I'm going to be at the Jersey Shore this coming weekend to visit a buddy & he got tixs to Yanks Jays Friday night. I went to a Yankees home game a couple of years back & , I don't mean to offend you Yankee fans, but I wasn't in love with the place. I find Citi to be much more fan friendly if you will. But it got me thinking about my favorite MLB stadiums...
Top 5, off the top of my head.
1) PNC in Pittsburgh. Walking across the Roberto Clemente bridge. The city as a backdrop. My favorite by far.
2) Petco. Awesome place.
3) Wrigley. The ivy, the fans, Murphy's. So much fun.
4) Dodger Stadium. A great place to watch a game.
5) Fenway. The history. It's cramped as hell, but it's special.
Yours?
I actually really like Minute Maid park. Thought it was an indoor park done right.
I love Fenway even though I’m a Yankees fan, although I love Boston.
Agree with you on Citi over Yankee Stadium. There’s something about Yankee Stadium that doesn’t feel inviting. Maybe it’s the size.
1. Safeco (now T-Mobile)
2. Camden Yards
3. Petco
for atmosphere and making a day of it:
1. Fenway
2. Wrigley
Yankee stadium and Oakland were terrible.
The best ball park for atmosphere was the McCoy Stadium where the Pawtucket Red Sox are playing through 2020. It was built in 1942 and has all of the Fenway/Wrigley charm and the old time baseball feel. The park is surrounded by an old neighborhood. Not sure what happens after the 2020 season, because the PawSox are moving to Worcester, Mass.
The best ball park for atmosphere was the McCoy Stadium where the Pawtucket Red Sox are playing through 2020. It was built in 1942 and has all of the Fenway/Wrigley charm and the old time baseball feel. The park is surrounded by an old neighborhood. Not sure what happens after the 2020 season, because the PawSox are moving to Worcester, Mass.
I used to take the kids to McCoy when they were little knowing they wouldn't make it past the 6th/7th inning. Agree, great atmosphere, like most minor league parks.
Great place for families. I am however looking forward to Polar Park in Worcester. I think they just broke ground recently. However, if the name Woo-Sox sticks I will hate the Red Sox even more than I do now if that's possible. It's such a stupid name.
Im a Yankee season ticket holder. The stadium is a gigantic POS
Im a Yankee season ticket holder. The stadium is a gigantic POS
Wrigley is great as a museum piece, a must-see, but it isn't a great viewing experience. Unless you are sitting up front, some of your view will be obstructed by beams.
Good call on Coors, beautiful park, and not a bad seat in the place.
I’ll add Progressive Field in Cleveland to the mix, hit a game there last summer, was pleasantly surprised by the ballpark and Cleveland in general, sneaky nice town and place to see a game
I like Camden Yards as well, but the surrounding area is a lot less inviting.
Honorable Mention to Pittsburgh. It used to be a shithole when it was Three Rivers, but the new park and the surrounding area have been vastly improved
Dying to see both PNC and AT&T.
Old Yankee Stadium was a great, new Yankee Stadium is horrible.
I'm a Mets fan so I loved Shea (knowing full well it was a dump) and Citifield is also very nice but not on Camden Yards level.
Did not like when I went to Skydome (Now Rogers Center, is it?)
The Vet is easily the worst place I ever saw a baseball game.
anyway, it was a young crowd, place was banged out, and I had a lot of fun.
Not a beautiful park like Safeco (I was there for one of juniors last games and the roof was open) such a great scene, but Toronto was a lot of fun.
Fenway is a dump yes, concourse still floods too in heavy rains, but it's more fun to be around than any other ballpark.
Camden Yards park is great and it used to be fun - sliders, pickles pub, etc.. 3 or 4 years ago I forgot where i parked my car and walked 4 blocks from the the park and felt like I walked into a scene from the Wire. I hear it's gotten worse. Just not a safe area anymore.
If you want a park with tradition, then take in Wrigley.
I've only been once, but IMO it's fine, and a million times better than the Vet.
If you want a park with tradition, then take in Wrigley.
Everyone has their own opinion on this and certainly mine is not better than anyone else's, but I love Fenway and I say that as a die-hard Yankees fan. True, Fenway has some extremely poor seat locations; for instance, if you are sitting at Pesky's pole your seat faces the green monster instead of homeplate. But, you can plan around that now with the web, as many websites have seat locations where you can check before buying to see your seat angle to stay away from poles etc. The Grandstand at fenway if you plan it right can be an excellent seat and very affordable. More importantly, though, from my perspective, the beauty of Fenway is in the sheer size of the actual playing field. If you sit behind home plate you cannot even capture the entire stadium in your field of view, which is insane now. Second, and maybe this is just the history of it, but I am giving it much more of a factor in my score, the hidden stairway, the climbing up on the wall of the monster, etc etc is just so much fun to see. I get the new parks are spacious and luxurious, but I kinda feel all the retro parks are the same. Are their differences between Oracle and CitiField or Camden Yards? Yes, of course, do they really make that much of a difference? I am not so sure. Finally, while Wrigley is undoubtedly a better place to watch the game as a spectator, I think Boston is a much more impressive stadium structurally, aestically, etc.
All of those dual purpose stadiums, Three Rivers, the Vet, I forget the name of the one in Cincy, and the Kingdome were just awful for every sport.
Still need to visit: Citi, PNC, T-Mobile, Dodger, Wrigley, Chase, Miller, Target, and others
Unimpressed: Citizens Bank (whole place feels like a Camden Yards rip-off), Nationals, Busch, Fenway (yup, it's old, cramped, and lots of less than friendly fans and stadium staff.)
Compared with citi which takes forever to get in (seriously, have never been to a stadium worse at getting people through security), has huge lines at the good food options, zero surrounding area and pays more homage to the dodgers than the mets, and if there are actually people at Citi the traffic backup on shea bridge is always brutal. Add in the owners OBNOXIOUS suites right behind home plate (and the 3rd suite for Bernie Madoff) and im just always confused by the love of citi and hate on Yankee. Seems like it is just something that people repeat and then it becomes "fact."
I have been to both this year and nothing anyone will say will sway me on this.
AT&T is great, Coors is a super sleeper and may be top 5, Wrigley is a ton of fun as an experience, stadium is ok - its nostalgic but lacks basic amenities like urinals. Fuck troughs. Will be hitting petco in august and am excited.
I was at Yankee Stadium for Pedro vs Clemens (4th of July?) game and my seats were literally higher than the foul pole.
I saw birds flying below me like they were scared to go higher.
but it still felt like I was close to to field.
I don't get that same feel at new Yankee stadium.
I do get that same kind of feel at Citi. You just seem closer to the game.
One thing I loved about it at the time was they still played the organ the entire game there rather than playing music clips. I think it was the last park that did that.
I was at Yankee Stadium for Pedro vs Clemens (4th of July?) game and my seats were literally higher than the foul pole.
I saw birds flying below me like they were scared to go higher.
but it still felt like I was close to to field.
I don't get that same feel at new Yankee stadium.
I do get that same kind of feel at Citi. You just seem closer to the game.
This makes no sense to me. In the old place you had 30,000 seats upstairs, new place has 30,000 downstairs. So not sure where you've been sitting but my experience is completely different. I loved the old building but it was a piece of shit and it was literally falling apart. The new place isnt perfect but the romanticism of the old place is way overblown for me. Had tons of special memories there but it was time for a new building.
not going to argue it, just how I felt from being in both.
I think the old stadium was more vertical allowing people in higher seats to still remain closer to the field - at least that's how it felt.
Stade Olympique in Montreal. I've never been to the Trop in Tampa, but Olympic was what I've read the Trop is. Terrible lighting, ugly, no character. The worst major league park I've been to (the Vet was way up there, though).
If you want a park with tradition, then take in Wrigley.
This. The seats in the bleachers don't even face home plate. You have to sit with your body facing third plate and head turned towards home.
Tons of obstructed view seats as well with all the support columns.
I was at Fenway for the Zimmer Pedro fight and I've never felt such an atmosphere like that at a baseball game. I thought the crowd was going to spill onto the field and riot. They stopped beer sales in the fourth inning.
I really wanted to like Oracle Park in SF, but garbage site lines for a new park. I was sitting in left field club level and couldn't see half of left field.
Quote:
site of my first ever major league game (Yankees Angels late 70's weeknight, Reggie hit a triple) and many Yankees Red Sox battles. I am the only Mets fan in a massive extended family of diehard Yankees and Red Sox fans.
I was at Yankee Stadium for Pedro vs Clemens (4th of July?) game and my seats were literally higher than the foul pole.
I saw birds flying below me like they were scared to go higher.
but it still felt like I was close to to field.
I don't get that same feel at new Yankee stadium.
I do get that same kind of feel at Citi. You just seem closer to the game.
This makes no sense to me. In the old place you had 30,000 seats upstairs, new place has 30,000 downstairs. So not sure where you've been sitting but my experience is completely different. I loved the old building but it was a piece of shit and it was literally falling apart. The new place isnt perfect but the romanticism of the old place is way overblown for me. Had tons of special memories there but it was time for a new building.
PJ is 100% correct in my opinion (again this all subjective). I sat in the third to last row for the game six disaster in 2004 and I felt like we were all right next to Shilling cursing and screaming at him. The old stadium was uncomfortable in terms of leg room, the corridors were trash, but there was literally not a bad seat in the house. The new stadium is nice, it is big, it is spacious, the corridors are all huge, going to the bathroom is generally a breeze (although the lines at the concessions are still ridiculously long), but the stadium is so much bigger. A set in the Terrace or Grandstand is much higher than a seat in the in the old Upper Reserved or Upper Box at Yankees stadium. Also the old Yankee Stadium kind of went directly up, so you were not far back from the field, the new stadium is designed more on a slant to be as spacious as it is, so even a seat in the Infield 100s (not Legends Suites) is much further back than the Main Reserveds of the old stadium. I don't mind the new Yankee stadium, its ok, but it is far from great and not a particularly great place to watch a game because of how it is constructed.
You are correct that Citi has its issues and you correctly identified getting into the stadium as a nightmare. The sightlines and proximity from the field make Citi a better ballpark imo. I usually go when the Yankees play there so the games are crowded so that probably affects my review, but you are right that that stadium is not built for crowds.
not going to argue it, just how I felt from being in both.
I think the old stadium was more vertical allowing people in higher seats to still remain closer to the field - at least that's how it felt.
I agree. I loved the old stadium, even as a Mets fan. Went to college in the Bronx, so I spent a fair amount of time in the $1.25 bleacher seats. The new joint just doesn't have the same character. The amenities are fine, and I do like the bars on the outer rim of the stadium, but I don't think they have the variety of food and beverage options that Citi has, and the seats upstairs do seem further from the field.
Old YS:
New YS
Look at the way the third deck in the old place hung over the second deck, completely covering it up. Now, the second deck is wide open and the third deck begins at the back of the second deck. Also, look at how much more open space there is in the seats protected by the infamous "moat" compared to the field-level box seats of the old stadium.
Fenway is so unique...but a terrible place to watch a game.
The new Yankee stadium is just so blah.
I agree that The new Yankee stadium has improved in recent years. Yes the upper deck is steeper, and listen I have a tone of great memories from the old stadium, but anyone saying convenience wise its on the same planet as the new one is speaking more from nostalgia than reality. The old stadium if you were anywhere near 6 feet your knees where in your chin when you sat in the upper deck. also the concourses at the new stadium are 1000 times better. So much wider and open and you can see the game from them. I'm not real caught up in food options, but The new stadium definitely has better ones.
As for not getting loud, i assume none of you went the past 2 octobers? The Houston series was crazier than almost any crowd i ever saw in the old place and only time i ever heard the old place louder was the Aaron Boone game.
Im not trying to get into yankees vs yankees stadium. I get the love for the old building. just saying the new place takes a lot of heat and it has really grown on me and developed its own personality. I think lots of the critiques are from ten years ago not present.
Good point! I indeed meant the renovated stadium but I was fortunate to have gone to the original as well.
Old YS:
New YS
Look at the way the third deck in the old place hung over the second deck, completely covering it up. Now, the second deck is wide open and the third deck begins at the back of the second deck. Also, look at how much more open space there is in the seats protected by the infamous "moat" compared to the field-level box seats of the old stadium.
>:(
>:(
>:(
Also, LOVED the super steep upper deck that had fantastic sightlines and made the place absolutely BOOM when we were rockin'!
Camden Yards is still a great place.
I mean, Fenway and Wrigley have the history and the personality but they’re not really great places to see a game if you ask me. Still, either of those places are better than the sterile and bloodless corporate cash register where the Yankees play. I still cringe at the thought of tearing down the greatest baseball cathedral in the history of the game.
Really want to go to Petco, hoping my company opens up an HQ there.