19.
We are 19 days away from The Real National Hot Dog Day and we're counting down the stadiums I've been to in order from worst to best.
This is the third home park of the Expos/Nationals franchise that I've been to and it's the best one. That might be damning with faint praise, the other places were 29 and 28 on the big board, but Nationals Park is really nice.
Unfortunately, that's about all I remember about National's Park. I remember who I went to the game with, Giuliana, my friend Brian and his son. I sorta remember where I sat; second level on the third base side, I think. But other than that, the park is a bit of a blur.
I recall it being roomy and modern, but with some interesting quirks. I don't even remember who the Nats played (I'll find out in a second when I go to retrosheet.org) other than Bryce Harper played. Like I mentioned yesterday, I thought that it was really cool that Giuliana and I got to see the two best players (Harper and Mike Trout) play at their home parks in one year.
I will say that it wasn't the stadium where I got amnesia--this was a rough summer vacation week with the kids. It all began on Saturday when we drove to Aly's cousins' place in New Jersey. They're awesome, cooked up a bunch of food, gave us a ton of beers, they couldn't have been cooler.
The problem was the traffic. It took forever to get from Burlington to the Jerz. But we assumed that was going to be the worst of it and it was smooth sailing (errr driving) from there.
It was not. The next morning we got started on the last leg of our trip that was supposed to take roughly four hours. It took eight. Eight hours in a car with a nine-year-old and a six-year-old. It was hell. Especially since Mady demanded that we listen to Disney pop starlet du jour Sabrina Carpenter try her best to warble her way through "Genie in a Bottle". Again. Hell.
By the time we got to DC we were frazzled, fried and annoyed. Aly and I were angry about the traffic while the girls were pissed that we weren't in Los Angeles (like we were in April) or on the Cape (like we were last year). They let us know this piece of information, which made both of even angrier.
As the week went by, things settled down. Giuliana was okay and made the best of her situation as we dragged the kids from museum to museum to museum. Mady was not--truthfully, we undershot this learning vacation by a couple years--she completely lost her shit in one of the Smithsonians and I had to carry her out of the museum like a piece of luggage.
After four days of this, by Thursday, I was completely zonked. I was fried and just remember getting to the game, buying a cap (that I rarely ever wear any more -- red hats aren't awesome for some reason) getting a few beers, zoning out and talking to my friend. It was a real respite from what was happening.
I guess that's what baseball is all about as I did feel better when I got home.
Here's the game that we saw: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2016/B08240WAS2016.htm The Nats made it close in the end, but we were long gone by then. We were in the car listening to the game and the Nats were really making a run at scoring eight runs in the ninth and Brian and I were like, "Holy shit, should we go back?" But the National's rally fell short and we went home.
No current Hall of Famers, but I bet that Harper and (then) Oriole third baseman Manny Machado are elected. Machado is a world-class dink, so good for him.
18.
We are 18 days away from The Real National Hot Dog Day and we're counting down the stadiums I've been to in order from worst to best.
Pretty much every stadium that I've listed from Shea onward is a beautiful place to watch a game--though to be fair Olympic, RFK and Oakland had their moments too. If you ever played even an inning of baseball when you were a kid, you'd kill to get on any of these fields and run over the most beautifully manicured grass that you've ever seen.
Busch Stadium II keeps that tradition going. It's such a wonderful place to watch a game and see the vivid greens against a bright blue sky as players wear panic red hats and crisp white uniforms. It's a painting come to life.
But every park is bright and electric that now. Gone are the days when you shuffle into a dingy, dark stadium with grass (or turf) that's full of tobacco stains and spots of crab grass. There was a time when a fresh coat of paint was considered "sprucing up the place" and there wasn't much in terms of game presentation.
At some point in the last 40ish years, owners realized that fans want these places to be cathedrals. Not to just the game, but cathedrals of the mind too. They want to be transported back to when they were kids and there was nothing but sunshine, green grass and hours to play baseball. You go into a baseball park now and it's a visual sensory overload--and that's not a bad thing.
At any other time in the history of baseball, Busch Stadium II would be the ultimate baseball Taj Mahal. People would come from miles to stare at the field, admire the architecture and be floored that grown men stage athletic competitions in this urban oasis. However, we live when we do and Busch Stadium II is a really nice stadium. There's nothing particularly memorable about it, it's just a cool place where I saw a baseball game once.
While Busch Stadium I, with it's multipurpose oval and tough as nails turf, was the more memorable stadium. Was it better? Hell no. But it was more memorable because of the way that it played.
Growing up in the 80s, Busch Stadium seemed like it was the grand canyon. Barely anyone, aside from Jack Clark, could hit home runs in the place though that didn't matter. The Cards ran. And ran. And ran. And ran. They'd slap the ball on that hard turf, get on first base and then run around the bases until they got home.
Vince Coleman. Ozzie Smith. Willie McGee. Tom Herr. Lonnie Smith. Terry Pendleton. These dudes could run all day and their manager Whitey Herzog instructed them to do so. It would drive pitchers nuts and that resulted in three World Series appearances in that decade.
It was so foreign to the way the Red Sox played, that it was scary. But the ballpark dictated how the Cards played (just like Kaufman dictated how the Herzog-led Royals played--which was the speed game too--it must be something about Missouri). There aren't a lot of parks like the original Busch Stadium that dictate style any more. Most parks are built for the long ball (the original Busch ripped out the turf in the mid 90s and the Cards imported Mark McGwire and suddenly they were all power, all the time) but baseball is fun when it's played in different styles.
I never thought that I'd get to St. Louis. This isn't some sort of boyhood wish, it's just that I never thought that I'd ever want to go there. But I did get there and it was for a work event which is when I experienced Busch II.
Ever have a job where you just hated going to? Most of the people I worked with was nice, but my boss wasn't great and the whole vibe of the place was like a frat house. What I did for my job was dull, meaningless and I got paid nothing. About the only thing that I liked about that particular job was that I got to travel in the summer--I saw three new stadia in 2006 alone. Other than that, it sucked and soul sucking. Probably one of the worst, dumbest jobs I ever had. I felt gross every evening that I left that place.
But for one night, I got to sit in centerfield behind one of my generation's greats, eat a giant turkey leg (they deep fry it in the park and it was tremendous), watch the Cards play the Reds and forget all about that stupid job that I had which brought me to St. Louis.
Here's the box score of the game that I saw: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2006/B06050SLN2006.htm
Hall of Famers include Ken Griffey Jr. of the Reds and Scott Rolen of the Cards. Yadi Molina also played and he might get in too. Cinci won with three in the ninth and I'm sure that sent the St. Louisans home unhappy. Oh well, the Cards won the Series that year. I'm sure that made them feel a little better.
17.
We are 17 days away from The Real National Hot Dog Day and we're counting down the stadiums I've been to in order from worst to best.
You guys have to believe me: I'm not ranking Yankee Stadium II (some people call it YS III because they count the refurbishing of the original place as the second version. I'm not one of those people) low because I dislike the team. I'm ranking it low (and TBH, it should be lower) because it's not that great of a stadium.
Oh, I'm sure it's fine if you're buying the ultra expensive seats with all of the perks. But I'm not doing that. I'm just a guy who brought his two kids to a game with his friend and his two kids on a random Saturday in July. We sat in the second tier behind home plate, which gave us a pretty good view of the game. A view that my kids were uninterested in in--to be fair they were pretty young. They ate hot dogs and cotton candy and a bunch of other crap and paid more attention their iPads then the game.
Am I going to spend $500 a ticket for three seats for that experience? No. Would I spend that much money for just myself? Also no. The cool part about baseball is that there is 162 games a year, 81 of which are home contests. Not every game matters and that's a selling point for me. I know in this NFLian sports world that we find ourselves in where EVERY GAME FUCKING MATTERS MORE THAN LIFE AND DEATH ITSELF!!!!! my thinking runs counter to what many sports fans believe.
With a game against the Royals in May being just a game against the Royals in May, not some cosmic, do or die quest to ground the Royals and everyone that they've ever met into dust--maybe it's not worth it to pay that much for such an expensive seat. All games don't matter.
The problem with Yankee Stadium II that I had/have is that it's too big, too imposing, too gargantuan. I get what the architects are trying to convey, that this is the home of the Yankees, they home of the most popular sports franchise on the planet, big things are going to happen here and they're all going to be legend. I understand the plan but, so far, it hasn't really turned out that way, has it?
The Yankees are good, but they've only won one title since they opened this place up. There are definitely some great players (Judge, Cole, etc) but are they on par with Ruth and Gehrig and DiMaggio and Mantle and Reggie and (ugh) Jeter? Maybe they will be, but right now, no.
It just seemed like the Yankees were like, design the biggest stadium that you can and we'll grow into it. Only it's been 15 years and the team still looks like it's wearing its Dad's suit.
Not only that but with the "moat" that separates the cheap(er) seats from the super expensive ones, Yankee Stadium II looks like an overgrown spring training park.
Other than that, it was an enjoyable take. The park was brand new and there were some really impressive stuff in the concourse. The food was good, the famous friezes were there and the Yankees lost to the Red Sox. All-in-all a good day at the park for this guy (everyone I went to the game with were either Yankee fans or completely indifferent).
Here's the box score of the game that I saw: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2016/B07160NYA2016.htm
Only one current HoFer was in either lineup: David Oritz, but some guys with chances to make Cooperstown showed up: Mookie Betts, Dustin Pedroia (long shot), Carlos Beltran and CC Sabathia pitched. He didn't have a great game, striking out two while giving up nine hits and five runs (four earned).
The Sox had Aaron Hill play third base and although this was seven years ago (2016 was a great year for me in seeing new parks) I had absolutely no memory of this guy. At all. They also ran out Bryce Brentz who I barely remember.
Getting old is a trip, dudes.
16.
We are 16 days away from The Real National Hot Dog Day and we're counting down the stadiums I've been to in order from worst to best.
The day I went to this game with my friend Ryan, had to be one of the warmest days I was ever at a ballpark. No one told me that Cincinnati would be so hot in June. But it was a hot one, like seven inches from the mid day sun. We were in the left field bleachers, in no shade with direct sun light on us and we were sweating and dying and kvetching.
But it was still a great day.
TGAB may not have the pedigree of its predecessors Crosley Field and Riverfront Stadium, but it's a terrific place to watch a game. Situated right on the Ohio River, it has the vistas and views that you want when you're watching a game. I mean, there's a legit river boat--the ones with a giant paddlewheel--right on the river. I think it's a casino, but it's still cool as hell.
TGAB really digs into that whole river life with two smoke stacks in right center field that go off when a Red hits a dinger. Not only that but there's a lot of Reds history to mine and TGAB does that. There are statues of great Reds all over the place, replicas (some giant) of past World Series trophies around the park, pictures and just a ton of memorabilia. The food is decent too and there are even giant statues of Mr. and Mrs. Red where you can grab a selfie if you want.
It's a fun ass park and I can't think of any real downside.
The only real reason why I have it so low on this totem pole is because Cincinnati is kind of boring. Ryan and I blew into town on a sunny Saturday from Detroit and we had to hustle to get to the afternoon game. Once the game was over, we wanted to wet our whistles a bit but it seemed like every restaurant and bar in the area was closed.
Even the SkyLine Chili joints were closed--and god help us--that was the thing we really wanted to try. I know people say its garbage on spaghetti, but I wanted to be the judge of that.
Cincinnati felt like Hartford or Phoenix, major cities in name but dead every where. We ended up finding a place to grab something to eat (I can't remember what it was, but it filled us up), we had a few beers and returned back to our hotel--which was right across the street from the fountain that was shown at the beginning of every episode of "WKRP in Cincinnati". That was cool as hell.
What we didn't find out until after we returned to Massachusetts was that all of the Cincinnati night life happens in Kentucky. I know that might seem like kinda far away if you don't know Cincinnati, but it's literally over the bridge of the Ohio River. The exact same Ohio River whose banks that the Great American Ballpark sits on!
Had I known that Kentucky--Kentucky??--was the place to be, mayhaps this ballpark would have ranked higher. If you're going to TGAB you'll have a terrific time at the park (especially with the team that the Reds have assembled) but if you're looking to whoop it up, get thee to Kentucky.
Here's the box score of the game that we saw: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2021/B06120CIN2021.htm
This was an absolutely unremarkable game, no one on either roster will ever sniff the Hall of Fame. This was one of those games where I was thinking to myself, "The Reds aren't too bad, the Rockies are a garbage fire. Maybe Wade Miley (the Reds' starter) might throw a no-hitter."
It didn't happen and I'm still searching for my first, in-person no-no. Will it happen? IDK. Maybe? I hope so. I'm not even asking for a perfect game, just a garden-variety no hitter.
15.
We are 15 days away from The Real National Hot Dog Day and we're counting down the stadiums I've been to in order from worst to best.
We're headed back to the ATL (I heard Atlantans don't like Hot-lanta very much, so I won't write it) as today's stadium is Truist Park in Atlanta, GA home of the Atlanta Braves.
We're not going to talk too much about stadia and where they're situated in a city and why. We discussed that in my entry on Turner Field and nothing much has changed. TL;DR owners aren't just satisfied with a lot of people coming into their parks and spending money. They want the white--er right (Freudian slip, I swear)--type of people, so they're moving to for whiter--damn, sorry I mean the greener pastures of the suburbs.
It sucks and it really fucks with the fabric of the game and it's hard to make new fans when you disenfranchise a large portion of your constituent's population. But you know, I'm sure trying to get every single dollar right now is not going to bite them in the ass later. The death spiral of capitalism continues unabated!
No. We're here today to talk about a really cool park called Truist Field. Yes, the Braves didn't have to move from Turner Field, but they did and the results are pretty good. Everything is brand new and it's a great marriage of the modern with little touches of the old school. Would I want this place in Boston? Yes I would. It's a lovely place to catch a game. And speaking of catch we sat in left field last year to watch a tilt between the Bravos and the Dodgers.
Around the fourth inning my wife, my brother-in-law and I got a bit antsy so we decided to walk around the park. Two minutes after we leave our seat former Red Sox financial flexibility casualty Mookie Betts dumped a ball a row or two from where we were sitting. I'm not saying that I would have got that ball, but there would have been more than a couple injured children and elderlies in Cobb County that night.
As we walked around the park, it was fascinating; it felt like I was in a museum. Tons of memorabilia, from statues to pictures to old uniforms spanning the time the Braves franchise was in Boston and Milwaukee and Atlanta. Like if you knew nothing about the Braves and spent two innings milling around the concourse, you'd be a Braves expert by the time you were done.
Fittingly there was a ton of stuff dedicated to the Hammer, Hank Aaron. There was a huge statue sitting on top of an indoor waterfall that was impressive as hell. Larger than life images of him displayed everywhere. If Yankee Stadium I was the House that Ruth Built, Truist is the House that Aaron Owns.
Such a brilliant tribute to a great, great man.
This got me thinking a little bit. When it comes to our ball parks and stadiums here in America, what do we expect? Do we want, what is essentially, a museum built around the field? Do we want a place that is haunted by the ghosts of the past, even though there are heroes on the field, not more than 100 feet from the place you're walking around? In entertainment that is literally all about THE NOW, why do we need to be awash in nostalgia and the past? Who does it serve?
A few years ago I went to see FC Barcelona play at fabled Camp Nou. Barcelona is one of the most famous football clubs in the world and they play in a stadium that reminded me of RFK. The pitch was beautiful, Augusta National would be lucky to have such manicured grass, but the stadium itself was fine. You could even call it a bit run down.
There were no frills. Nothing to eat except sausages and chips. No drinks except water, Coke and Diet Coke. No souvenir stands. No museums. The scoreboard was small and it just showed the game. It didn't beg people to clap or kiss or buy a ticket for the 50/50 raffle. Messi didn't ask fans to be a Barcelona Booster.
It was just the game. And people were into it because there wasn't a million distractions. It was an awesome experience due to the entire crowd all watching the same action at the same time. Praying for crosses to be met with hard strikes. Dying with every opponent's march down the field. Jubilation and awe when Messi and Suarez scored to put the home team up by one.
I'll never forget it. And if I acted in Atlanta the way I did in Spain, maybe I'd have a Mookie Betts home run ball in possession.
Could that work in the US? I think so. But is it advantageous for a club to do that, remove the distractions, remind the people that you are at the stadium for one thing: a ball game. I'm not sure. We're so used to going to a game and having it be an EXPERIENCE. I talked about this when I wrote about Yankee Stadium II, MLB (and all leagues really) are desperately trying to NFLize their games--EVERY GAME MATTERS! But it doesn't, so you have to entertain the masses other ways.
Distraction works.
I'm going to talk a little more about The Battery (the area surrounding Truist Park) when I talk about Fenway Park. The long short of it is: it's cool. Good restaurants, fun little shops, tons of bars. It's a quality hang. But at the same time, it's a little insidious (might be a strong word) but I'll get into that later.
Here's the box score of the game that I went to: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2023/B05240ATL2023.htm
Obviously no current Hall of Famers, but maybe some future ones? Mookie (of course), Freddie Freeman, Ronald Acuna, maybe JD Martinez (probably not). Atlanta won it in the ninth and we all went home happy--not me, because I like the Dodgers, but most people did, I suppose.
14.
We are 14 days away from The Real National Hot Dog Day and we're counting down the stadiums I've been to in order from worst to best.
For a team that was put together as an amalgam of the two beloved teams that left the city four years prior, it makes sense for the Mets to play in Citi Field. As everyone knows Giants and the Dodgers both left Gotham to play in the west coast in 1958 and the National League didn't come back until 1962.
When the Mets first started they played in the Giants' old park, the Polo Grounds and their uniforms were a combination of the Yankees (the pin stripes), the Giants (the orange) and the Dodgers (the blue). The Mets' history was really the city's baseball history. So it's not surprising that Citi Field is reminiscent of the Dodgers' Ebbets Field.
Former Mets owner Fred Wilpon was a huge Dodgers fan and said that while Citi Field isn't a copy of Ebbets, it certainly is an homage to the old park. I never went to Ebbets, so I'll have to take Wilpon's word for it and from every picture or movie I've seen of the old park it looks awesome, but I think that an opportunity was missed here.
Why would you constantly want to be in the shadow of two teams that left the city 70 years ago, not to mention the 800 pound gorilla that lives in the next borough? When Citi Field opened, the Mets should have taken that opportunity to do some thing really wild, something unpredictable, something that would separate the Mets from the ghosts of the past.
But they decided to play it safe and stick with nostalgia and build a park that honors another team's legacy. For everything that they did, the Dodgers are an important team in the annals of baseball history, but you know, they're still around. The Mets have their own history and should have either leaned into that more or stated something new.
That's not to say that Citi Field is a dump or a bad stadium, it's not. When Ryan and I went a few years ago, we had a terrific time. It's not located in the most fan-friendly neighborhood but the park itself is pretty awesome.
The rotunda, which does copy the Ebbets Field rotunda almost exactly, is massive and awe inspiring. It's one of the coolest parts of the park, I can see why Wilbon felt that it was important to replicate it. We sat on the third base side and the sight lines were terrific, we felt close enough to the action and just had a legitimate blast there. They also had the apple that pops up when the Mets hit a homer. Who doesn't enjoy that?
I'd love for a modern park with nods to the past to be built here in Boston. But for the Mets, I don't know, they've always been the little brother and any time they pull up their pants and try to play with the older kids, they usually get embarrassed--except for 1969 and 1986. Perhaps playing in a stadium that longs for the Dodgers to return to the city of their birth isn't the best vibe to be pedaling 81 games a year. It's like subliminally reminding everyone that, "we love you guys, but we'd trade your asses for the Dodgers (or Giants) in a second."
Here's the box score of the game we saw that day: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2022/B08062NYN2022.htm
No official Hall of Famers but Max Scherzer pitched and dominated the Braves, striking out 11 and allowing four hits over seven. For the Braves Max Fried wasn't as good (in the battle of Maxes he was the minimum--HO, HO, HO, HO!) and Ronald Acuna had a hit.
Fun game, the home crowd left happy and we had a good time in Queens.
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