Re: Things to do and see in Memphis?
 

"I think it's definitely a good place to see a ball-game but wouldn't rate it that spectacularly. Kind of lacking in character imo."

I guess I should have started by saying that I havn't been to a lot of pro ball parks. But I can't imagine there being a bunch of nicer AAA parks out there. But since I havn't seen them all I could be totally mistaken.

"I very much prefer the ribs at the Blues City Cafe on Beale."

That's the place! I always forget the name of it. i've also heard that place is better than the other two.

Re: Things to do and see in Memphis?
 

AutoZone Park just doesn't have that much character imo.

There are many many AAA ballparks now that are roughly as new and clean and nice as AutoZone Park. Some of them are a few years older and didn't get in there in time for the 'new-retro' type look. Buffalo, Iowa and Richomnd off the top of my head.

But the new-retro type stadiums are popping up all over the place. Round Rock, Oklahoma City, Indianapolis, Louisville, Portland I think, Sacramento and Fresno I think, Durham etc etc etc. They're all over the place.
not sure what they did to refurbish the park in Albuquerque but evidently they've made that nicer too.

There are still some clunkers out there like Las Vegas and Columbus. But overall the new-retro look and cleanish stadium is pretty common throughout most of AAA.


Another issue I have with baseball games at AutoZone Park is their reluctance to do on-field promotions.
For this reason, attending a minor-league outside of St. Louis at one fo the Frontier League teams in that region could be just as fun or more fun than a game at AutoZone imo.

Memphis does fairly lame little things on the scoreboard like the different little dots in a race or they get a wireless mic that almost always cuts out and try to ask a trivia question to some fan in the stands.

But they have no kid racing around the bases and no dizzy-bat race, etc. These types of things are staples at other great minor-league baseball venues and are sorely needed to enhance the overall experience at Autozone.

Instead, they bring out freaking CHEERLEADERS to do a song and dance routine between innings.
Arrrrgh. Please just kill me now.


It's a nice and clean and comfortable ballpark with ridiculously inflated attendance figures and is an okay place overall to go and see a ball-game.
It was set up to have a reasonably nice view of the buildings across the street and to be all picturesque seeing the Memphis skyline, etc.

But overall it is lacking in character and the crowds there are typically pretty small (which can be considered either good or bad I guess).