Favorite Stadium

[Captain Hook]

Appreciate all the responses and personal views in the thread so props to OP and to Moron's review.

If any of you ever want to get a start on seeing ML stadiums and don't have the time/interest in arranging your own trip I highly recommend Jay Buckley's Baseball Tours (www.jaybuckley.com) They start the year with spring training trips to AZ and FLA and have trips from May through September to various groups of ballparks. They also have one of the NY trips that takes in a play and tour if you or SO are interested in that. In addition if you are a big NFL fan they have some Ultimate Game Day Weekends in September that feature a MLB game and an NFL game in the same or adjacent city. They end the year with a trip to the Arizona Fall League in late October.

I have seen most parks and of course several that no longer exist - only a money grab could have shelved Yankee Stadium for the new version.

I agree with many that PNC Park is great - the views and accesibility are great and now the team is getting good.

I think there is a big difference between iconic or historic parks and best stadiums - both Wrigley and Fenway are in the first group but don't stack up in the second.

Asdie from the traffic (which is really only on departure unless you try and get in late) problems at Dodger Stadium, it is really a very nice park - and they made great improvements a few years ago. Great views in the park and of Downtown LA from the parking lots - and of course you can see for miles in other directions but since it's further away, tough to really see. Some amazing sunsets IF the smog lets you see them. Los Angeles also had two terrific minor league ballparks before the Dodgers moved west - Wrigley Field and Gilmore Field were the places I saw my first live professional baseball games - and at Gilmore (which is now a CBS facility) you could rent field boxes for birthday parties.

Petco is a very underrated park but since AJ Preller has made the Padres relevant again you will get to see a lot more of it. Located downtown San Diego so surrounded by hotel and restaurant options.

[ToddZ]

Sweet, next time someone finds out I'm from Boston and asks me how many games I go to a year and I tell them none unless a friend is in from out-of-town and they give me

I can refer them to this thread.

Still, having lived here for 50+ years, I wouldn't trade it for any of the other 29 stadiums.

[BEF]

I have been to all 30 current ballparks, plus 14 more that have been torn down. It took me almost 50 years, but I finished the journey last August with a game in Arlington.

I'm not into rankings all that much, because each stadium has something to offer. And let's face it, if you're a 10 year old kid sitting with your grandfather 75 feet away from Brooks Robinson and look across and see Boog, Davey, Belanger, Blair, F.Robby and Palmer, who cares that you're sitting in a piece-of-crap venue like Memorial Stadium?

That said, I will say that I love PNC, AT&T and Camden, but also one that doesn't get a lot of mention and that's Arizona. Comfortable, high-tech, lots of baseball artifacts everywhere you look and of course the swimming pool. I also love ballparks that can be arrived at by public transportation, so kudos to Target, Busch, Citi, Fenway, Yankee Stadium and others who make it easier for people to attend without shelling out another $25+ to park. Of the old parks, I absolutely loved Tiger Stadium and the overhang over home plate; best upper deck seat in all of baseball.

The worst, by far, was the Metrodome. Dark, dank, artificial, awful food. Oakland was dreadful, and so was Joe Robbie. Tampa wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be, but I thought Dodger Stadium was overrated, and so was Miller.

Great thread, guys! Keep them coming!

[Wolfpac]

My friends from high school and I started a Keeper fantasy football league in 2007, about 10 years after we all graduated highschool as a way to keep in touch as most of us moved away from NY. On a side note I have done fantasy football since my sophomore year (1994) and even played the sport senior year in high school. I loved fantasy football and would love to compete in leagues, but now since our Buknasty Football League enters its 9th season I have not double dipped in another league in 7 years....to me all that matters is my home league. Now to the point of the post. After our first two drafts (first at a friends house in NY, 2nd while I was on leave from Iraq we went to A.C.) we decided lets travel to a different city each year. So in 2009 we went to Chicago and watched a game at Wrigley. 2010 Milwaukee and Miller Park, after the Milwaukee draft we pretty much decided it was a baseball city every year. We even do our draft always the weekend BEFORE labor day since we were all single when the league started but now 8/12 are married and we knew that would happen, so it's important to keep labor day for the family and the weekend before for us. 2011 we traveled to Camden Yards. 2012 I was in Afghanistan but the draft was held back in New York since it fell on the same weekend of our friends wedding(female not in league, no one in our league would schedule a wedding on our draft weekend) Then 2013 we went to San Diego, last year the boys without me were in our nations capital (I'm in Kuwait) and I will be back this summer and we have decided to go to Pittsburgh, I can't wait. I hear great things about PNC Park.

[JohnP]

My friends from high school and I started a Keeper fantasy football league in 2007, about 10 years after we all graduated highschool as a way to keep in touch as most of us moved away from NY. On a side note I have done fantasy football since my sophomore year (1994) and even played the sport senior year in high school. I loved fantasy football and would love to compete in leagues, but now since our Buknasty Football League enters its 9th season I have not double dipped in another league in 7 years....to me all that matters is my home league. Now to the point of the post. After our first two drafts (first at a friends house in NY, 2nd while I was on leave from Iraq we went to A.C.) we decided lets travel to a different city each year. So in 2009 we went to Chicago and watched a game at Wrigley. 2010 Milwaukee and Miller Park, after the Milwaukee draft we pretty much decided it was a baseball city every year. We even do our draft always the weekend BEFORE labor day since we were all single when the league started but now 8/12 are married and we knew that would happen, so it's important to keep labor day for the family and the weekend before for us. 2011 we traveled to Camden Yards. 2012 I was in Afghanistan but the draft was held back in New York since it fell on the same weekend of our friends wedding(female not in league, no one in our league would schedule a wedding on our draft weekend) Then 2013 we went to San Diego, last year the boys without me were in our nations capital (I'm in Kuwait) and I will be back this summer and we have decided to go to Pittsburgh, I can't wait. I hear great things about PNC Park.

Great stuff and Thank You for your service!! I would love to see PNC park as well.

[uky]

My friends from high school and I started a Keeper fantasy football league in 2007, about 10 years after we all graduated highschool as a way to keep in touch as most of us moved away from NY. On a side note I have done fantasy football since my sophomore year (1994) and even played the sport senior year in high school. I loved fantasy football and would love to compete in leagues, but now since our Buknasty Football League enters its 9th season I have not double dipped in another league in 7 years....to me all that matters is my home league. Now to the point of the post. After our first two drafts (first at a friends house in NY, 2nd while I was on leave from Iraq we went to A.C.) we decided lets travel to a different city each year. So in 2009 we went to Chicago and watched a game at Wrigley. 2010 Milwaukee and Miller Park, after the Milwaukee draft we pretty much decided it was a baseball city every year. We even do our draft always the weekend BEFORE labor day since we were all single when the league started but now 8/12 are married and we knew that would happen, so it's important to keep labor day for the family and the weekend before for us. 2011 we traveled to Camden Yards. 2012 I was in Afghanistan but the draft was held back in New York since it fell on the same weekend of our friends wedding(female not in league, no one in our league would schedule a wedding on our draft weekend) Then 2013 we went to San Diego, last year the boys without me were in our nations capital (I'm in Kuwait) and I will be back this summer and we have decided to go to Pittsburgh, I can't wait. I hear great things about PNC Park.

Great stuff and Thank You for your service!! I would love to see PNC park as well.

+2 I hope you and your buds can keep it up.