Ticket To the Game » AL

2009 Top 5 MLB Ballparks

David B — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:00:52 +0000

Everyone loves a good list, right? So here’s ours. America’s top 5 ballparks for 2009. These reviews come from our personal experiences, as well as the research we continue to pour into our first book (more on that coming soon). I’ve tried to leave the

#5 -Citizen’s Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA: A great mix of a cozy downtown park, with some of the consistently best food in the majors. As the Phillies continue to succeed on the field, I get the feeling that this park will age very gracefully. Good sightlines through, great, retro-styling, particularly along the outfield walls. The Ashburn Alley area along the centerfield concourses are like a baseball carnival during batting practice, without feeling overly kid-friendly in a way that would turn off the baseball purists.

#4 – Nationals Park, Washington, DC: I recognize this may be the most controversial of the top 5, as there have been few signature moments at Nationals Park that would have brought it into the national spotlight. I took an in-depth tour of the stadium last winter, and cam away so thoroughly impressed, that I had to include the park here. Getting a chance to sample the park from so many vantage points, I was consistently impressed with how there really isn’t a bad seat in the house. The staff we met were incredibly helpful and friendly. But, one of the things that really set Nationals Park apart, was this is the first new park that isn’t “me-too retro cool”. this is a modern park in an historical setting, and that’s a nice change of pace. As the ownership group digs its way out from under the mess MLB made of the on-field product during the Expos transition years, the crowds will come, and the park will have the energy it deserves filtering through the stands.

#3 – Wrigley Field – Chicago, IL: Man, it’s tough to put Wrigley as low as 3rd, because it is a truly awesome place to see a game. As much as I have ranked two aprks ahead of it, Wrigley is still a “bucket list” experience that doesn’t disappoint. Go sit in the bleachers for an afternoon game, drink an Old Style or three, and have a dog. Once you’ve done that, you have the baseline of the American Baseball Experience upon which you can make all further comparisons.

#2 – Petco Park, San Diego, CA: You’re in San Diego, so you’ve already got a leg up on the ballpark experience. It’s not too hot, or too cold. You’ve got a modern ballpark, but there’s a building that acts as the left field foul pole. You’ve got great food, a great downtown atmosphere.. the gaslamp district for pre and post game nightlife. It’s really a tremendous setting for a game, and the city-park feel of the concourses, including the tee-ball field and grassy berms for picnics just add to the laid back SoCal experience.

#1 – PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA. This is still America’s best place to watch a ballgame. If the team had been any good in the last 15 years, I don’t even think there’d be an argument. most of the country really didn’t experience PNC until it hosted the All-Star game, but the placement and layout really defined the aesthetic most nouveau downtown ballparks are hoping to achieve. The Clemente Bridge just frames the city perfectly in the outfield, and the in-game experience is quintessential Pittsburgh.

Honorable mentions: I know I’m going to get roasted for leaving off Fenway Park. The first year reviews of Citi Field and new Yankee Stadium were mixed, but I’m sure that history will be kind to these parks as they mature. I’m hopeful that planned renovations to Camden Yards will bring it back up the list.

Twins garage sale a success / disaster, depending on who you ask

David B — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:37:58 +0000

The Minnesota Twins announced a garage sale to help them clean out the closets of the Metrodome, and get them ready for starting fresh at Target Field in 2010. The promotion of the sale was a rousing success, as thousands of Twins faithful lined up around the dome hours before the sale was supposed to start.

While it seemed that many people were able to find a little something, like a bobblehead or a promotional bat, many of the special and unique items were apparently “held back” for a memorabilia dealer with a friend in the organization. According to the comments on the mlb.com article, there was a large box containing a number of championship flags and stadium banners, that were not “first come, first served” as advertised.

So, that particular failure comes from the fact that the deal wasn’t completed before the garage sale, but during… of course some premium items are going to a dealer to get them a better price, but you don’t have to be so public about it. There were other mistakes though, that could have been avoided.

Once you realized there would be a line around the stadium waiting to get in, maybe you could have called in some extra cashiers… only 4 were on hand.
The sale was confined to a small corner of the Metrodome, as a college football game was also taking place there that day. If the sale were held on the Metrodome floor on a non-game day, they could have been much more accomodating to the folks waiting outside, and given more people an opportunity to preview the items before they were gone.
Anything you were going to hold back should never have seen the light of day on the public sale. Just incredibly bad form.

So, what’s the right way to do this kind of a sale? You want to open it up to the public, and you know that these garage sale prices aere cheaper than the items will be when they resurface on eBay, but do you just put them up for auction in the first place, and reduce the secondary market? When the Yankees and Mets have done this, prices have been so sky high that the “average joe fan” is shut out. Do you put limits on how much someone can buy?

I’m not sure, but I commend the Twins for trying to do the right thing, but just failing a bit on the execution.

Camden Yards getting a major facelift – What’s next in ballpark renaissance 2.0?

David B — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:09:55 +0000

So, when you’ve already re-invented the ballpark experience, what do you do for an encore?

The Sports Business Journal (link via sister publication SportingNews) reported last week that the Maryland Ballpark Authority has sent out the RFP for the first major overhauls to Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles. The exact details of the RFP were not released, but the SBJ and SportingNews are speculating about new restaurants and concessions vendors.

Fully 2/3rds of all major league stadiums were built after Oriole Park at Camden Yards set off the new wave of ballpark building that has hallmarked the last 20 years of the game. Smaller parks, more intimate settings, many with a retro feel, eschewing the concrete multipurpose donut for unique, brick and steel experiences that remind people of Ebbetts Field, even as there are less and less people around who remember Ebbetts Field first hand.

As the uniqueness of Camden Yards has subsided, and the “newer new” have sprouted up across the country, including Nationals Park in Washington DC, attendance has waned with the abysmal play on the field, and it only makes sense that the Orioles look to do some things to freshen up the park to re-energize the fan base.

So, what do you the Orioles do now to usher in the next phase of ballpark advancement? Let’s run down a couple of ideas that we’ve heard bandied about, and see if they still fit.

In seat video replay – Is this really still a viable idea? Seems like too much hardware to worry about, especially in a sea of beer, soda and nachos. Better off just providing solid wifi access in the park, and access to video on smartphones
New gourmet restaurants – apparently a trend brewing in having restaurants behind the batter’s eye in CF witha smoked glass view of the game. Not really an innovation, but more of a “me too” hand-waving.

Now, what’s on our wish list for ballpark experience improvements?

Ejector seats that get the guy in the middle of the aisle to the concourse without making everyone else get up.
Web cams that give you a look at the length of popular concession lines
Seats with 2 true armrests per person, and MORE legroom (the author is 6’7″ and really likes legroom)
Up to 3 sections per game get a visit from a staffer (one in each level of the park) Sit ‘em down.. talk to ‘em about their concerns at the ballpark. Then, over the next few days… follow up with them, and thank them for their thoughts.
Public photographer’s wells: I love taking my camera to a game… How can I get a good photo if I can’t get close enough to the field? Have Kodak sponsor some public space, specifically for taking game photos. For $10, you get 15 minutes in the photographer’s well at field level. My guess is it would be so popular, you’d need reservations.

What do you want in your next park? Leave a comment and let us know.

World Series Ballpark Preview

David B — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:58:56 +0000

OK.. here we go… Seven games that decide seven months and over 2,500 previous contests to determine baseball’s champion. So, what do you need to know about these ballparks in order to get the most out of the Series.

Homers. Lots and Lots of Homers: these are Earl Weaver stadiums, the perfect place to get a couple guys on base and wait for the 3 run homer. The Yankees hit 136 of the 237 homers (57%) hit in new Yankee Stadium in 2009, while the Phils hit 108 of the 207 (52%) at Citizens Bank Park. As much of a hitter’s parks as CBP is, the Phillies hit even more on the road (116)
Baserunners: The Yanks have a home OBP of .368 and an OPS of .858. They’ve held their opponents to 40 less points of OBP, and 130 less in OPS. The phillies have a home edge as well, but it’s nowhere near as pronounced, nor their numbers quite as gaudy. These two teams combined for 1,252 walks this year, meaning nearly 8 per game in total… and that leads us to…
Long games: The average Yankees / Angels game in the LCS was just shy of 4 hours, with no game being completed in under 3 hours. The Yankees stadium policies allow you to bring your own water in a factory sealed bottle only. I think you can pack a snack, and with the price of World Series tickets these days, you might need to. Phillies games were about a half an hour shorter on average, with 2 games just barely eclipsing the 3 hour mark.

Playoff baseball isn’t really about the stadium, the way a regular season game can be… it’s really about the game on the field, and the energy in the stands. I’ll be interested to see how Yankee Stadium III holds up as a World Series venue. My last playoff visit to New York was for Game 7 against the Red Sox in 2004, and that was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. I’m hoping that the new park can shake some of its sterility tonight with some playoff magic of its own.

If any of you are going, please leave a comment, and let us know how your World Series experience stacked up against previous visits.

The Metrodome’s Last Hurrah

David B — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:08:57 +0000

If the Twins survive their one game playoff tomorrow, it will almost be anticlimactic for the Hubert H Humphrey Metrodome. Over the next 48 hours, the sports world’s attention will be keenly focused on Minnesota, in a way that even the World Series cannot duplicate.

Tonight, as the entire Midwest holds its collective breath, Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings take on the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football. this quirk of scheduling fortune brought about the need to move the play-in game between the Twins & Tigers to Tuesday.

If the Tigers win, this will be the last major league game in the HHH Dome, and outside of a mirtacuous Twins romp through the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels and the World Series, I can’t think of a better way to close it out.

When the doors do finally close on the Homerdome, and the official countdown clock towards the bran new Target Field begins, one way or another, we’re going to miss the “old girl”.. Hefty Bag and all.

The Four Questions: Oriole Park at Camden Yards

David B — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:41:40 +0000

Welcome to a new feature for Tickettothegame.com. We’re going to go around the major leagues – one ballpark at a time – and I’m asking what I believe to be the four key questions that determine how to have a great experience at any ballgame. I’m asking for you, the readers, to provide feedback, either in the comments here, or on the facebook page.

1) Where should I sit? Regulars always know the best places to sit, and the worst. What sections do you target? Is the 3rd base line preferable to the 1st base line? Is there a specific section that’s half the price of the seats just in front, making it a great value? Is the bleacher experience not to be missed? Are there hidden ticket deals to be had?

2) What makes this park unique and special? Whether it’s the Western Metals Supply Building in San Diego, or Monument Park in Yankee Stadium, each ballpark has a “treasure” What’s not to be missed?

3) What should I eat? Part of the ballpark experience is what makes the concessions here different/unique/local? Every ballpark has its signature. If you were telling someone to get one thing, what would it be?

4) What else should I do? Before/After the game, what are the local traditions? Is there anything else in the area, or do people just vacate? Are there “amusements” within the park, like Turner Field, or is it a special watering hole that adjoins the park, like the area around Fenway?

Your answers here will help your fellow ballpark traveller in the future. So let’s start with Camden Yards… How will you answer these four questions for a first time visitor to Baltimore?

Save Yankee Stadium Gate 2

David B — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:44:18 +0000

Initial Heritage Park Plan

When the new Yankee Stadium was built, there were plans in place about how the grounds of Old Yankee Stadium were to be utilized to create an area known as Heritage Park. this would include retaining the original playing surface, as well as adding additional softball fields, a soccer/football field and some tennis courts to the surrounding area.

Unfortunately, there has been some neighborhood objection to this plan, and the new “current plan” calls for a bastardization of the original playing surface that would leave no recognizable artifact of the original Yankee Stadium.

Along comes the “Save Gate 2” plan. By saving one of the most endearing images of Yankee Stadium’s artifice, this group hopes to preserve Gate 2, and have it act as an entrance to Heritage Park that will save the sense of history.

Ticket To The Game endorses the “Save Gate 2″ plan, as it meets community demands and preserves a bit of stadium history going back more than 80 years. For Brooklyn Dodger fans who know there is literally nothing left of where Ebbets Field used to be, they should be sympathetic to this idea, even if it is for the Yankees.

Ballpark Preview: Target Field, Minneapolis, MN

kings33 — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:20:53 +0000

There’s lots of great info about the only new MLB stadium for 2010, Target Field: Home of the Minnesota Twins. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with Target Field…whether outdoor baseball in Minnesota will work in April and November. Here are some highlighted links from the coverage on mlb.com

Construction Cams: I love construction cams! Ooh! there’s sod!… Ooh…the seats are going in! Big Fun!
Find Your Seat: Nice animated views from the seats of every section. If I were a Minnesotan, I think I’d want Section 121.
Construction Photos: Under-the grass radiant heating system? Check!
The Sod is Coming! The Sod is Coming! All this and more from Twins President Dave St. Peter on his Ballpark Blog

All in all, I’m really excited about Target Field. I think it needs a “hit it here” target somewhere , but it should be a very nice addition to the AL Central. The team has contributed more than $180 million towards the construction costs, so it looks like a pretty fair balance of public and private money. As far as I’m concerned, the Hefty Bag RF wall can’t be gone soon enough.