Which MLB Parks have you visited and your impressions

[texasmame]

In no particular order:

Fenway Park - born and raised up there and it is my fav. Sure, the seats are small and uncomfortable and some don't even face the field directly but. . . that park IS baseball. You can't help but be in awe of the place. And Fenway Franks are STILL the best weenie in baseball!

Olympic Stadium - Typical cookie-cutter dome. Went there in late 80's. Coolest thing about it was, we took a subway and that took us right into the ballpark (or something like that - I was 19 and drunk in Canada!)

Ballpark at Arlington - Nice place, friendly staff, sucky team. Been there about 3 times in my 4 years here in Texas. Going again in Sept. when the Sox come to town. Ticket prices are reasonable, as is parking pricing - overall, I'd recommend taking in a game there (as long as it's not a day game in July or August. Hell, June and Sept. can be hot as hell sometimes here, too!)

Oriole Park at Camden Yards - pretty good park but, for my money, it was overhyped. Nothing wrong with it but. . . eh.

Kaufman Stadium - Went there to catch the Sox in August last year, IIRC (or was it two years ago). Anyhow, this is probably my favorite park I've been to besides Fenway - and I have no idea why. Maybe it was seeing the fountains in person. Maybe it's because we got in there well prior to gametime, took the tour and basically loitered in the park without being hassled by security. Maybe it was Brett's statue. Maybe it was being able to go to the grass berm behind the big "R" and get pieces of old fireworks off the grass. Dunno - we just had a great time there.

Petco Park - We went to a night game and were not dressed for the occasion - it was COLD that night and we left about 4 innings into it - sadly the weather really took away from the experience. The warehouse being built into the park was a nice touch and I'm fairly certain it's also the only place in the world that has a two story high picture of Trevor Hoffman. Looked like a cool place but the lack of "history" kinda killed it for me.

Hmm. . . what else. . . tried to get in the Kingdome but they were closed on my one visit to downtown Seattle so I just stood next to it. The next year, they tore it down. Oh, and I was on the subway in ChiTown with Wrigley off in the distance once. We also went to Yankee Stadium on a whim since we were in Ct. to visit someone but there was no game that day.

Minor league parks: Nashua Pride, Lowell Spinners, PawSox and saw Portland Sea Dogs park from the outside.

[KurtBevacqua]

Camden Yards, Baltimore - Beautiful stadium, pleasant local fans, good food, great view of the game even for an upper deck seat. But getting there was difficult and downtown Baltimore isn't exactly the nicest place to visit, although this particular part of town is better than others (within Baltimore).

Busch Stadium, St Louis - Easy access via train, but I can imagine it's a nightmare by car, great local fans, decent view of the game, right in the middle of the city business areas so neighborhood quality not an issue. However the stadium, well frankly it was a dump. If I were a Cardinal fan I wouldn't shed many tears over its passing

The Ballpark in Arlington - beautiful stadium, easy highway access (although the parking arrangement is messed up with too many chokepoints), out in the middle of nowhere, good view of the game. Now for the bad, horrible weather and the fans, while nice enough, really aren't into it. Clearly not a baseball town.

Municipal Stadium (the old mistake by the Lake) in Cleveland - I grew up going to games in this stadium and loved it, I really didn't know any better and I have lots of pleasant childhood memories of it. It was huge and to be honest the best thing I can objectively say about it. It smelled bad, the size made you feel like you were a mile away from the action, there was little to no parking, you had to walk a mile or two to get to it, and it was in a difficult part of town to get too. The seats were also mighty uncomfortable and you had to walk forever to find a bathroom or concession stand. That said, for football it was actually an excellent venue. The seats were arranged for football.

The Jake (I refuse to call it Progressive Field), Cleveland - Most similar to Camden Yards in design and seat layout. Not a bad view in the house. Food is very good, the staff is very helpful, bathrooms and concessions are everywhere, easy access from the highway,like Busch in the business area of town so no neighborhood problems, great parking garage arrangement that was very easy to get in and out of. I'm admittedly biased as an Indians fan, but they really thought of everything for the fan when they built it. Unfortunately Cleveland is justly known for obnoxious fans and you will get the nearby loudmouth drunk cursing a storm so you want to cover your kids ears. I never got that in St Louis or Baltimore (a little of it in Texas). From just a stadium vs stadium perspective I think The Jake and Camden Yards are virtually identical. But the Jake is much easier to get in and out of while Baltimore has nicer fans. Pick your poison.

[The Professor]

Busch Stadium, St Louis - Easy access via train, but I can imagine it's a nightmare by car, great local fans, decent view of the game, right in the middle of the city business areas so neighborhood quality not an issue. However the stadium, well frankly it was a dump. If I were a Cardinal fan I wouldn't shed many tears over its passing

When were you there?

For about 15 years prior to the demolition, Busch was a well-kept stadium with an admittedly crumbling infrastructure. They made the most of the sterile concrete donut and I'd hesitate to call it a "dump" - at least in that period of time. In my many visits it was always clean, the bathrooms were not terrible. Sure, it showed a lot of wear, but it was nothing like what the Met looked like in its final years (and it was famously neglected...)

Anywho...since Busch was my routine baseball destination:

Not hard to get to, IMO. Taking the Redbird Express from Illinois was a snap, dropped you off right at the ballpark. Took you back to St. Clair Square right after. Driving in from Illinois across the Poplar St. Bridge was never a problem, either, but leaving from the parking garage was the occasional nightmare.



Before heading in, you had to visit the statues outside: Stan, the Rajah, Diz, and Jack Buck...

I always thought the fans at Busch were good folks. The ushers were helpful. Getting there early was a lot of fun -- you could pretty much explore the entire ballpark without being bothered. Not hard to find bathrooms or concessions.

Sightlines were OK. During the hottest part of summer, particularly during a day game, Busch was hell. I can hardly imagine how the players survived during the turf era. I nearly succumbed to heat stroke during a July 4th game there - 98 blistering degrees of misery.

Concessions at Busch were average at best. An overpriced hotdog and an overpriced, cool, frosty, Budweiser were the essential fare. They eventually started offering better beer options - some microbrews and so forth - which was nice, but there was no "must have" food item, IMO. It is St. Louis, so some toasted ravioli was the closest thing to an "it" choice. I say go to The Hill before or after for the requisite Italian fix.

Even now, with the new stadium, there are some nice after-game locales to visit - but the still-not-complete Ballpark Village will feature some crappy national restaurant chains (Planet Hollywood or Hard Rock or whatever...) instead of signature local options. It is St. Louis -- Italian food, BBQ, and maybe an enterprising brewpub would be far better than the same crap you can get at Myrtle Beach.

The history speaks for itself. Even in down years the Cards are a tradition-laden ballclub, and the banners hanging in the concourse reminded visitors of El Birdos and the Runnin' Redbirds teams that called that version of Busch home.

3 stars out of 5.

[Green & Gold Heart]

McAfee Coliseum (at least I think that's what it's called now): Of course I've been there countless times as it's the A's and I love it, but that's mostly because of the team on the field. It's probably the crappiest park in baseball otherwise as it's a football stadium in the Oakland ghetto. But the garlic fries are yummy.

Coors Field: Very nice park, beautiful field. I've been there probably three or four times. The fans didn't seem very baseball knowledgeable or seem to be that into it, but maybe that's changed now that the Rockies are better. I went to games when they were the doormat of the NL.

Candlestick Park: Went there once. I refuse to set foot at AT&T Park (I think that's what the call it now) and only went to the Stick once because my friend dragged me there without my consent. It was really windy and cold, but we sat in the bleachers close to Deion Sanders playing CF (and according to BR, that'd make it '95 as he was only a Giant for half that season - sounds about right).

Miller Park: OK, no impressions yet as it's a future visit. But I have tickets to the May 14 game versus the Dodgers.

[MorseMoose]

Metrodome - Meh. Decent place to watch a football game. Leftfield seats are the best place, imo, to sit. Tickets are good price. But pretty junky.

Arlington Park or whatever - The best place I've seen a game, though it may have been because it was outside

Yankee Stadium - About as trashy as it can get. But good atmosphere with the Yankee fans. Very dedicated, but pretty pricky. In the end, the Metrodome has cleaner and nicer facilities than Yankee Stadium.

Shea Stadium - Very fun looking stadium. Beyond the fence is fun to look at, but the airplanes are constant and annoying.