2013: Los Angeles (Part 1 and Part 2) and Milwaukee
2014: Los Angeles and San Francisco
2015: Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, and Dallas
2016: New Orleans and Biloxi
2017: Trenton
This year I had a few things in mind. I wanted to get to Atlanta because Suntrust Park opened last year and I hadn’t been there yet. And I wanted to end in San Francisco because the Dodgers were going to be there and Tom is only living in San Francisco for a few more months. So I started in Atlanta and ended in San Francisco and I wanted to figure out a stop or two in between (I’ll get to that in other posts).
So Atlanta was first. I had been to Atlanta twice before. I was there in 2006 when Notre Dame opened the season with a win against Georgia Tech. And I was there in 2013 to see Turner Field when Dennis was living there. Dennis has moved to Minnesota so I was there on my own this time. I started by getting lunch at a barbecue place by my hotel. I had a brisket sandwich with baked beans. It was good, but I’ve had better. I tried the barbecue sauces they had and I liked the spicy one better than the sweet one, but I didn’t love either. Dennis took me to a place that was better back in 2013. And my former coworker Owen makes some pulled pork with his own barbecue sauce that was better than what I had this time.
After that, I headed to Suntrust Park to take the stadium tour. It was a pretty good tour. You go up to the top and then work your way down to the field. It’s a nice looking ballpark, but I had some issues with it. It just seemed like there’s way too much other stuff to do other than watch baseball. You have all these bars and clubs or whatever. I know all the new stadiums do that, but it seemed like Suntrust Park had more of that than other places. There was also a rock climbing wall and a zip line in the outfield. You know where you’re not going to find stuff like that? Fenway Park, Dodger Stadium, Wrigley Field, Kaufmann Stadium. You go to those stadiums to watch baseball. And they’re awesome. You can have great stadiums without all that stuff. The other issue I had was Monument Garden. It’s a garden, it’s out in the open, right? Nope, it’s hidden down by the home plate area on the lower level. That’s where the Hank Aaron statue is. Outside the stadium they have statues of Bobby Cox, Warren Spahn, and Phil Neikro. Hank Aaron should either be outside the stadium or out in the open in the outfield. And the other problem I had was something that reminded me of Citi Field that I don’t like. On every level of the stadium, you walk around the concourse and you can see the field, except from behind home plate. Hank Aaron’s statue has a closed off bar/club area between it and home plate. If you didn’t have all those bars and clubs and stuff (or just put them somewhere else), you could get some good looks at the field from right behind home plate. On the upper level, it’s the press box that’s in the way. That’s understandable, but they still could have used the space better. As you walk around on the concourse behind the press box, there’s not much there. They definitely could have used that space for concessions (I’ll give credit to Citi Field for how they use the top of the rotunda). Anyway, the tour ended up going down to the field. It was around 3:00 and some of the players had started working out on the field. Daniel Murphy (he's on the DL, but he's one of my least favorite players) was down there running around. Our tour guide said at first that we wouldn’t be able to go on the field because players were there, but then he asked somebody and they said it was cool. So we got into the Braves’ dugout and on the warning track by the dugout.
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| Let us never forget that Hank Aaron is the true home run king. |
The game was at night. It was Nationals-Braves. There was a 12-minute delay. I noticed that the game wasn't starting on time, but there was no announcement about it. They didn't say anything over the PA and there was nothing on the Braves' Twitter account about it. According to the MLB At Bat app, there was a power issue, but I don't know what the problem was because it seemed like all the lights were on and nothing changed by the time they started the game. Anyway, I was rooting against the Nationals, but they got off to a good start with a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. But the Braves answered with four in the bottom of the first. And the Braves kept scoring. They were up 10-5 after four. They ended up winning 13-6. The starters combined for a total of six innings and there were five home runs. I was going to talk about how this game was illustrative of some troublesome trends in baseball and how I would fix them, but I'll save that for my post about the game I went to in San Francisco.
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| My view for most of the game |
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| I moved down for the end of the game. |
The next morning, I went to Waffle House. I think the only other time I’ve been to Waffle House was on the trip to the Georgia Tech game in 2006. I remember being underwhelmed. The tour guide on the stadium tour pointed out the Waffle House in the stadium and said, “You don’t have to like it, but you have to have it.” That brings me to my last note about the stadium. It seemed like there were some good food and beer options (I just had some chips and queso after waiting on a line that didn’t move fast enough), but Waffle House seems weird for a baseball game. There was Chick-Fil-A, but the one on my level wasn’t open. It wasn’t a huge crowd, but it was big enough that the Chick-Fil-A should have been open (26,782). Anyway, when I went to Waffle House the next morning I got a waffle and hash browns with tomatoes and onions. It was fine, but I don’t feel like I’m missing out on it by living in the North. Bill Simmons and House went to Waffle House the night before on their trip to Augusta. I saw some video of it. House had a lot more to eat than I did.
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| Waffle House |
I went to a game in San Francisco, I'm getting to a game in Los Angeles this June. I'll get to at least one game at Citi Field. I might get to Yankee Stadium. I won't rule out another game in a stadium not too far away, but I don't think any stadiums I get to are going to move in my rankings, so let's rank them now that I've added my 31st stadium. Some of this is copied and pasted from the last time I ranked the stadiums, some has been updated:
So bad that I don't really care if I get there or not
33. Tropicana Field- It's one of two stadiums with artificial turf and it's the only one with a roof that doesn't open.
32- O.co Coliseum- From what I hear, it was nice before the Raiders moved back. They really need to move to San Jose, but the Giants won't let them. If Tom was staying out in San Francisco, I might get there on a trip to visit him, but he's moving back across the country.
Pretty Bad
31. SkyDome- It will always be the SkyDome to me. I think they want to renovate it. If they did a good job, I could easily see this one moving up the rankings.
30. US Cellular Field- I remembered it as a boring stadium. I went back two years ago and it was still a boring stadium.
29. Marlins Park- It's better than playing in a football stadium like they used to, but it's too weird.
28. Minute Maid Park- They should have kept the hill in center field. That was an interesting oddity. Now it's more boring.
27. Turner Field- I don't miss this one. I didn't love SunTrust Park, but it's clearly an upgrade.
Decent
26. Progressive Field- It's very similar to Oriole Park and Globe Life Park since all three of those were built around the same time. This is the worst of the three.
25. Angel Stadium of Anaheim- This was not built around the same time as Oriole Park, Globe Life Park, and Progressive Field, but it's kind of similar. It's in southern California, so that's nice, but there isn't really much else that's special about it.
24. Chase Field- The pool is cool, but it's air conditioned which greatly reduces the desire to be in a pool.
23. Miller Park- This was one place where I was able to get a really good seat (second level, right in front of the press box) for a really cheap price. I might have ranked this higher if I went to a game during the summer and the roof was open.
22. Coors Field- A lot of people love Coors Field, but the biggest problem can't be fixed (the altitude).
Admittedly Very Overrated
21. Shea Stadium- It was a dump and objectively, it's worse than any other stadium I've been to with the possible exception of SkyDome, but it was my home stadium for the first 20 years I went to baseball games.
Solid
20. Comerica Park- If anything, this is a generous ranking considering it's in Detroit.
19. Globe Life Park- There was good selection of Texas beer. I like how the design incorporated some history stadiums, but unfortunately they've gone away from that a little bit. They probably don't need to get a new stadium, but they are anyway.
18. SunTrust Park- It's like Citi Field, but not quite as good.
The New York Stadiums
17. Citi Field- Citi Field is good, but it could be better. It's second to Shea Stadium in terms of number of games that I've been to. I could have a much worse stadium to go to.
16. New Yankee Stadium- I didn't get to a game last year, but the last time I was there I noticed that they've improved the beer selection. I really wish they had just renovated the old stadium. But of course, Big Stein would never stand for the Mets getting a new stadium without the Yankees getting one.
Everybody else likes this one more than I do
15. Oriole Park at Camden Yards- I moved this one ahead of the New York stadiums, but I still maintain that it's overrated by most people.
Strong to Quite Strong
14. Citizens Bank Park- They have all these little beer stands that have like two beers on tap (different beers at each one). I wish every stadium was like that.
13. Nationals Park- I think Nationals Park is very underrated by most people. However I found one problem that could easily be fixed. The whole stadium has this Nation's Capital/Red, White, and Blue theme going on. That makes sense. But then the outfield wall is green. Why isn't it blue?
12. Busch Stadium- I hate the Cardinals more than any team other than the Giants, but I respect their success. The atmosphere and the area around the stadium are great, but I was expecting more on the inside.
11. Safeco Field- It's easily the best stadium with a roof.
10. Target Field- I've been to two games and done the stadium tour there. It's a very good stadium. I can't think of anything I would change that could make it better. Most of the stadiums ahead of it have advantages that couldn't be replicated in Minneapolis.
9. Great American Ballpark- I originally had it ahead of AT&T Park. I liked this one a lot, but that was probably my anti-Giants bias showing.
Really Good
8. AT&T Park- I'll have an update on this one soon. After doing a tour last summer and getting to a game this year, I moved it up one spot.
7. Wrigley Field- It's hard to compare it to the modern stadiums, but I think Fenway is clearly better. The weak beer selection and the difficulty of moving around hurts Wrigley.
6. Kauffman Stadium- I loved everything about the inside of this stadium. Being surrounded by parking lots is what is keeping this one from being ranked higher.
5. Petco Park- It's a really good stadium and it's in San Diego, where the Padres are the only show in town now that the Chargers are gone. Why aren't the Padres good enough to be worthy of that great stadium?
The Great Stadiums
4. PNC Park- I wish the Pirates had been able to cash in on their run. They were good for a while, but couldn't win anything in October. That's a stadium that deserves a great team.
3. Old Yankee Stadium- I have it ranked very high, but I really wish I could go back in time to pre-renovation Yankee Stadium. It might take the number one spot if I could. Of course, I'd also go to Ebbets Field and I guess I'd even go to a game at the Polo Grounds.
2. Dodger Stadium- A great setting, a beautiful ballpark, twelve no-hitters, two perfect games, eight World Series, the invention of the high five, Koufax and Kershaw, Pope John Paul II, and The Naked Gun. There's still room for improvement, but I love Dodger Stadium. The fact that my favorite team plays there makes be biased, but still, it's great.
1. Fenway Park- It's such a wonderfully weird ballpark (unintentionally weird, unlike Marlins Park) that couldn't be duplicated anywhere else. I've been to three different sports there (hockey and football being the other two). I don't have any plans to go there this year, but if anybody wants to, let me know. I always love getting to Fenway Park.
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