Appearing in the NY times, the author took the average rating for each of the nation's 30 ball parks from a review site, yelp.com. All of the ballparks had plenty of reviews, which factored into the ratings. This ranking system was also interesting because it figured in reviews on other variables such as: concessions, seat size and bathrooms; to name a few. And the winner by a long-shot was, of course, PNC Park.
From the article: "The winner by a country mile is Pittsburgh’s PNC Park. More than 80 percent of reviewers gave it the top, 5-star rating, and its average score was 4.77 points. It is followed by Boston’s Fenway Park (4.59 stars), San Francisco’s AT&T Park (4.57), Minneapolis’ Target Field (4.53), and Baltimore’s Camden Yards (4.47)."
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| Courtesy of NY Times |
R Korn said:
ReplyDeleteI have been to the following ballparks to watch a baseball game: PNC Park, Fenway Park, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Old Tiger Stadium, Old Yankee Stadium, and of course Three Rivers Stadium. It is difficult for me to judge PNC Park since I go there several times a year, but it is definitely up at the top with Fenway and Camden Yards. I always liked Baltimore because it was the first of the new parks and really enjoy the warehouse in the outfield. Old Yankee stadium was ok, not as great as everyone made it out to be. The concourse was dumpy and it wasn’t very intimate since it was such a large stadium. I liked Old Tiger Stadium with the grandstands and the spacious outfield dimensions. Hopefully this summer I will be able to see Jacobs Field (or whatever they call the Indians field) and Dodger Stadium, which I’ve always wanted to see. San Fran looks great on TV. Looking back Three Rivers was probably the worst place to watch a baseball game.
Here are stadiums that I have been to:
ReplyDeletePNC Park
Three Rivers
Wrigley Field
Nationals Park
Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Fenway Park
Yankee Stadium
Angel Stadium
Tiger Stadium
Saw the outside of Skydome
Saw the outside of US Cellular Field (White Sox)
Saw the outside of New Yankee Stadium
Saw the outside of Citi Field (Mets)
My best ball park experience was at Fenway. I just remember thinking "this must be what it was like at Forbes Field when the Pirates were good. Everyone was into the games, even the hotdog, beer, and money changing hands was automatic all the way down the row.
Best stadium PNC Park - we know why.
Favorite Stadium - Oriole Park at Camden Yards, this was be refuge when living in Baltimore. I loved seeing games there and I have memories going there as a kid.
Most disappointing experience was Yankee Stadium. Maybe this was because it was against a bad Orioles Team in April in 45 degree weather.
Worst stadium - Nationals Park. You would think after all of the retro stadiums people would have the designs down, but it is in the ghetto, no restaurants around, police herded you onto and off of the metro so you did not enter the neighborhood and you can't actually see the DC monuments from anywhere in a seat. Also, very overpriced inside. The best part was that there were no bars blocking views, they used seamless glass.
Top ball parks I want to see a game at:
Dodger Stadium (just missed this game by a day when we were in California)
AT&T Park (so that I can compare for myself the 2 best parks)
Coors Field (I want to see if balls really go further)
I think I may be a connoisseur of the worst of the worst. I have been to old RFK stadium, Tropicana field, Skydome (Rogers centre) in Toronto and Three Rivers. I actually think that three rivers was much better than the skydome; it was absolutely disgusting. Although the one side has the new features (a large glass wall that houses restaurants and a hotel), the stadium had the largest incline out of any. The seats were also tight despite how big it was; it was one of the last 'bowl' stadiums and it was a huge mistake.
ReplyDeleteI have also been to wrigley, camden and PNC. I liked them all but PNC was my favorite. I also liked the other two a lot, especially wrigley, although I can see how the concession stands would cause some poor reviews. (They are all really old school and small).
@Steller you may be right, those are probably the worst stadiums, too bad you couldn't add the Vet, Riverfront, the Kingdome, Metrodome, & Oakland Coliseum to your list of worst stadiums.
ReplyDeleteThere were so many awful ones built in the 60's and 70's. I wish they would have had the foresight to preserve some of the treasures like Forbes Field, I would have loved to see that.