What MLB parks have the best atmosphere?

[pokah5]

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I'm a bit partial (having grown up in NYC) but IMO, Yankee Stadium is a MUST SEE and remains the cathedral of baseball.

Others I liked:
Jacobs Field (CLeveland)
??Edison??? LA Angels Stadium
Fenway is ok but it's NOT NYC
DC is getting a new stadium for The Nationals which according to plans should be pretty goot.

Ones I abhored:
Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs)
Safeco Park (Seattle)
Camden Yards (Baltimore)
U.S. Cellular Field (Chicago White sox)

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[pokah5]

Wrigley = Perfection

[NewTeaBag]

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I'm a bit partial (having grown up in NYC) but IMO, Yankee Stadium is a MUST SEE and remains the cathedral of baseball.

Others I liked:
Jacobs Field (CLeveland)
??Edison??? LA Angels Stadium
Fenway is ok but it's NOT NYC
DC is getting a new stadium for The Nationals which according to plans should be pretty goot.

Ones I abhored:
Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs)
Safeco Park (Seattle)
Camden Yards (Baltimore)
U.S. Cellular Field (Chicago White sox)

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HAHA! When did ChiSox sell out the name for sponsorship?

[mattsey9]

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I like to travel and also love baseball. What would be the best MLB parks to visit? Thank you for any information you can provide.

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My list that I submitted in another thread of parks I've been to.

My MLB parks include:

Wrigley Field - The Holy Land. To quote Steve Goodman, "Give me a bag of peanuts and a Frosty Malt, and I'll be ready to die."

New Comiskey - Sherpas & mountain goats are required to access the upper deck.

Old Comiskey - A cesspool, but superior than New Comiskey because it was old school.

County Stadium - You could actually smell the brats cooking from the highway. Site of the only bench clearing brawl I've ever seen live.

Riverfront Stadium - Cookie cutter, but I got to see Pete Rose play live there.

Busch Stadium - Didn't go to the new one last season. The old one was quite nice after the renovations. Good fans, hate the team. Only place I've ever got a foul ball & still have it. (Jose Oquendo - left field line) EDIT: Since changed courtesy of Rich Hill's BP blast to the left center field bleachers at Wrigley this May.

Fenway Park - Great park. Surprised by the fact that there aren't any beer vendors patrolling the stands.

PNC Park - Incredibly beautiful stadium. Was sitting directly behind the visitors dugout for a Cubs-Pirates game and heard Billy Williams say, "There's no [censored] way that it's 320 feet to the right field pole."

Royals Stadium - Still have the giveaway half-yard glass they gave away for the Cubs-Royals game I attended. Waterfall is cool. It's a shame what has happened to this franchise.

Oakland Coliseum - Was cool because the football lines were painted on to the field. I always like this for some reason. Sat in the RF bleachers in "Max From Right Field"'s section. Great fans who love their A's with a passion.

Anaheim Stadium - I can't believe it took 3 hours to ride from Beverly Hills to Anaheim to get to the game on time. How do you people live there?

Pac Bell Stadium - The garlic fries are overrated. However, it was my wife's primary reason for attending. Saw Bonds hit #715 in my only game attended.

Bank One Ballpark - Got to take BP and infield there as part of a charity event. Short hopped the wall in center field.

Comerica Park - Great stadium. Love the concrete tigers serving as gargoyles around the exterior. There weren't 5,000 people on a Saturday afternoon vs. the Devil Rays when I attended, obviously not last season.

Memorial Stadium - Had a great time in late 1991 seeing the O's vs. Tigers. The stadium was falling apart, half the lights on the scoreboard were burned out and nobody cared. I thoroughly loved it. Cecil Fielder crushed one of the longest homers I've witnessed during the game.

Olympic Stadium - Went to a series so I could say I've been there shortly before it closed. I loved it, and wish modern baseball was viable there. The fans in attendance were loud and passionate. Sadly, there weren't many people there. Youppi sucks. Also went to the former site of Parc Jarry while in the city.

Jacobs Field - Great stadium, but not as great as most people rate it. Good fan support when they are winning, not so much when they aren't.

Coors Field - Sat in the Rock Pile for $1.00. Got completely hammered, and went to the bar next door to take BP in their batting cage. Convinced some ditch pig to get in the 90 MPH cage with me for batting lessons. Surprised we both survived.

[minnesotasam]

NTB I've been to the South Bend one too, very good call.

As for the comment deriding Cardinals fans as uninterested and not knowledgeable about the game, I have to just laugh. Every analyst of any game in St. Louis always says literally the exact opposite, that they're the most passionate and the most knowledgeable around. Joe Morgan (lifetime Red mind you) and Jon Miller are two good examples of this.

Oh and I've been to PNC in Pittsburgh, and even though I prefer older stadiums to newer ones PNC is pretty damn good. I also think Citizen's in Philly is nice, because there is very little advertisement and good sight lines throughout. Plus it has that old brick feel in places. Now if we could just do something about the fans..

[mattsey9]

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Joe Morgan (lifetime Red mind you)

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Joe Morgan is many things, not all of them good, but a lifetime Cincinnati Red he is not.

[NewTeaBag]

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Wrigley = Perfection

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On a counternote.
The Cathedral of baseball.


What little boy, regardless of team supported, hasn't dreamed about getting an at bat in that famous Batters Box?

Monument Park. Hail the Titans of the game!


You can just feel the history every time you enter the stadium.

[MicroBob]

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As for the comment deriding Cardinals fans as uninterested and not knowledgeable about the game, I have to just laugh. Every analyst of any game in St. Louis always says literally the exact opposite

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Yes, I'm aware of that.
That's why I was so surprised at the general lack of enthusiasm.

Also, please note that I didn't say anything about lack of knowledge.
I was just critical of the fan-atmosphere which was not nearly as lively as I expected it to be.

Also seemed a higher percentage of senior-citizen fans at that game than most MLB games I've been to which is also a contributing factor for the crowd-noise and enthusiasm.

[minnesotasam]

MicroBob, my post was made in response to this one, not yours:

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The old Busch Stadium was a piece of [censored].
The new Busch Stadium is a nice park, but it still has a terrible atmosphere because Cardinals fans have to be some of the worst in the entire league. They generally don't know anything about baseball, and their particiapation in the game is mostly limited to the wave and clapping in unison when the scoreboard/music indicates that they should.

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[citanul]

1) If you can't read the scoreboard at wrigley you're a [censored] moron. i'm sorry that it doesn't tell you who is on base in every out of town game, or whatever, but it's fully functional to anyone who isn't just clinically braindead.

2) Amongst the things I like the most about wrigley is that there's no jumbotron.

3) While I personally really like wrigley and yankee stadium, I am looking forward to getting to a game at the new stadium in pittsburgh, as it's supposed to be amazing.

overall, however, I think that wrigley wins my vote for best atmosphere. no jumbotron, no intro music for every player in the game, if you're horribly bothered by "obstructed view" you can pay like $10 more and get no obstructed view seats (and usually obstructed view means some part of the outfield is blocked), more day games than anywhere else, small park, neighborhood integration, etc. somehow the fact that every fly ball makes the whole park jump to their feet is kind of charming, even though most of them are popups caught by the 2B.