Is Camden Yards getting old?

[Chevy114]

It's at that mark where it's showing it's age. In teaching profession like I am we always say when a school hits the 15 year mark it shows its age. Because at about the 30 year mark they do renovations and they refurbish all the tvs and desks and stuff at 20 years or so. So I think camden is older but not old.

The good: I would take it over the trop any day for the open airness, it's got a great downtown vibe and blends well with area, and finally it started the trend and did not force it like others.

The bad: The video boards which they are finally replacing, no open air concourses, which could be worse, the team playing there.

[Rob R]

New Yankee should have brought back the interior old Yankee pre-renovation feel back but instead it cateres to the rich people, in fact, they even pushed back the bleachers so box seats get the undisputed best seats in the outfield, its the bleacher fans that make Yankee Stadium, not the rich fans who probably never lived a day in the working class sections of NYC.

Wrong on a few counts. NYS did incorporate the old with the new. The interior is far more reminiscent of OYS than the renovated version, including the frieze and no gap between the seats and the outfield wall.

As a matter of fact the bleachers are closer to the field than renovated YS, even if field boxes are in front of them in the corners.

As for Camden, it's one of the better parks I've been in and the granddaddy of the newer clones.

[FENWAY FRANKY]

"Fenway South" )))

Camden Yards is one of my favorite places, old, new or in between!!
Great sight lines, food and drink everywhere, including A/C bars in the B&O Building behind RF for those real hot nights in June and July.
Also, after the games, the old time bars outside of the LF pavillion have their street parties (Pickles Pub, et al) until the wee hours for all the locals and out of towners. A real good time, real great people in the Baltimore area and a real great ballpark!

[SparkyL]

I'm not going to PNC Park until June 1st, but I've seen a lot of parks, and Camden Yards is the finest one I've seen :bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:

You may put PNC at the top of your list when you see it . . .

[SparkyL]

The reason Camden Yards does not have an open concourse on the lower level was space constraints. The idea was considered during the design stage. The footprint of the stadium is simply too small for open concourses with the amount of seating the team wanted to have (and needed in the Ripken years). The place is jammed into a pretty small block of space between Camden St., the Warehouse and Russel St.

For comparison, the Citizens Bank Park plot of land is 1000 ft by 850 ft, while the Camden Yards plot of land is 900 ft by 700 ft. That's fairly substantial constraint. That's 850,000 square feet of space versus 630,000 square feet, or a little more than 25% smaller. Besides, it means the upper deck can be that much closer to the action.

Camden Yards could have had an open concourse, but it would have forced them to make the club seats and upper deck seats worse, as will be evidenced at Target Field.

The Orioles did the right thing.

Why couldn't they have placed the consessions on the outer wall? Takes up the same exact amount of space and now you can see the field.

[RuthMayBond]

You may put PNC at the top of your list when you see it . . .

We shall see. Just make sure the Mets don't trade Pedro Feliciano before that

[mackenzie]

I'm a Yankee fan looking forward to seeing our two new ballparks in mere weeks. As of now, however, I believe that Camden Yards, the first of its generation, is still the best. As Don Mattingly once said, "It's all baseball."

Regards,
Mark

[BigMac1212]

I dont' think Camden Yards is that old. Fenway & Wrigley is old. I would call the 17-year-old stadium a teenage facility.

[reh303]

I've been to probably 6 or 7 Yankees/Orioles games at [email protected], and it's really still a gem. I must add, though, that I think the "open concourse" thing is highly overrated - you generally don't see much of the action anyway.

[SJLT252]

My feeling on this topic is that because it is almost 20 years old, they should stay on top of the condition of the stucture and replaced what needs to be replaced like when they replaced the scoreboard last year. Stuff like the field drainage system should be kept up to date and if they have not replaced the original seats, maybe replace them in the next 3-5 years.

[btown12]

I've been to probably 6 or 7 Yankees/Orioles games at [email protected], and it's really still a gem. I must add, though, that I think the "open concourse" thing is highly overrated - you generally don't see much of the action anyway.

Exactly. The only real benefits are that it helps create some really prime standing room spots and creates a little more open atmosphere. But when you're walking through an open concourse, you generally can't see past the other people standing watching the game anyways. Plus if you try and watch the game while walking the concourse, which I have, you tend to walk into a LOT of immovable objects and/or people.

[Tullydew]

The only thing at Camden that is getting old is all the Yankee fans that descend down 95 to visit it.

Stay above the Mason Dixon line...I hate feeling like the visiting team in my own ballpark

[Rob R]

The only thing at Camden that is getting old is all the Yankee fans that descend down 95 to visit it.

Stay above the Mason Dixon line...I hate feeling like the visiting team in my own ballpark

I'd be pissed too. But, aren't the Red Sox fans worse in this respect?

[Tullydew]

I'd be pissed too. But, aren't the Red Sox fans worse in this respect?

Yes, but I havent been down there for a Sox series in years. I tend to get down there when the Yankees play b/c now that I live in NY, my son has become a Yankee fan through no fault of my own.

[Rob R]

Yes, but I havent been down there for a Sox series in years. I tend to get down there when the Yankees play b/c now that I live in NY, my son has become a Yankee fan through no fault of my own.

You have a brilliant kid there! Dad's not a bad guy himself.