Seattle.
In 2002, I realized I had been to over half of the Major League ballparks, so I began a quest to visit all of the remaining ballparks. From 2002-2004, I visited 15 ballparks and completed my journey at Petco Park in San Diego with Cindy and our 1 yr old Taylor. This was ballpark #34 (30 active ballparks + 4 extinct ballparks). As many teams were building new ballparks, I planned future summer baseball trips to: St. Louis ('06), Washington DC ('08), NYC, ('09 - both teams) Minneapolis ('10) and Miami ('12) to visit these new ballparks in their inaugural year. Marlins Park in Miami was ballpark #41, and on my schedule for 2017 is #42, Sun Trust Ballpark, the new home of the Braves opening in Atlanta next year.
What follows is my personal rankings of the ballparks, and a full log of my baseball journeys.
My ranking of the 30 active MLB ballparks:
1. PNC Park – Pittsburgh
2. AT&T Park – San Francisco
3. Comerica Park – Detroit
4. Minute Maid Park – Houston
5. Petco Park – San Diego
6. Oriole Park at Camden Yards - Baltimore
7. Target Field -- Minneapolis
8. Citizens Bank Park – Philadelphia.
9. Nationals Park – Washington DC
10. Coors Field – Denver
11. Great American Ballpark – Cincinnati
12. Kauffman Stadium – Kansas City
13. Dodger Stadium – Los Angeles
14. Safeco Field – Seattle
15. Marlins Park – Miami
16. Citi Field – New York
17. Rangers Ballpark -- Arlington
18. Progressive Field - Cleveland
19. Turner Field - Atlanta
20. New Busch Stadium – St. Louis
21. New Yankee Stadium – New York
22. Miller Park - Milwaukee
23 Chase Field – Phoenix
24. Angel Stadium --Anaheim
25. US Cellular Field – Chicago
26. Rogers Centre (Skydome) - Toronto
27. Tropicana Field – St. Petersburg
28. Oakland Coliseum -- Oakland
BASEBALL TRIPS
1. 1973 – 1999 Houston,
TX The
Astrodome
Too
many games to list all, but here are some highlights:
4/07/79 Ken
Forsch’s No-hitter
10/12/80 Game
5 of NLCS vs. Phillies (lost a heartbreaker; so close to W.S.)
7/11/85 Nolan
Ryan’s 4000th strikeout vs Danny Heep of Mets
7/15/86 All-Star
Game
5/17/90 Eric
Anthony first and only Astro to hit an upper deck HR to RF
4/17/99 My
last Astros game at the Dome
2. Summer ‘79 Anaheim,
CA Anaheim
Stadium
During
family trip to CA, this game was sold-out (jacket night), but on the day of the
game we ran into Angels manager, Jim Fregosi, in the parking lot. Dad asked him where we could get some
tickets, and he kindly left us a pair at will-call.
#2: 4/06/96, on a CA trip to visit Cindy (she was working a
summer job for old boss); saw the Angels vs. White Sox.
#3: 7/31/02, on a business trip to CA, visited the renovated
stadium now known as Edisson Field, and saw the eventual World Champion Angels
vs. the Red Sox.
3. Summer ‘79 Oakland,
CA Oakland
Alameda County Coliseum
During
family trip to CA, baseball game #2 -- we rode the BART across the bay from SF
to catch an A’s game. (Stadium has
since been renovated to accommodate for additional seating for the Raiders –
should probably revisit this park)
#2:
7/18-19/16 My return visit was 37 yrs later on my 2016 summer
baseball trip. Upon exiting from
the BART station’s fenced in walkway, the Coliseum welcomes you with barbed
wire over the entrance gate. I saw
2 Astros-A’s night games; first night only had 10,000 fans so Astros fans stood
out. I walked to the stadium from
my hotel for game #2 but rode a cab home as the area is scary after dark.
4. Summer ‘84 New
York, NY Shea
Stadium
My
first trip to NYC with my parents; Dad and I went to a Mets game.
#2: 8/28/01, in NY for the DMA Non-profit conf.; great tickets
from WPIX; I invited my vendors from Listworks to the Mets vs. Phillies game,
and they provided the Limo transportation to and from the game.
#3: 5/14/08, in NY for a DMA seminar, caught games at both Shea
and Yankee Stadium. I took the
subway from Times Square to Flushing for the Mets-Nationals game, with game
time temperature of 50 and windy (in mid-May). The highlight was seeing the new stadium (Citi Field) being
built directly behind the outfield walls.
5. 5/20/90 San
Diego, CA Jack
Murphy Stadium
Following
my graduation from UT, parents took me to San Diego for a quick vacation; my
dad and I caught the Padres vs. Mets on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.
6. 5/01/92 Baltimore,
MD Oriole
Park at Camden Yards
ISI
business seminar trip took me to Baltimore, and I was fortunate to catch an
Orioles game in their inaugural season in this fine stadium; it would remain my
favorite ballpark for a number of years.
#2:
6/13-15/05, my 2005 summer baseball trip to DC and Baltimore brought
me back to Camden Yards 13 years after my first visit. This was the Astros first ever trip to
play in this park and they were swept by the Orioles. I sat 6 rows behind home plate the first night, 8 rows
straight up from 1st base the second night, and just beyond 3rd
base on the third night. I caught
my first ever ball at a game—off the bat of Berkman during BP.
7. 9/26/92 Philadelphia,
PA Veterans
Stadium
ISI
business seminar trip to Philly for a twi-night DH with the Phillies vs. Cards.
8. 4/23/93 Toronto,
ON The
Skydome
Vacation
trip and first visit to Canada, included a stay at Skydome Hotel and a Blue
Jays vs. White Sox game. No, my
room didn’t overlook the field, rather a view of downtown.
#2: 9/28/07 vs. Devil Rays. 14 years after my initial visit to Skydome (now called the
Rogers Centre), Cindy and I celebrated our 10 yr anniversary with a weekend
trip to Canada. The stadium still
looks new, and has the biggest widescreen TV above centerfield (between the
hotel room windows) I’ve seen at a ballpark. The roof was closed for our game on Friday night but we saw
that it was open for their day game on Sat. The hotel is now a Renaissance hotel and we couldn’t afford
the $400 a night rates so we had dinner at the Hard Rock overlooking right
field. Beers cost $9 for a tall
boy and $9.50 for a 20 oz draft!
(This was with an even exchange rate at the time of our visit).
9. 9/30/93 Atlanta,
GA Atlanta
Fulton County Stadium
Trip
to visit and Anne and catch the Astros vs. the Braves.
10. 4/23-24/94 St.
Louis, MO Busch
Stadium (Old Busch)
First
of many trips to St.L from my new home in Memphis to catch the Astros in wknd
series vs the Cards. Great tickets
usually provided by KMOV.
#2: wknd trip on 7/30/94 with Vance and Lee for Cards vs. Cubs.
#3 & #4: trips with Cindy to see the Astros on: 6/01/96 and 6/30-7/01/00.
11. 5/07/94 Dallas,
TX The
Ballpark in Arlington
First
of many trips to Dallas, either for Showdown, or later, to see my parents; this
time saw the Rangers vs. Twins.
#2, #3, #4, #5: 5/08/98 vs. Indians; 8/01/98 vs. White Sox; 4/30/99 vs. Indians; 7/05/99 vs. Mariners.
#6: with Barclay and
Jean on 6/28/02 vs. Astros in the Lone Star Series.
#7: with Dad, Paul and
Barclay on 5/27/07 vs. Red Sox for a Sunday matinee during a family visit to
Dallas over Memorial Day weekend.
12. 6/21/94 Chicago,
IL New
Comiskey Park/U.S. Cellular Field
First
of many business trips to visit TV reps; White Sox vs. Rangers.
#2 & #3: 6/19/95 for White Sox vs. Mariners; 4/29/03 in the newly named U.S.
Cellular Field vs. A’s, with great tickets from WCIU, but cold, rainy Chicago
weather!
13. 8/21/96 New
York, NY Yankee
Stadium
In
NY for DMA Non-profit conf, I caught the subway to the Bronx for a day game
between the Yankees vs. Angels.
#2: Second trip to Yankee stadium was for the Mets-Yankees
weekend series on 5/16-17/08, after catching a Mets game at Shea 2 days
earlier. Friday night’s game was
rained out after heavy rains all day long; I rode the subway again out to the
stadium on Saturday afternoon. The
rivalry didn’t seem as intense as a Yankees/Red Sox series would have been. The new Yankee Stadium is being built
right next to it.
14. 6/01/97 Chicago,
IL Wrigley
Field
On
a business trip, and to visit Jim and Joe, I finally catch a game at historic
Wrigley. Recvd great seats from
WGN – a few rows behind visitor’s dugout for the Cubs vs. Reds.
#2: 6/21/02, recvd even better seats from WLS – just up from the
Cubs on-deck circle for the Cubs vs. Cards game; attended the game on a Friday
afternoon with Jim and Mick after my business meetings.
#3: My third trip to Wrigley consisted of consecutive night
games on 9/13-14/04 vs. the Pirates as the Cubs were in a battle with the
Astros for the wild card spot. The
first night I went with co-workers (tickets from WGN), and the second night I
scalped a nice ticket up from the Cubs dugout. I made several attempts to sneak into the bleachers but the
ushers check closely for tickets and I was denied. Next trip I’ll have to buy a ticket for the bleachers.
#4: 6/6/05, met up with Jim and Mick for an inter-league night
game vs. the Blue Jays. Great
tickets once again from WGN.
15. 7/23/98 Los
Angeles, CA Dodger
Stadium
Vacation
trip to LA with Cindy, caught the Astros vs. Dodgers and we had great seats
right behind home plate from KCBS.
#2: Also visited Dodger Stadium on 7/8/04 during our summer
family vacation to Southern California; again caught an Astros road game here -
the fourth in four nights following their series in SD. I received loge level tickets with
Stadium Club passes from KNBC; went to the game with Derek from Russ Reid
agency.
16. 5/12/99 Boston,
MA Fenway
Park
Vacation
trip to Boston with Cindy; we toured Fenway Park (touched the Green Monster)
and saw Pedro Martinez strike out 15 Mariners including Griffey Jr 3x; went to
the game with Cindy’s friend Laura and Stewart.
#2: 15 years later for my return trip to
see the Astros-Red Sox 4 game series.
Thu night saw Roger Clemens inducted into Red Sox Hall of Fame; Friday
toured Fenway and saw the view from the Monster Seats (tour no longer takes you
on the field to touch the Green Monster).
Saturday night sat in the bleachers and came close to catching Big
Papi’s 400th HR. Sunday
saw Altuve hit a grand slam over the monster. Astros split the series 2-2.
17. 10/19/99 Atlanta,
GA Turner
Field
In
Atlanta for an AMA seminar, I caught Game 6 of the NLCS Braves vs. Mets. Needless to say, Turner Field is a big
improvement from their old stadium.
#2: Next trip to Turner was 10 years later for an Astros weekend
series 5/1-3/09. Astros took 2 of
3. Travel to and from the game was
easy using the MARTA shuttle from Underground ATL downtown. On Sunday, I met the 3 guys from 30
Ballparks in 30 Days. I enjoyed
chatting with Joey, Travis and Pedro as they were on Day 19 of their trip. It was also “bark in park” promotion on
Sunday and I saw lots of dogs on the concourse entering the stadium.
18. 4/7-8/00 Houston,
TX Enron
Field / Minute Maid Park
Opening
night of Enron Field! Astros vs.
Phillies with Cindy and my dad.
Following Friday night’s game, we went back for the second game which
was Sat afternoon with Barclay.
#2: We made a return trip 2 years later, 7/24-25/02, to the
newly named Minute Maid Park for a summer vacation with Barclay and Jean. The first night we saw the Astros take
on the Brewers, and we had great seats from KPRC, just down the first base
line; then, we caught a matinee the next day vs. Pirates before driving down to
Galveston for the wknd.
#3 9/29/05 – traveled to Houston for Barclay’s wedding;
in the race for the wild card berth, caught the Astros v. Cubs in the first
game of the final 4 game home stand.
The magic number was 2, and the Astros lost this game and the following
night (while the Phillies were winning), but won the final 2 games to secure
the spot in the playoffs on their way to their first World Series.
#4 7/28/06 – traveled to Houston for my 20 year HS
reunion. Stayed at the Inn at the
Ballpark; walked over to the stadium and sat in the Crawford Boxes for the
Astros v. D’backs. Luke Scott hit
for the cycle, and hit his first ML HR which landed directly 5 rows in front of
us.
#5 7/23-24/07 – this was the back-end of my “summer
’07” baseball trip; saw the Astros play 5 games in Pittsburgh and Houston. Met up with John Hamer and his wife for
the first game vs. the Dodgers; sat behind home plate on the club level in his
company tix. The following night –
on the day that Craig Biggio announced his retirement at the end of this
season, he hit a game-winning grand slam on the first pitch of tie ball game
which electrified the crowd, just one month after he collected his 3000th
hit. Made a mental note to myself
that I needed to plan my first ever trip to Cooperstown for the first weekend
in August 2013, when Biggio will no doubt be inducted into the Hall of Fame;
the first player in the Hall for the Astros (unless Bagwell beats him to
it).
#6: 5/25-27/13 -- Since it had been 6 yrs
since my last visit to MMP I scheduled my summer 2013 baseball trip to
Houston. Also, the Astros 2013
season marked their first season in the AL and a return to their original logo
and colors. So, I scheduled a trip
over Memorial Day wknd in order to catch 3 games (Sat-Sun vs. A’s; Mon vs.
Rockies). Little did I know that
the Grizzlies would make a deep playoff run to the WCF vs. Spurs, which only
caused a slight distraction in that I rushed out early of Saturday’s game to
catch the Grizz game 3 on TV, and leave Monday’s game early in order to catch
my flight home to attend for game 4 at the FedExForum (which made for a nice
sports DH day!) The baseball games
were mostly forgettable as the A’s overpowered the Astros both games, but I
enjoyed catching up with my friend Craig Ledbetter at Sunday’s game in the
Astros suite (comp tickets thanks to Vance), and enjoyed sitting in the
Chronicle’s suite for Monday’s Memorial Day matinee with Vance and his
family. Before Monday’s game, I
enjoyed a nearly 3-hour walk/run thru downtown, along Buffalo Bayou all the way
to Memorial Park. On my return to
my hotel (The Sam Houston which is really close to the ballpark), Vance was
able to secure on the field access to batting practice, so I raced back to the
park at 10:30 and enjoyed watching the Astros take BP from field level inside a
nearly empty MMP.
#7: 7/22-23/15 – My 2015 summer baseball
trip consisted of 2 games (Wed/Thu) in Houston followed by a weekend series
following the Astros to KC. For
Wed night’s game Vance had great 3rd row dugout seats from the
Chronicle; it was good to catch up with him and Ruth and Josh. Josh secured a baseball tossed from one
of the players and he gave it to me as a souvenir. On Thu, Jose Altuve hit a walk-off HR in the 9th
as the Astros swept the Red Sox. I
stayed at the Hyatt downtown, which was not as close to the ballpark as
previous stays at the Sam Houston hotel or the Inn at the Ballpark (which is
now a Westin), but still within walking distance.
19. 5/4 & 5/6/01 Montreal,
QC Olympic
Stadium
Vacation
trip to Montreal with Cindy, and we caught the Astros beat the Expos on Friday
night and Sunday afternoon. With
rumors of the Expos relocating, this ballpark, and the city’s support of the
Expos, was pretty depressing. The
Expos began playing a portion of their home games in Puerto Rico starting in
2003, then relocated to DC in ’05.
20. 5/31/02 Cleveland,
OH Jacobs
Field
First
stop on what will become several of my “two-cities in one wknd” baseball
trips. Rcvd great tickets from
WEWS for the Indians vs. White Sox game on Friday night. On Saturday morning, I toured the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame before driving up to Detroit for game #2.
21. 6/01/02 Detroit,
MI Comerica
Park
Second
game on this trip; I rcvd front row tickets behind the Tigers dugout from WDIV
and saw the Tigers vs. Blue Jays.
#2: I made a return trip the following summer on 6/27/03; same
great seats – front row down the 3rd base line at the end of the
Tigers dugout. The Tigers played
the Diamondbacks in an inter-league match-up. The Tigers are losing at a record pace; they are the worst
team in the league and it shows as 2 Tiger outfielders drop routine pop-flys!
#3: My third visit (3 years in a row) was on 7/18/04 for a
sold-out Sunday afternoon game vs. the Yankees. The following day I drove one hour South for a TV meeting in
Toledo.
#4: My fourth visit occurred 2 weeks later on 8/04/04 for a mid-week
night game vs. the Rangers. The
following day I drove one hour north for a TV meeting in Flint.
22. 6/22/02 Milwaukee,
WI Miller
Park
The
day after watching the Cubs at Wrigley (see #14), I drove up to Milwaukee with
Jim and Mick to catch a game in the Brewers new stadium vs the Angels. Of note, in the afternoon from our
hotel bar, we watched the Longhorns defeat South Carolina to win the College
World Series!
23. 9/20/02 Seattle,
WA Safeco
Field
Vacation
trip to Seattle/Vancouver with Cindy, we met my contact from KIRO and he gave
us great tickets behind home plate as well as tickets in their suite for the
Mariners vs. Angels (3rd time to see the Angels this year, in their
championship season).
#2:
7/15-17/16 My 2016 summer baseball trip was a West coast trip to
Sea/SF/Oak. Watched the Astros win
2 of 3 from the Mariners on a beautiful wknd; roof remained open for the Fri
night and Sat/Sun afternoon games.
Toured Century Link Field right next to it.
24. 4/18/03 Kansas
City, MO Kauffman
Stadium
First
of 3 baseball only trips in 2003 given to me by Cindy for Christmas. First stop on the first trip was in KC
on Friday night, and I rcvd great tickets – 6 rows up from dugout, from KCTV
for the Royals vs. Tigers game.
Loved the waterfalls, fountains and giant white and gold crown
scoreboard in the outfield – overall, a very underrated stadium.
#2: In 2009, the Royals renovated their
ballpark by adding outfield seating and what they call the “outfield
experience” while still preserving the fountains so I wanted to revisit this
ballpark 12 yrs after my initial visit.
This 40 yr old ballpark has held up very well, and I love everything
they have done in the outfield from the new video screen on the large crown
scoreboard, the Royals Hall of Fame museum, the open bars and restaurants
around the Pepsi porch with standing room around the fountains. I’m moving this ballpark up in my
rankings as I really like what they have done here. I saw the Astros weekend series on 7/24-26/15. I stayed at a nearby hotel (Adams
Mark), which was right across the freeway; with the ballpark situated right
next to Arrowhead Stadium, I was impressed with the number of fans who got
there early to tailgate before each game.
On Saturday morning, I took a great tour of the park and enjoyed
spending some time in the Royals museum, which had some great history of the
Royals, including the prior season’s 8-0 playoff run to reach the World
Series. When I booked this trip in
January who would have guessed both the Astros and Royals would be leading
their divisions in late July. It
made for a great series with sellouts on Fri/Sat, with the Astros winning on
Fri behind Scott Kazmir’s gem in his first game as an Astro, but the Royals
took the next 2 games. Friday
night was very hot (94 degrees at first pitch) though Sat/Sun brought temps in
the mid 80’s.
25. 4/19/03 Minneapolis,
MN The
Metrodome
After
spending 4 hours on Sat morning at the Mall of America, I caught the Twins vs.
Yankees game Sat night. Although I
had great seats, 2nd row above the Twins dugout, thanks to one of
our print vendors, the atmosphere for this game was much different than the
night before, and I would have to say this is the worst stadium to watch a
baseball game in. I had planned to
take in another game the following afternoon, but instead chose to catch the
T’wolves vs. Lakers Game 1 of their playoff series at the Target Center.
26. 7/19-20/03 Cincinnati,
OH Great
American Ball Park
In
the inaugural season of the Reds new downtown stadium, I caught the last 2
games (Sat/Sun matinees) of the Astros successful 4 game sweep of the
Reds. Of note, on Sunday, I saw
Jeff Bagwell reach a milestone as he hit his 399th and 400th
career HRs – joining just 34 other major leaguers in this 400 HR club. The ballpark was nice (but not as cool
as some of the other new parks that have opened recently), the weather was
great with lots of sunshine, and I picked up a Reds bobblehead at Saturday’s
game, which was a sellout.
27. 7/21/03 Pittsburgh,
PA PNC
Park
This
park jumps to the top of my list as the best of the new ballparks – very nice
features with fabulous views of the city.
After a short walk from my hotel and crossing the Roberto Clemente
Bridge, I began my visit of PNC with a tour of this fine stadium - a must for
my future stadium trips as tours take you on in-depth look at the club level,
press level, and on the field through the dugout. Our tour included a bonus visit from the Pirates GM (who
spent at least 20 minutes answering various baseball questions from our group),
the Manager (who was jogging around the field), and the team’s owner! As for the game, the Astros lost, but I
thoroughly enjoyed watching the game from several different locations
throughout the stadium in order to catch the many views of the 3 rivers
surrounding downtown Pittsburgh and its impressive skyline.
#2: Much anticipated return trip to PNC occurred 7/20-22/07,
exactly 4 years after my initial visit for a 3 game weekend series between the Astros and Pirates. On Friday night, I was able to buy a
ticket just 6 rows up from the Astros dugout near 1st base. Before the game during BP, I came away
with just my second baseball while attending a game, off the bat of Carlos
Lee. On Saturday night, the
Pirates retired the jersey of Paul Waner, Hall of Famer and member of 3,000 hit
club; during the ceremony, the Pirates recognized Biggio joining the 3,000th
hit club and the home crowd gave him a nice standing ovation. The Astros won 2 of 3 with Lidge saving
both close wins. And yes, PNC
remains on the top of my list for favorite ballparks. Perfect weather and great seats for all 3 games.
28. 8/23/03 Phoenix,
AZ Bank
One Ball Park
This
huge retractable roof stadium dominates the skyline in downtown Phoenix. I toured the park on Friday morning, in
which I was able to see the stadium with the roof open, as it was set to close
4 hours prior to first pitch as the game time temp reached 103 degrees. Sammy Sosa treated the many Cubs fans
to 2 bombs, including one that nearly landed in the swimming pool in right
field – which happened to be rented out by 30 folks from Chicago (for a price
of $5,250!) – as the Cubs routed the D’Backs.
#2: My second visit was 2 years later 8/4-5/06 for Astros games
with Roy Oswalt and Roger Clemens winning games over the D’Backs. On Friday night, the Astros held on for
an 8-7 win in a 9 inning game that lasted nearly 4 hours in which Lidge nearly
gave it away in the bottom of the 9th. Roger Clemens won the Sat night game the day after he turned
44.
29. 8/24-25/03 Denver,
CO Coors
Field
I
arrived in Denver on Saturday morning just in time to take a tour of this fine
stadium. The upper deck has a row
of seats that are marked in purple signifying an altitude of one mile above sea
level. From the first base side in
the upper deck, you get a nice glimpse of the mountains in the distance to the
west of Denver. I caught 2 games –
Sat night and Sun afternoon; there were plenty of Braves fans in town as
Atlanta swept the Rockies.
30. 9/20/03 St.
Petersburg, FL Tropicana
Field
This
trip to Tampa-St.Pete was scheduled as our summer was turning to fall, and
after Cindy expressed how much she had really missed her beach trip in
2003. So, with just a week before
having to go back to work after maternity leave, we (Taylor too!) found a place
we had never been to that offered a nice beach on the Gulf along with Major
League Baseball. The Devil Rays
were facing the Yankees, and I honestly had a hard time figuring out who was
the home team! The rowdy Yankees
fans cheered on their team in 7-1 rout of the Rays. From the outside, this small domed-stadium appears to have a
titled roof, and from inside, the atmosphere was similar to our experience at
Olympic Stadium – a small crowd, with the seating areas not ideally arranged
for viewing a baseball game at its best.
#2:
My second trip to the Trop was 12 yrs after my first visit (Taylor is now 12!)
on a business trip to visit Nielsen in Oldsmar for a TV diary audit. The game was on a Tuesday night vs. the
Blue Jays so the crowd was small, but the ballpark seemed to be much improved
with the Porch Bar installed behind centerfield and the Rays Tank visible from
center field next to it. The
ballpark includes a nice Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame museum
next to the gift shop.
31. 5/18-20/04 Miami,
FL Pro
Player Stadium
My
first baseball trip of 2004 began with a trip to Miami to see the Astros win 2
of 3 over the defending World Champion Marlins. This stadium gets a bad rap because it’s really more of a
football stadium built for the Dolphins, but it’s not that bad of a place to
see a baseball game, especially when you can pretty much sit wherever you’d
like (as I did) with only an average of 12,000 fans for each of the games I
attended in this mid-week series.
The first night I received tickets from WPLG that were 12 rows up from
the Astros dugout; on the second and third night, my $6 “Fish Tank” tickets
turned into nice Field box seats.
32. 5/21-22/04 Philadelphia,
PA Citizens
Bank Park
I
traveled from Miami to Philly to see the Phillies take on the Padres in their
new park in its inaugural season.
I was very impressed with the many neat features this stadium has,
particularly the outfield pavilion – Ashburn’s Alley. On Friday night, I sat in the club level with my reps at
WPVI and ABC Sales. On Saturday
night, the game was a sellout, but I was able to secure a single ticket
upstairs.
33. 6/16/04 San
Francisco, CA SBC
Park/AT&T Park
My
much-anticipated trip to SBC Park (formerly PacBell Park) finally came about
nearly 3 years after our initial plans to visit were canceled by the events of
9/11. My day began with a tour of
the ballpark, which is always a great way to see all areas of the park. The seats in the upper level offer the
best view of the SF Bay and Oakland in the distance. I scored some club level seats from KGO which were on the
second level. The Giants crushed
the Blue Jays 10-2 with Barry Bonds reaching base in each of his at bats, but
no HRs or “splash hits” – ever since the park opened in 2000, they’ve kept
track of splash hits which are HRs hit by Giants that land in McCovey Cove on
the fly. To date, there have been
34 splash hits with Barry hitting 29 of these.
34. 7/5-7/04 San
Diego, CA Petco
Park
The
final ballpark on my tour of all major league ballparks was a visit to the new
Petco Park in downtown San Diego for the Astros 3 game series vs. the
Padres. Cindy, Taylor and I sat in
row 18 directly behind home plate in a game Roger Clemens pitched. The following day, I toured this fine
park and then picked up a scalped ticket just 3 rows behind 1st
base. On the 3rd night,
I attended the game with Greg Clay (Barclay’s friend) in the Omni Premier Club
level. Petco Park offers a great
view of downtown and “the Park at the Park” – a grassy field with a hill, which
stretches across the entire back of the stadium. Unfortunately, the Astros dropped 2 of the 3 to the Padres.
#2: Second trip to
Petco was 9 years later, 6/14/13, on the backend of our family mission trip to
Ensenada Mexico. We drove back
into the states on a Friday afternoon and stayed downtown at the Hilton across
from the ballpark so I walked over just in time to catch the Padres-D’Backs
game. I almost had to buy another
Padres windbreaker as the temps were surprisingly cool for a mid-June night.
35. 6/11-12/05 Washington,
DC RFK
Stadium
In
Dec 2004, the Expos officially moved to DC and were renamed the Nationals so my
2005 summer baseball trip was planned for games in DC then up the road for the
Astros series against Baltimore.
On Sat night, I caught their inter-league series game vs. the Mariners
in the Senators (and Redskins) old stadium. Washington is back in MLB after a 34 year absence (last game
played in ’71). On Sunday
afternoon, I sat in the Diamond Box section right behind home plate thanks to
tickets from WJLA. These $90
tickets included free food and drinks (not beer) delivered to your seat.
36. 5/29-31/06 St.
Louis, MO New
Busch Stadium
Memorial
Day weekend, drove up to St. L for the Astros first series at the new Busch in
its inaugural season. In the first
game, Pujols homered off Qualls for a walk-off HR. Astros came back to win game 2, but dropped the 3rd
game in extra innings. Nice
ballpark, though not great. It
doesn’t really have any distinguishing features or anything special about it
like some of the other new parks.
Some of the exterior features of the stadium were still being worked on,
and the seating in the LF outfield had just opened for this series so they had
record crowds for all 3 games.
Great baseball atmosphere in the stadium, but I didn’t like the closed
off concourses (couldn’t see the game from the concessions)
#2: Second trip to new Busch was 2 years later, 4/25-26/08 for 2
Astros games. Friday night’s game,
after a 2 hour rain delay, was highlighted by a 3 run comeback in the 9th
inning to win 3-2 shortly after midnight.
Saturday’s matinee on a perfect day for baseball saw the Astros losing
4-3. Great seats for both games --
on Sat, sat directly behind home plate about 15 rows up (StubHub); and Fri.
about 16 rows up from 3rd base
(KMOV tix).
#3: Third trip to new Busch was the following year, 4/10-11/09,
nearly a repeat of last year’s trip -- drove up to St. L for 2 Astros
games…Friday night’s game got under way in 47 degree weather as the rainy skies
cleared up just in time for the game.
Saturday’s matinee was a much better day, weather-wise; however, the
Astros dropped both games.
#4: Fourth trip was two months later, 6/6/09, with the family as
we were in town for Cissy’s wedding.
She held her reception at Busch in Homer’s Landing, a reserved party
section located beyond the outfield.
37. 7/11-13/08 Washington
DC Nationals
Park
I
joined many other Astros fans for the weekend series in the inaugural season of
Nationals Park. Great stadium but
it was built in a part of town (near Navy Yard on banks of the Anacostia) with
not much activity although plans for future development in the immediate area
were evident. I stayed at the
Courtyard just a few blocks from the stadium and near the Metro station. It reminded me of Citizens Bank Park in
Philly with much activity beyond the outfield concourse (Red Loft and Red Porch
bars, and Walk Up bar behind the big scoreboard). Good view of the Capital can be seen from the upper sections
beyond LF wall. Astros dropped the
opener but won the next 2 to take the series.
38. 6/17/09 New
York, NY New
Yankee Stadium
My
third 2009 baseball trip was to NYC to visit the inaugural seasons of new
Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and Citi Field in Queens. I had planned 2 games at each stadium; due to rains on last
year’s trip to NYC, I missed one of two planned games at the old Yankee
stadium. This year, rain posed a
challenge again as I missed the second game of the trip, a Thursday matinee
which was delayed 5 ½ hours before they ended up playing the game later that
night. I wasn't all that impressed
with new Yankee stadium...has the look of the old stadium, but of course with
club level suites. Field level
seating (the number of seats) seemed smaller than most stadiums, and I was
sitting 30 rows up, on the last possible row, under the overhang from the next deck,
which I don't like. I did like the Hard Rock Cafe at the stadium. I wanted to
go on a tour of the stadium to see Monument Park, and some of the other areas
you wouldn't normally be able to see but the tours were sold out. The old stadium still remains next to
it. The Nationals beat the Yankees
in the interleague match up on Wed night.
39. 6/19-20/09 New
York, NY Citi
Field
The
Mets were playing the Rays in interleague games on Fri night and Sat
afternoon. When I arrived in
Queens on the 7 train, I didn't realize Shea had been demolished already. No sign of Shea as it was completely
paved over as the new parking lot for Citi Field. Hands down, I thought the Mets built a better ballpark than
the Yankees. The entrance – Jackie
Robinson rotunda is impressive as escalators take you up into the park. Citi has a lot of neat features beyond
the outfield...mini ball field for the kids, a dunk tank, expanded food and
microbrew selections, etc. And of
course the Big Apple in CF was brought over from Shea. The seating configuration was better at
Citi (compared to Yankee stadium) at Citi...more field level seating and the
seats in the upper promenade, particularly the promenade box (sect 400s) seem a
lot closer to the field than the upper sections at most other parks. The Mets won Fri night, but the Rays
came back to win Sat in a game that was nearly rained out. The skies cleared just in time to get
the 4 o’clock game in.
40. 6/11-13/10 Minneapolis,
MN Target
Field
After
28 yrs in the Metrodome, outdoor baseball returned to MN this year with the
opening of Target Field. I
attended the wknd interleague series vs. the Braves, which was a rematch of the
great ’91 World Series. The
ballpark, which rests right next to the Target Center in downtown, is a huge
upgrade from the dome and one of my new favorites. With a seating capacity of around 40,000, the stadium seemed
more compact, with seating (on all levels) seemingly closer to the field than
most other parks, and it was full of fans for all 3 games. I was impressed with the crowd; rivals
the Cardinal nation. The park
featured several nice statues of past players and a large Gold Glove; however,
all of these were just outside of the park – it would have been nice to have
some of these features inside the park along the concourses. The highlight of the games was
Liriano’s 7K’s in a row, one shy of tying the AL record.
41. 4/13-15/12 Miami,
FL Marlins
Park
I attended the first ever
weekend series at Marlins Park as the newly named Miami Marlins welcomed the
Astros in its inaugural season as the 6th MLB
ballpark to have a retractable roof.
From the outside, the ballpark is an impressive sight – it looks really
huge, all white domed structure, and from the moment you walk in the ballpark,
there’s a lot to see that catches your eye: the view of the downtown
skyline through the tall glass panels beyond left field, the large unnamed “HR
sculpture” in left center, giant scoreboard and large HD screen above center
field, and the lime green outfield walls stick out the most. The roof was
closed on Friday night as it had been raining; however, it was open on Saturday
night and the vibe within the ballpark was so much better with the roof open. One of the most unique features of the
ballpark is the bobblehead museum. It features over 700 baseball
bobbleheads in a glass display case; another unique feature is the two
aquariums (450 gallons each) behind home plate.
