Sox won. That made it all worth it.

Allow me to throw another vote to Pac Bell (SBC) Park in SF. It's amazing. If you haven't been there yet, make the trip. It's so worth it. It's got a great, old-time feel to it and there's not a bad seat to be found. And the food and beer are the best in baseball. I could spend all summer there. (Providing the Giants keep playing sort-of-half-ass well.)

And the Giants have a great mascot (Lou Seal).

On the flip side, my partner and I were in NYC this spring and caught a Giants/Mets game at Shea Stadium. A bit of a dump. Dirty, cold, uncomfortable. Very disappointing.

But the fans were great. There were plenty of long-time Giants fans and everyone got along. That's what I love about baseball.

Here are my updated rankings, with 2 new parks visited since last summer...I hope to add Skydome to the list in September, depending on the schedule for the Blue Jays and the World Cup of Hockey.

1. PNC Park
2. Camden Yards
3. Citizens Bank Park
4. Dodger Stadium
5. Yankee Stadium
6. Veterans Stadium (R.I.P.)
7. Qualcomm Stadium
8. Olympic Stadium
9. Shea Stadium
10. Candlestick Park

I assume that whoever puts it up has some knowledge of what each pitcher throws, or maybe they just make their best guess. But doesn't every team show this now (along with the pitch speed)? Even the side boards at the Vet had this in its last few years.

[ July 13, 2004, 08:04 PM: Message edited by: Joe in Philly ]

I've never seen the pitch description on a scoreboard, just the pitch speed. Minute Maid Park was the first time I've ever seen this. Pac Bell Park doesn't have that feature, neither did the Astrodome, the Ballpark in Arlington or Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland.

Not true. The Astrodome (at least for the final two games there anyway) DID have a color board showing the speed, location, and type of pitch for each at bat, which I thought was extremely cool.

Ballpark question: When did "The Ballpark in Arlington" become "Ameriquest Field"? I just noticed it yesterday on the A's/Rangers game. News to me.

BTW, tho' I love the Giants and Pac Bell/SBC Park... I think Lou Seal is one awful mascot.

Ameriquest bought the naming rights earlier this season, or possibly just before the season started.

If I remember correctly, it was sometime in May. But we still call it "The Ballpark" down here, simple and dopey as that sounds.

ESPN's Page Two has finally gotten around to rating the Phillies' and Padres' new ballparks. The Vault gets high marks -- tying Coors Field for 4th place. The report on the Padres' new digs isn't quite as favorable. It finishes tied for 15th.

And since I visited Skydome on my recent Tour of Canada, I can update my own personal rankings:

1. PNC Park
2. Camden Yards
3. Citizens Bank Park
4. Dodger Stadium
5. Yankee Stadium
6. Skydome
7. Veterans Stadium (R.I.P.)
8. Qualcomm Stadium
9. Olympic Stadium
10. Shea Stadium
11. Candlestick Park

3 of the parks on my list are either gone or no longer used for baseball, and that number will be 4 once the Expos move.

I've been to a bunch....most have been torn down. Unfortunately, I have only been to one of the new retro parks...
1. Wrigley. Hate it, hate the scrubs.
2. Old Comiskey GO SOX!
3. New Comiskey (I don't think this one is as bad as many people think)
4. County Stadium. Great brats.
5. Riverfront. blah.
6. The Vet. blah.
7. Three rivers. ditto.
8. Fenway. Fun, but I had crappy seats.
9. Municipal....bad smell...
10. Old Arlington..minor league
11. Ballpark at Arlington. HUGE improvement.
12. Exhibition. horrible.
13. Royals...good place to watch a game.
14. Anaheim. Back in the days when the Rams still played there, so the huge outfield was still there.
15. Pro Player...Love the Fish, hate the park. Can't wait for the new one next to the Orange Bowl!
16. Skydome. At least there are no bad seats.
17. Tiger Stadium
18. Astrodome. Clean, but anticeptic.

RFK Stadium Washington - It was football games I saw here, but the Expos will play here for awhile if they move here. Old cereal bowl park constructed in the 60s. The Redskins fans were nuts here. Very very loud. The concrete upper deck would bounce up and down because of the fans jumping around. Neighborhood sucks. Nothing to do before and after a game nearby.

Camden Yards - Very nice except that the fans changed when the Orioles left Memorial Stadium. A much quieter white collar bunch now. Location is great. Bars and restaurants are within walking distance.

Memorial Stadium - I miss the crowds here. The enthusiasm in the stands for the Orioles in the late 70s and early 80s, and the Colts during the Bert Jones and Unitas eras is unmatched in sports. The stadium was not a special place physically. The seats down close were very close though. Great The neighborhood was so so. Nothing to do close by before or after a game. Parking sucked for any game drawing more than say 35000 fans.

RFK Stadium Washington - It was football games I saw here, but the Expos will play here for awhile if they move here. Old cereal bowl style park constructed in the 60s. The Redskins fans were nuts here. Very very loud. The concrete upper deck would bounce up and down because of the fans jumping around. Neighborhood sucks. Nothing to do before and after a game nearby.

Camden Yards - Very nice except that the fans changed when the Orioles left Memorial Stadium. A much quieter white collar bunch now. Location is great. Bars and restaurants are within walking distance.

Memorial Stadium - I miss the crowds here. The enthusiasm in the stands for the Orioles in the late 70s and early 80s, and the Colts during the Bert Jones and Unitas eras is unmatched in sports. The stadium was not a special place physically. The seats down close were very close though. The neighborhood was so so. Nothing to do close by before or after a game. Parking really sucked for any game drawing more than say 35000 fans.

Kaufmann in Kansas City - Hate the location.
Suburban stadiums are boring. Nothing around the facility except parking lots and hotels. The stadium itself is a nice attractive place to watch a game. When I went years ago, it had astroturf. Blech.

Riverfront in Cincinnati - Not quite as nice as KC as a facility but better location since it was downtown. The fans were exceptionally nice the night I was there.

Minute Maid in Houston - The name makes me laugh my ass off. Facility is very cool though my nosebleed section seats seemed higher up than other parks. Even though its downtown, the area is still dead and void of alot of sports bars and restaurants. This should change over time.

Texas Stadium Irving TX - Only saw it from the outside but was surprised how dingy, outdated and dirty it looked.

Updating my list after my recent trip. My newly revised ratings of all the ballparks I've visited:

1. PNC Park
2. Camden Yards
3. Citizens Bank Park
4. PETCO Park
5. Yankee Stadium
6. Dodger Stadium (dropped below Yankee Stadium because the seats are old -- even the one I sat in behind home plate could stand to be replaced; because of the advertisements on what was once a pristine outfield fence; because of the "THINK BLUE" sign (copying the HOLLYWOOD sign) stinking up the view of the land beyond the ballpark; and because of the beach ball barrage)
7. Skydome
8. Veterans Stadium (R.I.P.)
9. Qualcomm Stadium
10. Olympic Stadium
11. Shea Stadium
12. Candlestick Park

Next up: Fenway Park at the end of September.

Nice to see you enjoyed PetCo, though I agree it's not as good as Citizens Bank Park.

One thing I hate about Dodger Stadium is the inability to wander around the venue, if you're up in the nosebleeds you can't get down to the field level, not too many(if any) ramps and escalators to take anyone up or down from level to level.

Been to all current MLB parks...and the following that are no longer in use.

Exhibition(Toronto)
Three Rivers(Pittsburgh)
Veterans(Philadelphia)
Memorial(Baltimore)
Municipal(Cleveland)
Riverfront(Cincinnati)
Tiger(Detroit)
County(Milwaukee)
Astrodome(Houston)
Olympic(Montreal)
Qualcomm(San Diego)

and come next season....add Busch Stadium in St. Louis to that list and the new one to keep me current.

Almost forgot this, but now that I've knocked Fenway Park off the list...

1. PNC Park
2. Camden Yards
3. Citizens Bank Park
4. PETCO Park
5. Yankee Stadium
6. Fenway Park

The seat I sat in for the game vs. Toronto, behind home plate, had a similar problem to what I found in Dodger Stadium: the seat hangs a bit too low to the ground. Plus the handrails needed a new paint job. But it was an excellent view.

For the Sat. game vs. the Yankees when I went with fenwayguy, his seats are down in the corner of right field. They're angled unfortunately so they don't face the infield, so you have to keep your head turned to watch the pitches. That's forgivable, since it's old and even though the seats were high, it's still close to the field -- not like at parks like the Vet -- so it was still a pretty good place to watch. And Fenway has such a great atmosphere in general.

However, despite the fans' passion, on Thursday there were some idiots behind home plate that actually tried to start the wave. The wave! At Fenway Park! In a game that was important to the pennant race!

And the worst was yet to come: on Saturday, in a game against their hated rivals, with playoff positions on the line, on three different occasions I looked down into the stands below us and saw... beach balls.

7. Dodger Stadium
8. Skydome
9. Veterans Stadium (R.I.P.)
10. Qualcomm Stadium
11. Olympic Stadium
12. Shea Stadium
13. Candlestick Park

Considering that some of these stadiums do not exist anymore, this is in order of preference:

Wrigley Field - Great environment, and a great stadium to watch an afternoon game.

Yankee Stadium - As a Met fan, I hate to admit that their crosstown rivals have the better stadium.

County Stadium (Milwaukee) RIP - Old fashion, but had plenty of character.

SkyDome - Underrated place to watch a game.

Oakland-Alameda Coliseum - Stone, no character.

Shea Stadium - Thank goodness for 1969 and 1986...

Comiskey Park - Attended in the early 80s when the stadium was in disarray. Only consolation: the only game where I saw a near-perfect game. vs. Detroit (Milt Wilcox 8 2/3 of no-hit ball, Chisox's Jerry Hairston clean single to left to ruin the perfect game. The Chicago fans started to root for Wilcox!)

Olympic Stadium - I miss the Expos and Youppi their mascot. I don't miss the Expos' cavernous venue.

Dude, You have to see it to believe it. I've taken people there and they say that the view is so stunning that it distracts them from the game, which, of course, is not a bad thing given how crappy the Pirates have been in recent years.

Fenway is a close second to PNC. Haven't been there in awhile, but taking a piss in those ancient bathrooms is a sensuous experience...

You can add to the experience of attending a game at Yankee Stadium by parking on a side street in the south Bronx....It's hellish fun walking back to your car after the game when its dark....

I agree; I lived in Pittsburgh for 2 yrs and one of the very few fond memories I hold of that experience was PNC Park. Hands down the most incredible beautiful, comfortable, intimate, organized and unassuming park I've been to. I just wished that the Pirates would have been a better team then to fully enjoy the experience....

Remember this old thread? It'll be time for me to update my rankings shortly. In two weeks I'll be in San Francisco for a long weekend, and (along with my father and one of my brothers) I'll be taking in the Phillies-Giants series at PacBell, errr, SBC, ummm, AT&T Park.

And in September (just after Labor Day) I'll finally make my debut in Chicago. I know the Windy City's been waiting with bated breath for this. The Cubs are home through Thursday that week, and the White Sox begin a long weekend series that Thursday night. I haven't decided whether to do a day-night doubleheader at Wrigley and the ex-Comiskey or to go to games on separate days.

For now, here are my current rankings:
1. PNC Park
2. Camden Yards
3. Citizens Bank Park
4. PETCO Park
5. Yankee Stadium
6. Fenway Park
7. Dodger Stadium
8. Rogers Centre (but you'll always be Skydome to me, baby )
9. Veterans Stadium (R.I.P.)
10. Qualcomm Stadium
11. Olympic Stadium
12. Shea Stadium
13. Candlestick Park

Yeah, I would agree with that. I saw them play their last game of the year in 2005 and while its not the greatest stadium design-wise, it's very comfortable and a fun place to catch a game. The lack of fans now allow you to get real up close to the field, which is fantastic. More plus points for Kauffman was when I went, I was given two free tickets by a friendly local outside the stadium. They also had a damn good nacho stand. Altogether a good experience at Kauffman, I'd definitely go back.

6th?... 6th?... I am outraged!!!...way higher than that, and CERTAINLY ahead of your #5 pick

R

Have been to 12 and this is my fav 3 and least fav 3:

(see this threat from last year Baseball trip: http://www.outsports.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=155


BEST
1.- Fenway – Boston - No doubt the best Baseball atmosphere ANYWHERE
2.- PNC Park – Pittsburgh - Incredible view, great comfortable park
3.- Miller Park – Milwaukee - Probably a surprise to some but not only it is a beautiful well constructed park but the fans are awesome!!

WORST:
1.- JFK Stadium –DC - Old and uncomfortable; way to big
2.- Comerica Park - Detroit - A glorified amusement park but nothing close to a baseball experience
3.- Dolphin Stadium – Miami - The Marlins deserve a real ball park.. Go Marlins!!!

Thanks for the repost of this board. I reread my message and realized that I forgot one stadium. I also added a new stadium to near the top of my list.

1. Wrigley Field
2. Safeco Field - I attended a Mariners/Indians game last month. I did make a tour of the stadium off season last October. Great atmosphere. Fun fans (they even recreated the wave). I heard from a few locals that Safeco Field is a major improvement over the Kingdome [especially in 90 degree weather].
3. Yankee Stadium
4. County Stadium, Milwaukee (RIP)
5. Rogers Centre (formerly SkyDome)
6. Riverfront Stadium (aka Cinergy Field/RIP)
One of the many cookie cutter, all-purpose stadiums of the 1970's. Not much character. I went to a game a year before the stadium was imploded. (For what it's worth, September 2001.) Nonetheless, the stadium's location on the Ohio River was attractive.
7. McAfee Coliseum (formerly Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum)
8. Shea Stadium (I will be very happy when the proposed new stadium is built!)
9. [Old] Comiskey Park
10. Olympic Stadium (I believe the city of Montreal and the province of Quebec are still paying for the stadium. The fact that a new stadium was never built was one other reason why the Expos are now the Nationals.)

[ July 22, 2006, 12:23 PM: Message edited by: gmjambear ]

I think you're biased.

I'm both surprised and happy that Coors Field ranked as high as it did. I hate the name as much as anyone, and I wish we could get a reliably decent product to play in it, but I always enjoy being in the park.

LXN

went to St. Lou earlier this year and I thought the new Busch totally sucked ass. They never should have torn down the old one. The new joint is more of the same ol' retro crap.(Me thinks I've seen one too many of them)

Absolutely nothing new, nothing different about the joint.

Attended a game at Rogers Centre a couple weeks backk and they've done some renovations to the lower concourse there. A really nice job, they've done plenty to get rid of the stale concrete look there. Hope there's more on the way....

This may be the most pathetic statement as a sports fan, but I've never been to an American League ballpark, much less seen an American League team play. I've seen more National League teams than I can remember, and I've been to PNC, Citizens Bank Park, and Shea Stadium.

I was supposed to go to Camden Yards when I was at a summer camp in Baltimore, but that didn't work out. I can travel to Jacobs Field to see the Indians play, but I'd prefer to go to see an AL team play with an O/Ser. I may be up to a road trip between Summer and Fall Semesters. The Summer Semester ends on August 3, and the Fall semester begins on August 21st. Any single, eligible O/Sers want me to head out their way for a few days? Partially kidding...

Hardly pathetic at all. In fact, I'd say that the majority of sports fans don't see teams outside of the area where they live. You have to be pretty dedicated to sports and have the time and money. I didn't see an AL ballpark until I first saw a game in Camden Yards in...I forget the exact year...95 or 96. So that would make me 33-34 years old at that time. You're still a puppy. :0

And now, to add the next ballpark to my list:

1. PNC Park
2. Camden Yards
3. Citizens Bank Park
4. PETCO Park
5. AT&T Park
6. Yankee Stadium
7. Fenway Park
8. Dodger Stadium
9. Rogers Centre aka Skydome
10. Veterans Stadium (R.I.P.)
11. Qualcomm Stadium
12. Olympic Stadium
13. Shea Stadium
14. Candlestick Park (apparently this is now Monster Park -- considering what a dump it was when I saw the Phils-Giants there in 1980, it may be appropriately named)

About PacBell...umm, SBC, errr, AT&T Park -- This is my least favorite thus far of the recently-built new parks. In fact, the gap between 4th-place PETCO and AT&T is a lot larger than the gap between AT&T and 6th-ranked Yankee Stadium.

It's nice, and has a nice view of the bay. But getting out of the park from the upper deck after the games was very difficult. On Friday my brother and I went down one escalator to the next level down, but had to wait in a large crowd behind barricades to get to the next escalator. The man standing guard was letting one or two people go through every now and then while people streamed from another escalator at the club level right onto the next escalator down without waiting. One man complained and was told to "take the elevator." On Sunday we tried to take the elevator. We were steered away -- not allowed to use them -- and were sent into a staircase which got increasingly crowded as we descended.

The seats in the upper deck were in the infield and they were nice and fairly comfy, and came with cupholders. But the outfield bleachers (where we sat Saturday) were just benches. Benches are for playgrounds and high school and college buildings. Pro facilities should have individual seats.

The beverages (both soda and beer) were definitely overpriced, moreso than usual at ballparks, and the food prices also seemed a little high. Worse, they don't have straws or lids for sodas. How can you not have straws?

Edit to add: Almost forgot -- Friday featured the absolute worst rendition of the national anthem in sports history -- worse than Roseanne, worse than Carl Lewis even. It wasn't sung -- it was played on either a keyboard or some type of xylophone-type instrument, I couldn't tell -- but it was just like the guy was hitting keys at random. It was completely unrecognizable. Halfway through I put my hat back on.

Are Tom Hanks and Ron Howard following this thread?? I read in the Los Angeles Daily News (God, I love a big city paper that thinks it covers Mayberry!!) that the two have been to seven games in seven different ballparks in the last two weeks, all part of Hanks' 50th birthday present to himself.

And, to keep in theme with the thread: in addiiton to Dodger Stadium and the Big A in Anaheim, I've been to games at the Murph and the new PetCo Park in San Diego, Candlestick, Wrigley, Komiskey, Coors Field, SafeCo, Turner Field, and the BoB (what do the D'Backs call their field these days??) I don't get East too often

~Adam