Worst parks you've seen a game in

[trosmok]

Where am I?

Funny thing, if you were on the field in the Vet, Riverfront, Three Rivers, or Busch, you had to have a practiced eye to know which park you were in. The Vet had the most faded surface, Riverfront had red seats in the nether reaches, Busch has geraniums blooming around the walls, and by process of elimination, if you saw none of these things, you'd know you were at Three Rivers. Now that Busch is the only one left, it has a peculiar charm, not to mention some of the friendliest game day personnel, and some of the most astute fans I've encountered in my half century of following our pastime. I am a die hard Cubs fan as many here know, with a grudging respect for my Cardianl arch-rivals, but I take exception to wogdoggy's disparaging remarks about my beloved Wrigley. I am deeply concerned about the crumbling concrete; heaven help us if the northsiders have to play at Thirty Fifth and Shields for part of the '05 season.

[wogdoggy]

strop it brainwashed cub fan,,,the south side club offers parking a great new ballpark, much better babes,vs the yuppie sweater wearing north side evanston homely looking women and great ballpark food...be realistic so what if your a cub fan,wrigley stinks no parking junk food and dont deny that wrigley does smell like a urinal..tear the joint down.I hate the CUBS.lol

[MontaukMetFan]

Worst Parks

I agree that Shea Stadium is certainly one of the worst ballparks in the country....and I'm a MET fan! But, to say Yankee Stadium is so much better is ABSURD! Parking is just as bad in the Bronx, and the highways leading there are A LOT worse than Shea's. The Yanks also have a closed stadium which is certainly more pleasing to the eye, but they had to paint the centerfield bleacher area black to help the batters see, and that's rather ugly looking. The monument park in center field is truly unique, although VERY inaccessable. Shea's scoreboard is hideous, but they have very well placed bullpens behind the left, and right field outfield walls. Both New York teams could use new parks, but the Yanks have a lot more leverage to bargain with. George's lease runs out very soon, and he can hold the threat of moving the Yanks to New Jersey. The city will bend over backward to keep all that money in New York!

[trosmok]

Rfk?

Any votes for the National's temporary home? The one game I saw there left much to be desired, although it was a Killebrew v. Howard, or rather Senators and Twins slugfest. The place looked like it was designed for football and soccer, with baseball as kind of an afterthought. The sightlines were all wrong, the concourse narrow and dark, the restrooms entirely insufficient for the even the small crowd when I was there. Hope MLB finds some new owners, a new name, and most of all a new Baseball Park in our nation's capital.

The Addison el stop suits me fine, I love the Wrigleyville neighborhood and it's residents, the ballpark food is just that: ballpark food not haute cuisine, and no, the place smells like popcorn, peanuts, little bear dogs, and spilled beer, but that may be how your urinals smell. Nothing against Comiskey, or Cellphone field, or whatever it is called, but how can you rip on the honeys from Evanston, wogpuppy? Some of the most beautiful women in the great lakes area reside there, and many attend my alma mater. I guess you are used to the southside chicks that have five kids by their mid-twenties named Bubba, Butch, Elvis, Billy Bob, and Marge. To each their own, lieben und lieben leich.

[Go Nats!]

For me, the park is tied to the experience I have there. For me, the worst experiences have been at the Vet in Philly and Olympic in Montreal.

The Vet was just a boring stadium. Nothing interesting about it. I had lousy seats, which could play a factor. The seats were uncomfortable, there wasn't enough beer and hot dog guys.

In Montreal, the fans cheered a bench-clearing brawl but not a stand-up triple by the home team. The vendors didn't like that I didn't speak French (though, I understand this one to a degree), and there weren't enough exits. We were all bunched together at the end of the game trying to get out of what appeared to be one exit. The stadium itself was just sort of unexciting.

[The Real McCoy]

I went to the All Star Game at Candlestick in ' 84 and someone told me to bring a coat. Now it's July so, of course, I don't listen and wear a short sleeved shirt. The game starts at 5:30 (PST) and they bring out a bunch of sailors with this huge American flag for the pre-game ceremonies. Almost on cue, the wind starts whipping in from off the Bay, gets under the flag and lifts three or four of the swabbies about ten feet in the air, still clutching the flag. Little did I know that the wind was just starting to blow hard. I thought my toes were frostbitten in the seventh inning. Gary Carter had a big game. Of course, he was playing with the Expos at the time, probably felt right at home.

On the other end of the thermometer, I was at the ' 66 game in newly opened Busch Stadium. Again, it's July and the game is still being played in the daytime. The stadium, as mentioned, is completely circular and enclosed and for some reason, the field is about two or three stories below street level. Thus there is no, and I mean no, circulation of air. It's a typical July day in St Louis, hot, muggy and 60,000 people are sitting in the world's largest suana. They started carrying fans out in the second inning. The players played the game like they all had 4:00 dates in East St Louis. It was the most boring All Star game played. Afterward, a reporter asked Casey Stengel, who was a coach on the NL squad, what he thought of the new stadium. Knowing a straight line when he heard it, Casey didn't miss a beat and replied, "It seems to hold the heat real good."

[rockin500]

strop it brainwashed cub fan,,,the south side club offers parking a great new ballpark, much better babes,vs the yuppie sweater wearing north side evanston homely looking women and great ballpark food...be realistic so what if your a cub fan,wrigley stinks no parking junk food and dont deny that wrigley does smell like a urinal..tear the joint down.I hate the CUBS.lol

sorry, but there is plenty of parking around wrigley within 3 blocks radius. you just gotta know where to look. and you have no clue about who actually goes to the games. but eh, you're a cardinals fan, so what do you expect.

and comiskey a great new park? pshhh.

[ElHalo]

There is no such thing as a great new park. If your park was built after the war, it's by definition not great.

[scootermojo]

There is no such thing as a great new park. If your park was built after the war, it's by definition not great.

have you been to PNC? that, my friend, is a GREAT, GREAT, GREAT park with a MEDIOCRE, MEDIOCRE, MEDIOCRE team.

[trosmok]

Busch and Candlestick

I went to the All Star Game at Candlestick in ' 84 and someone told me to bring a coat. I thought my toes were frostbitten in the seventh inning.

Afterward, a reporter asked Casey Stengel, who was a coach on the NL squad, what he thought of the new stadium. Knowing a straight line when he heard it, Casey didn't miss a beat and replied, "It seems to hold the heat real good."

ROFLMAO Thanks, TRMcCoy, you made coffee come out of my nose. I never made it to Candlestick for a ballgame, but the story goes you know you're there when the centerfielder carves open a caribou in the seventh and climbs inside to survive. Have been to St.Louis several times in July, and for large crowds like all are expecting this summer, particularly when the Cubs come to town, their emergency personnel will be extremely busy rescuing the victims of heat exhaustion, heat stroke, heat cramps and dehydration. A tip of the cap to the dedicated med-techs that provide sometimes life saving measures to the Cardinals' and visiting fans.

[west coast orange and black]

There is no such thing as a great new park. If your park was built after the war, it's by definition not great.

c'mon, man.

[west coast orange and black]

I went to the All Star Game at Candlestick in ' 84 and someone told me to bring a coat. Now it's July so, of course, I don't listen and wear a short sleeved shirt. The game starts at 5:30 (PST) and they bring out a bunch of sailors with this huge American flag for the pre-game ceremonies. Almost on cue, the wind starts whipping in from off the Bay, gets under the flag and lifts three or four of the swabbies about ten feet in the air, still clutching the flag. Little did I know that the wind was just starting to blow hard. I thought my toes were frostbitten in the seventh inning.

thanx for taking me back, trm. as i recall, it was not so bad because the fog wasn't all that wet that night.

[ElHalo]

c'mon, man.

Greatness, in my view, is something that can only be perceived in retrospect, with the sheen of years behind it. I'll put it this way: In 1999, Ken Griffey Jr. was voted onto the All Century team, ahead of the likes of Stan Musial and Tris Speaker. Oh, and Barry Bonds wasn't even considered. Six years later, that seems absolutely mind boggling. In the 1890's, the World's Fair Exposition Center in Chicago was considred the greatest architectural masterpiece of the century, far outstripping the Eiffel Tower, erected in Paris a few years before. To the baseball observers of that time, the greatest player in the game was Centerfielder Bill Lange, easily the superior of left fielder Ed Delehanty.

Very often, we can't see what's in front of us without a telescope. It's only after years of review and time for reality to set in that we can know the truth of things. Perhaps the newer parks might grow into the title of greatness in time. But they haven't yet.

[scootermojo]

Greatness, in my view, is something that can only be perceived in retrospect, with the sheen of years behind it. I'll put it this way: In 1999, Ken Griffey Jr. was voted onto the All Century team, ahead of the likes of Stan Musial and Tris Speaker. Oh, and Barry Bonds wasn't even considered. Six years later, that seems absolutely mind boggling. In the 1890's, the World's Fair Exposition Center in Chicago was considred the greatest architectural masterpiece of the century, far outstripping the Eiffel Tower, erected in Paris a few years before. To the baseball observers of that time, the greatest player in the game was Centerfielder Bill Lange, easily the superior of left fielder Ed Delehanty.

Very often, we can't see what's in front of us without a telescope. It's only after years of review and time for reality to set in that we can know the truth of things. Perhaps the newer parks might grow into the title of greatness in time. But they haven't yet.

good point. i was merely talking on a great place to watch a ball game and the aesthetic beauty of a field where you are talking about historical greatness. both are valid points.

[The Real McCoy]

West Coast O&B: I will always concede a point to superior local insight. But, if that night was "not so bad" I'd hate to be around when it did get "bad". I'm going to make the assumpiton that the same architectural geniuses that put the Busch Stadium field below street level also had a hand in designing Candlestick's configuration so it faced into the wind.

I did go to the new park in San Francisco four or five years ago and thought it was great, with a minor caveat. I'm sitting in the first row, club level between first and home and a foul ball comes twisting towards us. I stand and see that it will fall just short of our seats and sit down. A kid, seated next to us, feels compelled to point out that "you cudda got that one, mister, if you had leaned over the railing." After I finished pointing out that my days of "leaning over the railing", from an upper box, ended about the time Mays retired, I thought about the "youth wasted on the young" line, but held my tongue and thought of Tom Stoppard's line "age is a very high price to pay for maturity."