About those sacred baseball "shrines"......

[marmar]

A good friend of mine was pining on and on about Wrigley Field yesterday, about what a sacred place it is blah, blah, blah, blah...

I visited Wrigley last summer. And yes, the ivy wall is neat and I get the history part, but that's about where the charm ends. The seats are miserably cramped, leaving you in frighteningly close proximity to the legions of drunks who could care less that a baseball game is going on. The corridors are narrow, nasty Third World labrynths. There are few ballpark amenities and mediocre food offerings. And the bathrooms ought to be condemned.

And Yankee Stadium? I lived in New York for four years, went to Yankee Stadium once and never went back. Beside the fact that my Tigers hat kept getting knocked off by the asshole behind me, sitting in a half-foot wide seat while the knees of the person behind you are touching the back of your head isn't my idea of a fun way to spend three hours.

Fenway? Well, at least they've got a really good team. The green wall isn't the only thing monstrous about that ballpark.

And when they finally knock down the rotting remains of now-vacant Tiger Stadium here in Detroit, I'll gladly drive the wrecking machine.

Sometimes old isn't legendary or sacred, it's just old.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

1. But, but, but!

But what about the grounds? Can't you guys back there figure out a way to save that? Imagine being able to walk where Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio and Charlie Gehringer etc,etc,etc.
I was born and raised in Detroit. Just wish a way could be found to preserve the actual playing field... :cry:

[El Supremo]

2. Why do you hate baseball?

I've been to Fenway and I hope to get to Wrigley soon. It is like going back to my childhood. The experience is phenomenal. I hear Briggs Stadium was very unique. But if I had to do it all year, it could be bad. But I could live with it.

[cboy4]

3. I guess I can see your point of view to a degree, but

Fenway and Wrigley are very fun stadiums.

The atmosphere alone at those places make up for the cramped spaces, IMO.

So I don't think old is necessarily bad.

Of course, I have season tickets at arguably the most gorgeous of the new baseball stadiums in MLB.

Too bad my team is the WORST in MLB. :puke:

[LSdemocrat]

4. I was not impressed at all by Yankee Stadium

The concourses are dank and dirty mazes of concrete, the concession stands are lousy, and the rest of the stadium looks like horridly generic 1970's architectural crap, which makes sense since the entire place was "renovated" in the 1970's.

[BOSSHOG]

5. Connie Mack Stadium

North Philly. I was weaned on baseball at that stadium watching the Phillies in the early 60's. As a ten year old I could not compare it to any other stadium. I thought it was a spaceship and every time I entered the Phillies took me for a ride. Actually it was a dump (compared to today's palaces) and died a painful conflagrating death after the VET opened (which is also now gone) but I will always remember Connie Mack very fondly.

Slightly off topic. The aging Barnhill Arena (Basketball) on the University of Arkansas campus still serves the students well although there is a much larger and fancier (Bud Walton Arena) a few blocks away. Barnhill remains a classic. The triplets (Moncrief, Delph, Brewer) played in Barnhill not Bud Walton, ergo a shrine to me.

[malakai2]

6. Fans can be assholes at any park

Do a lot of Cub fans at Wrigley get drunk? Hell yes. Do fans do the same thing at Miller Park? Hell yes. Miller Park being the shiny new venue, I am surprised that it, and not Wrigley, is the place where I've seen grown men crawl on their hands and knees back up to their seats because they were so drunk, and where I've seen teenage girls pick fights with grown men who, being drunk as hell, fight to win. Then of course we have The Cell, Busch, Citizens Bank, Coors, PNC, Shea...really, if you want to sit down and watch a game without somebody spilling their beer, their attitude, or their waistline over into your seat, I'd suggest watching a game at Dolphin Stadium or Kauffman Stadium, because both tend to be just about empty much of the time.

And the field layouts at some of the new parks! Why did the league agree to allow a damn hill, with attendant flagpole, to be placed in the outfield at Enron Field? If I wanted to see some guy in the field of play fall down on a hill, or knock himself out hitting a vertical obstacle that isn't a wall, I'd watch downhill skiing. Likewise, who signed off on 309 to right in AT&T Park (Not that Fenway is any better)? I want to see the ball in play, strategy, occasionally some small ball, not every lefty with marginal power trying to pull it into the drink.

When I decide whether or not to go, I generally prefer to go to the older parks for the entire experience. As someone else pointed out, it's a chance to experience the game in the same park where the greats have played, or where great games were played. Doesn't matter to me so much if the other fans are loud, or the sight lines aren't perfect, or I can't easily locate the jumbotron...I'm there for the total experience because it's not like watching a game at home. If the team has gone to great lengths to make me feel like I'm at home watching the game, I'll usually save my money and do just that.

[wingedearth]

7. lol sorry to hear that

I went to Yankee Stadium three times before and I didn't get my head touched from the guy behind. Maybe you were in the bleachers? There are many unruly types there, I hear.

[northzax]

8. oh, you want comfort?

go to the new Nationals Park. very comfy, I hear. only $37 for bleacher seats. the boxes right behind home plate are better, I confess, only $450 for those. very nice though.

[rinsd]

9. Just for that here's a Cub's fan doing a head first slide in the bathroom through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MHtx1nwFow