What Is The Best Ballpark To See A Baseball Game In?

[THUNDER HANDS]

I just went to my first Mets game in a long time a little while ago and next Friday I'm going back for another one.

I love Shea Stadium, even though I know it's not one of the best stadiums around. It's dirty, its crumbling, it's damn windy and cold in any month before July.

But, it's homely and it's got a cool apple that pops out of a top hat whenever the Mets hit a home run.

So that's my favorite ballpark. What's yours?

[WI_DEM]

1. I vote for Wrigley Field

not a bad seat in the house imo and a great old ball park--and the cubby bear across the street what more could anyone ask?

[freetobegay]

2. Other

Tiger Stadium!

[noonwitch]

12. Tiger Stadium is the best-there has to be some way to save/preserve it

I haven't been to the new park, my Tiger memories are all of Michigan and Trumbull.

[PAMod]

17. Can you still visit Tiger Stadium?

I had heard that it hasn't been razed & I'd love to see it before it is gone.

[bif]

21. Check out my Tiger Stadium website

For a virtual tour. It's still standing--I pass it every morning on my way to work. Best place to see a game, ever.

http://www.tigerstadium.org

[PAMod]

26. Great site!

I'll have to take a lunchhour tour of the site.

I regret that I never saw a game there. The farthest west I've gone in search of MLB is Cleveland - the "mistake by the lake" - in 1987. That one has been torn down I'm sure by now - it looked like it was falling down in '87.

I once talked to a guy from motor city that was at the '71 All-Star Game. Still calls it the greatest day of his life - in front of his wife even!

[bif]

28. Thanks! Here's why it was the best place to see a game...

The upper deck was directly over the lower deck, and wasn't that high up. In fact, in right field, it actually stuck out beyond the lower deck. So you could sit anywhere between first and third in the upper deck and hear the players talking. And the distance from home to the seats behind home plate was among the shortest in baseball. You really felt like you were in the game. All the new ballparks, while an improvement on the big, multi-purpose stadia of the 1970s, are still retro-cookie cutter stadia. The upper decks have been pushed back so far, that every seat is mediocre--all for the sake of removing the support poles.

[mac56]

3. Wrigley gets my vote.

Although I yearn for the old Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington (Mpls).

[Champ]

4. Take off Bank One Ballpark

and replace it with Coors Field. I've been to both and Coors if miles better the BoB.

[Beware the Beast Man]

5. PNC Park

The Pirates suck terribly, but it's a beautiful ballpark...the worst seats are only 88 feet from home plate.

[Richardo]

29. Gotta be PNC....look at that backdrop!

[livetohike]

32. Haven't been there yet

but it looks beautiful. My Dad used to take me to Forbes Field. Does PNC park have the same feel to it?

[Beware the Beast Man]

34. Well, Forbes was before my time..

but yes, it's supposed to have that intimate ballpark feel...much more intimate than Three Rivers. The fact that good seats are $27 a pop takes away some of that romantic feeling, though.

[terrya]

6. The Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field. No contest.

[Don_G]

7. Wrigley Field

Without Steve Bartman.

[Catshrink]

53. Wrigley Field is the Cathedral of Baseball

that's what Faye Vincent called it. Remember what a real commissioner was like? Bud Selig = :puke:

Here's my Wrigley:

[Webster Green]

8. Pac Bell Park.........

OK, we're supposed to call it SBC Park now. Best thing about it is........its in San Francisco!

[PDittie]

37. Yes, very nice field

smaller in person than it looks on TV

[PAMod]

9. Has to be The Stadium

That's Yankee Stadium to the uninitiated.

It is a beautiful ballpark, and the ghosts are everywhere. Going to Yankee Stadium is as big an event as the game itself.

<http://www.sportingnews.com/baseball/ballparks/yankee.html>

The sportingnews site has beautiful descriptions of all of the ballparks, past and present, from a coffee table book the put out a couple of years ago.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

14. When you say:

"That's Yankee Stadium to the uninitiated." you really mean "That's Yankee Stadium to everyone who doesn't cheer for Satan and al Qaeda", right?

[PAMod]

16. The players & management (& the ghosts, for the most part) are 'evil-free'

Satan only owns the team.

[PDittie]

10. Among your options I have only been to

the Friendly Confines.

Last Memorial Day. Josh Fogg of the Pirates shut down the Baby Bears on a beautiful afternoon.

Was in SF earlier this month and saw Barry and the Giants lose to the Brew Crew. It was the day after he hit 661 and so he did not start, but did pinch-hit (was walked) and played a couple of late innings.

Minute Maid Park, here in Deep-In-The-Hearta, is my home field. It is marvelous. They actually slide the roof open in the late innings, even on a hot summer night, to enable you to see the stars and the skyline before you go home.

[Beware the Beast Man]

11. Heh-heh...Minute Maid Park....

Don't you just love naming rights??? I liked Crooked E Field better as a ball park name.

[PDittie]

39. I still have caps and shirts that say Enron Field...

...that remains a dirty word around these here parts.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

13. Anyone answering "Fenway"

Is either under 5'5" or needs to have their fucking head examined!! As a native Bay Stater and long time Red Sox fan, I love Fenway as much as the next guy - but really, beyond its history, it's a shithole, and a tiny one at that. I need like 3 months of chiropractic help after every game!

[markses]

15. I worked in Shea when I was a teen-ager

It's a fookin' dump. :evilgrin:

[MallRat]

18. Wrigley over Fenway, by a nose.

Admittedly, I haven't been to every ball park in the country (although my wife has proposed it as a family trip when my little guy grows up... am I the luckiest man in the world, or what?).

Both are cozy, intimate ballparks where you're close to the action. They both have great character and are situated in great locations in the city- not out on some peninsula off the highway. It's as if both parks sprung up from the ground in the middle of a neighborhood, especially Wrigley.

Ultimately, Wrigley gets my vote due to creature comforts- Fenway is an uncomfortable park to watch a game in.

Based on what I've heard, I wonder if I'd change my mind if I ever visited SBC in San Fran or Camden Yards.

-MR

[Redbear]

19. Ballpark at Arlington is great.

Even if it did make Chimpy McCokespoon a millionaire for doing aboslutely nothing.

[XNASA]

20. If you didn't vote "Wrigley", then I'm guessing you've never been.

The ivy. The intimacy. The people on the rooftops on the other side of Waveland. The L passing in back of the folks on the rooftops on Sheffield. The great neighborhood atmosphere outside the ballpark. The Bleacher Bums.

The Cubs!

It's the best place to spend a summer afternoon, in the whole world.

Now if I could only afford to see a game there.

[Whitacre D_WI]

22. Voted for Busch.

Because (although my Reds-loving ass HATES to admit it) Cards fans are the BEST fans in professional sports.

I've been to several of the others, and must comment on two venerable old stadia:

Wrigley Field is a TERRIBLE place to watch a game. Half the people there are treating it like the world's largest outdoor bar, anf many of them are loud, obnoxious drunks, to boot. Another quarter is made up of out-of-towners on vacation. Only a quarter of the attendees at a typical game are actually Cubs fans. And to whomever stated above that there's no bad seat in the house -- you obviously didn't sit where I did my first trip to Wrigley: a big-ass pole that admittedly didn't block much, except for home plate and the left side of the infield.

I have conflicted feelings toward Fenway. It is my favorite ballpark, as far as the field of play is concerned. The Green Monster, the short RF foul pole, the super-deep center field. And, of course, I love Boston. That said, the seats are too small, the facilities are woeful, and the Fenway Frank is highly overrated.

I hope they don't tear down either one, but there are many parks in which I'd rather see a game.

[XNASA]

23. Why should we listen to someone who votes for Bush?

Hmmmmm......?

[Whitacre D_WI]

27. Pick on my unintentional double-entendre, will you!

There's another problem with Wrigley: CHICAGOANS ARE MEAN! :P

[XNASA]

30. Mean, huh? I mean to show you the meaning of mean...

Damn Sox fans.......:evilgrin:

[Whitacre D_WI]

31. That's just 'cause Cubs fans...

...are too drunk to get out of their seats and storm the field. ;)

[Rich Hunt]

43. untrue

That guy Dybas was a CUB fan.

It was in ALL of the newspapers.

He started out at a Cub fan, then went to the bars, and then the cell.

Look it up in google.

[Teddy_Salad]

24. I can't believe I'm saying this...

I have only ever been to one ball park, Yankee Stadium, and loved it.

But I've always wanted to go to Fenway Park.
I love that ball park, from what I've seen on t.v.

From the Green Monster to the Peskey Pole to those little "niches" out in right center field.....yeah, I gotta go to Fenway one day.

Just hope I don't get beat up while I'm there!

[MaineDem]

25. I love Fenway but Coors Field was so neat!

There's something about walking through the dark recesses of Fenway and walking out to see the brilliant green grass and the left field wall! It gives me gooosebumps each time.

Now, on the other hand, sitting at Coors Field - it was cool to see pitchers at bat - in the Club Section with at-your-seat service was really nice.

But, being up-close at Fenway is the ultimate for me. :)

[NewHampshireDem]

38. Ditto ...

I was thinking Coors, too, because it is so damn convenient all around. The whole time I was there I was thinking what a pit Fenway really is ... but, of course, it's our pit, so I love it anyway. :)

Oh, the Jake is pretty nice too.

I'm hoping to get to Camden Yards and the Skydome this summer.

[BringEmOn]

33. Safeco Field in Seattle

[eridani]

48. Old picture

Still has the Kingdome in it, now replaced by a football stadium without a roof. Go figure.

[Arbustosux]

35. You forgot any in which the Yankees lose :)

.

[Commendatori]

36. Whatever Royals stadium is called now

That park is gorgeous.

[camero]

41. Kauffman I think

It is a great place to see a game. I like the fountains behind the center field fence.

[Commendatori]

44. I think you're right.

I've been to most of the current stadiums and plenty of former ones, and Royals stadium was always my favorite.

[SideshowScott]

40. The Jake in Cleveland is a great place to catch a game

Great place to enjoy a game..Even though the Tribe suck this year. But still give me the nice confines of the Jake over Yankee stadium anyday!
Hopeing the Tribe can pull out a summer stunner!

[Donkeyboy75]

42. Wrigley. Hands down.

I'm biased, though. A Cubs fan, and I've only been to 8 or 9 ballparks across the country.

[LTR]

45. HHH Metrodome, Minneapolis

Just kidding.

What a horrible place to watch baseball.

[SaveElmer]

46. It's not that bad

If you are fundamentally opposed to indoor stadiums there is no convincing you...but having been there many times it really is not a bad place to watch a game...good sightlines..lotsa noise...excellent brats.

Outdoor is better...but it dome isn't the "pit of despair" everyone makes it out to be

[LTR]

49. Been there myself quite a few times

Good football stadium, lousy for baseball.

Not only due to the indoors factor, but on a typical game night (not playoffs), it is stale and antiseptic. No real atmosphere.

It improves greatly during the playoffs.

[El Supremo]

47. Coors!

Field that is - not the filthy rich Nazi idiot running for the Senate.

[Zech Marquis]

50. I voted for Fenway

I really like ho they added the new seats on the top of the Green Monster--very nice. And I understand they have some really good food there too :toast:

[GOPisEvil]

51. Actually, even though Bush* screwed the people of Arlington,

The Ballpark in Arlington is a gorgeous facility, and a pretty darned good place to watch a ballgame. Better than Enron, er, Minute Maid anyway.

But, as a Cardinals fan, I'm voting for the new stadium (the one replacing Busch). Although, since Busch was made into baseball-only with grass, I have to say it's a better place to watch a game.

[Blue_Tires]

52. Kauffman

but then I'm biased

[Braden]

54. camden yards no doubt

Fenway, Yankee, Wrigley have all of thier respective history but they are also loaded with mediocre seats. Best place to watch a baseball game is Baltimore without equal.