Stadium seeding: Great American Ballpark

The more stadium Matt visits, the more clear the lines between good stadiums and bad stadiums becomes. It's obvious which teams just put up a stadium, and which teams built a ballpark.

Thanks to the generosity of Lynne's Aunt Carol and Uncle Rick, Matt was able to attend two games last weekend at the Great American Ballpark. GAB was built in 2003 and named after an insurance company. Being able to walk through the stadium on back-to-back nights (awesome!) really redefined what baseball's average stadiums are missing.
Part of the difference is generational. The stadiums built in the 60s are missing all the little extras that make today's stadiums spectacular. Shea Stadium was basically a huge metroplex without a spot of character to it. Monument Park at Old Yankee Stadium was once considered novel, but now everyone has at least that. Once Camden Yards came along, the stadium game changed. Architecture got more interesting. Creativity was encouraged. It wasn't enough to provides fans with just a seat; you wanted them to have an experience.
Matt believes part of the divide might also be partially the fan base. The teams with fans that truly watch the game - Cardinals, Twins, for instance - tend to have stadiums that cater to their appreciation of the history of the team. (There are exceptions. Padres have a great stadium but not much of a fan base.) Then, there are the teams that just throw up a park and wait for the people show up. Matt loves the Mets, but Mets fans are not involved in the details of the game. They like looking around or yelling at someone. The same can be said of the Dodgers, Cubs or Brewers fans. (Not all of them, but you get the point.)

That's a long lead-in to say that Great American Ballpark is certainly on the good side of this stadium divide. It does everything right.
Now, before Matt details the GAB highlights, one more aside about his general criteria. In a stadium, Matt is looking for: easy access, good seating, reasonable prices, an appreciation of baseball history, a unique experience, beauty, hometown flavor, good food, cool souvenirs and nice neighborhood. Is that so much to ask?

Great American Ballpark (June 15-16, 2011, vs. Cardinals)
Let's start with the field and the seating. In Game One, everyone was sitting behind third base, about six rows back, so part of Matt's reaction is because the seats were fantastic. But even from further back in the stadium, you feel very close at GAB. There's not a lot of foul territory. Also, the seats are angled so they're all facing home plate. It was such an absolutely brilliant concept. (Most stadiums have seats parallel to the foul lines.) Basically, GAB gives everyone an easy view of the game. No straining necks. Fantastic.

You could walk through the whole ballpark, which was great.(Not sure if it's the same for upper deck seats.) There was lots of places to look in on the field and get plenty of different perspectives. (In fact, you could look into the stadium when it was closed, which Matt did on his morning runs.) There was also a misting station in center field, which felt great on a sticky 97-degree day. Also, in centerfield, there was a scenic area that looked out on the Ohio River. (Bonus points because you can walk over the bridge to go back to your hotel after the game.)
Architecturally, the stadium is beautiful. There's a riverboat in centerfield which looked cool. It's apparently a restaurant or something, but Matt never got a chance to check that out. Also, inside the stadium, they've printed all these great baseball quotes in the concourse, which is a really cool touch. (Matt's fave, from Dave Bristol: “There’ll be two buses leaving the hotel for the park tomorrow. The two o’clock bus will be for those of you who need a little extra work. The empty bus will be leaving at five o’clock.”)

Outside, the stadium had some excellent statues. Ted Kluszewski was standing in the infield, wearing a bronze sleeveless shirt. Cool. Nearby, Joe Nuxhall was pitching to Frank Robinson with Ernie Lombardi catching. Those are cool statues. Obviously, you want to honor Babe Ruth if he played for your team. But the Joe Nuxhalls and Kent Hrbeks are for the real die-hards.
But what makes GAB stand apart from any other stadium is the museum. The Reds are the oldest team in baseball and they have a rich, rich history. The Reds museum ($8 admission) is absolutely wonderful. It appeals to the baseball nerds and the casual fans. You can get close the World Series trophies and pretend you're making a catch at the outfield wall. There is absolutely no reason all the league's older teams (Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, White Sox, Cardinals, Red Sox) shouldn't have something similar. It's printing money. Last weekend, the Reds Hall was dominated by a Johnny Bench exhibit, which was fantastic. Between the first and third floors (for some reason, the Reds put their executive offices on the second floor), there are 4,526 baseball's screwed to the wall to represent each of Pete Rose's hits. It's incredible to look at. The museum takes off on the third floor. There's a Reds Hall of Fame. You can sit in a replica dugout with Sparky Anderson and Fred Hutchinson. When you pick up the bullpen phone, you can hear Sparky telling baseball stories. There's kids dugout with mini lockers and slide. There's a broadcast booth where you can make the call on great Reds' games. Rick, Barry and Matt wore their arms out pitching off a 60-foot-6-inch mound, trying to strike out the batter painted on the wall. (You got your speed and they called balls and strikes.) Plus, there's a leaderboard for all the major statistical categories, which is one of Matt's favorite features. They had the top 10 in each category, plus the active leader. Great stuff.
The Tigers are the only team that comes anywhere close to offering up this much history, but it's literally and figuratively not in the same ballpark.

Really, there were only three downsides to GAB: One, their scorecard policy is atrocious, down there with the Yankees, Dodgers and Red Sox. The only scorecard you could get was in a program. Bush league.
And, for some reason, the Reds have the cashiers also making drinks. This slowed down the concession lines considerably. The prices were reasonable and the dogs were great, but the lines were way too slow and you missed a lot of the game to get a drink on a hot day.
Finally, there was no penny smasher. C'mon! And they weren't selling a shirt with either of the old Reds' logos on them. That's just obvious.
Matt's kidding a bit there. (Except about the scorecard and concessions.)

The ballpark was great and the games themselves were entertaining.
Game One ended with Brandon Phillips hitting a walk-off home-run-or-go-home bomb, the first time Matt's seen one in person. The ending was spectacular after the Reds had fumbled a way a ton of chances earlier that night. Those blunders caught up to them in Game Two when three (three!) base runners got themselves stranded and Albert Pujols hit his 2-1/2 homer of the series.
One last aside: Joey Votto is absolutely amazing. He is a great ballplayer and a pleasure to watch.

Here's Matt's updated ratings of the fields he's visited, which has now reached half the major leagues:
First tier: Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox), Petco Park (San Diego Padres) and PNC Park (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Second tier, but close behind: Busch Stadium (St. Louis Cardinals), Comerica Park (Detroit Tigers),Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles) Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati Reds), Target Field (current Minnesota Twins),
Third tier: Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers), Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs)
Fourth tier, and still nice stadiums: Coors Field (Colorado Rockies), Citi Field (Mets) and Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles Dodgers)
Fifth tier and so-so stadiums: Shea Stadium (old New York Mets), U.S. Cellular Field (Chicago White Sox), Yankee Stadium (old New York Stinkees)
Sixth and a very bad stadium: Metrodome (old Minnesota Twins).

You can read ESPN Page 2's review of all these stadiums right here, although it's getting a bit really dated!

Stadium seating: Target Field

If you've read Matt's previous baseball-stadium rankings, then you know that the worst stadium Matt has ever been to is the Metrodome. It wasn't even close.
The fans there were great - perhaps the best in baseball - but that was the only thing that horrific stadium had going for it. Because it was really a football stadium (the Vikings still play there), it was an unnatural place to watch a game. The sight lines were horrible and the field itself was worse. The outfield wall was a Hefty bag. Seriously.
But this season, the Twins moved to a new ballpark, Target Field. Matt had heard rave reviews and then Lynne - the greatest wife ever - got him tickets to a July 1 game as a birthday gift. Is she the best or what?
So, Matt headed for the Rays game, joined by college friends, Luke and Eric.
Let's start here: Target Field is very, very nice. It lived up the advanced billing. And while it's not on Matt's all-time top tier of stadiums, it's not far off, either. The park is picturesque and has a nice blend of history and modern features. And you can tell they put thought into how the park can be uniquely Minnesota-n, if that's a word.
We'll begin with parking, which was easy to get to and reasonably priced, especially since Eric paid. (If you go, try to arrange that.) The stadium is in downtown Minneapolis and easy to access from public transportation.
Outside, there's statues of some of the Twins greats, including Kirby Puckett, Rod Carew and Harmon Killebrew. Alas, no Hrbek. And the members of the Twins Hall of Fame are pictured on a bridge near the stadium. These are the kind of features that Matt believes start to separate good parks from great parks. You need to tell visitors the story of the team. (Ahem, Cubs.)
No one does it better than the Tigers, but the Twins have a nice start. The Kirby Puckett statue is particularly well done in that respect because it shows him running the bases after hitting a home run to win Game 6 of the 1991 World Series. That image immediately evokes memories and inspires shared stories. Those stories create lifelong fans.
A little more history would have been even better. There was precious little about two World Series championship teams. Matt never understands why teams don't give fans more access to the trophies or other relics. Fans worship the players on those teams. Let's see something from it. (And while you're at it, add a Penny Smasher, Twins! C'mon!)
We'll transition into one of Matt's few dislikes about the park - albeit one that comes with a caveat. The concourse around the park was really crowded. There wasn't much space between the seats and the concession stands so it felt hectic and distracted from enjoying the amenities. The caveat is that the stadium is still new. A lot of people arrive early and wander around, just like Matt. So, this may ease up as the novelty wears off.
As for the park: wow. The field is beautiful. The scoreboard includes the largest, crispest TV screen Matt's ever seen. And the Twins - Paul and Minnie - from the team's old logo shake hands when someone hits a home run. Unique and cool.
There's also plenty of little nooks that make the park pure Minnesota, which is what the best stadiums get right. The team's organist sits in the middle of a heated bar where you can eat sandwiches and chat with her. Nice. Matt got a picture with her, but it didn't turn out. Electrical engineers don't know how to work flashes, apparently.
Matt also had the Tony Olivia Cuban sandwich and, after peeling off the pickles, enjoyed it very much. Plus, the pregame show takes place in the outfield so you can watch Ron Coomer and Roy Smalley break it all down. The hosts took pictures and chatted with fans who must have felt like they were part of the "Twins family."
Matt, Luke and Eric's seats - bought off stubhub because everything is sold out - were in the next to last row, just to the third base side of home plate. The view was fantastic and unobstructed.
Overall, a wonderful place to watch Joe Mauer play baseball. (Which is not something to take for granted.)
Oh, and the game? Well, the Twins managed to pull a full Cubbie. Even Luke - a Cubs fan - described it as such. They went from up one with two outs, two strikes and nobody on in the ninth to losing in 10. Ah, well.
In interest of full nerd disclosure, it should be noted that Matt, Luke and Eric spent at least an hour discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the Twins' scorecards. Three grown men, sitting next to each other, scoring the same game, critiquing the number of lines available to write in pitching changes. (Got have a souvenir!)
It will be interesting to see how the new stadium changes the crowd. It got loud in the Metrodome a lot and at the right times. The fans knew their baseball and didn't wait until the ninth to stand up. They knew a hit-and-run situation in the sixth could be key and got appropriately excited. As Luke pointed out, those fans had to like baseball because there was no other reason to go to the Metrodump. Now, this new stadium is attracting an extra 12,000 people and some of them are stadium-gazers. They're at the game because it's the cool thing to do. Nothing wrong with that, but it changes the dynamic a bit. For instance: a lot of people left with the team up one run in the ninth.
In summary, this is a beautiful stadium. If you asked Matt what stadiums you had to see, Target Field might not be first on the list. But if you were going to Minnesota, Matt would strongly suggest a trip to Target.
Last note: it's still fair to question the wisdom of building an outdoor stadium in Minneapolis, but it won't matter because the White Sox are going to keep the Twinkies out of the playoffs anyhow. Oh yeah, we said it.

The MH stadium count remains at 14, since the goal is to see every team's park, not every stadium ever.

Here's Matt's updated ratings of the fields he's visited:
First tier: Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox), Comerica Park (Detroit Tigers), Petco Park (San Diego Padres) and PNC Park (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Second tier, but still close behind: Busch Stadium (St. Louis Cardinals), Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles)
Third tier, and still close behind: Target Field (current Minnesota Twins), Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers), Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs)
Fourth tier, and still nice stadiums: Coors Field (Colorado Rockies), Citi Field (Mets) and Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles Dodgers)
Fourth tier and not-so-great stadiums: Shea Stadium (old New York Mets), U.S. Cellular Field (Chicago White Sox), Yankee Stadium (old New York Stinkees)
Sixth and a very bad stadium: Metrodome (old Minnesota Twins).

You can read ESPN Page 2's review of all these stadiums right here, although it's getting a bit really dated!

More non-baseball Minnesota pictures to follow!

A visit to Dodger Stadium and Petco Park

A few weeks ago, Lynne and Matt finally, finally got to visit their very good friends Alex and Ann, who live in Irvine, Calif. Although that entire state appears to be nuts - how can anyone drive so fast? - it was so wonderful to see friends. Not to mention the weather was perfect every day, you could drive to the ocean and you can eat fresh seafood for breakfast, lunch and dinner if you wanted. Still, they're nuts out there.
But going to California was also a great opportunity to add to Lynne and Matt's (OK, Matt's) baseball stadium quest. On July 18 and July 20, everybody went to Dodgers Stadium and Petco Park (home of the Padres), respectively.
And, without further ado, the evaluations.

STADIUM ONE - Dodger Stadium
Although it was built in 1962, Dodger Stadium is the third oldest ballpark in the majors. But unlike some other 60s stadiums (ahem, Metrodome, ahem), Dodger Stadium doesn't feel old. Basically, it's held up well.
Matt went to a game against the Astros, which the Dodgers won 5-3. Manny was back from suspension and it happened to be Joe Torre's 69th birthday. One of the highlights of the game was when Astros pitcher Mike Hampton - annoyed about giving up a double - angrily whipped the ball into his glove...and missed. A run scored on the play. Never saw that happen before.
The best thing about Dodger Stadium is the beauty. All of California is beautiful, but Dodger Stadium is scenic. From the parking lot in Chavez Ravine, you get a perfect view of downtown Los Angeles - from there it really does look like the City of Angels.
Inside the park is equally magnificent. The Dodger logo has weight and the team uses that well. The logo at the top of the fifth level behind home plate, 'Dodgertown' in block letters outside the stadium and the retired numbers placed perfectly in the outfield. The view was good from nearly any part of the park and Matt would have liked to try the seats in Mannywood, just for fun.
The park was exceptionally clean and the food was good and reasonably priced, considering it was Los Angeles. Plus, as shallow as this may be, it was neat to see celebrities in the stands. Fred Willard, Calista Flockhart were there and one of the ladies from Desperate Housewives almost bumped into Matt on the way out. Even if it wasn't Marlon Brando, it added a bit of Hollywood feel to the game.
From the top of the upper deck on a clean, fresh night, it was quite a sight.
The downsides? Really, there were two and a half.
Now, maybe Matt just was there on the wrong day...but one problem was the fans. It was strange. Even though it was a Saturday night game, most of crowd showed up late. Like the fourth inning. And most of them left early. Like the seventh. It was odd. Alex said it happens all the time.
Second, Matt was surprised that for a team with as much history as Dodgers have, very little is on display. There were pictures of the great Dodgers (Fernando, Garvey, Duke, Koufax, Pee Wee) on some of the beams, but nothing like the statues at Comerica Park. Jackie Robinson played for this team and there's hardly a mention of him! Matt has the same complaint about Wrigley Field. Fans would spend hours looking poring over these connections to the legends - even pay separate admission to a museum - but there's not a statistic, not a statue, not a pair of spikes. There wasn't even a cool tribute to the World Championship teams. It seems like a missed opportunity. To be fair, the Tigers are one of the few teams that actually do celebrate their past.
Finally, there was the little things: Dodger Stadium does not sell scorecards. Oh sure, you can buy a program and there's a scorecard in the middle, but it's virtually impossible to write in the book. Yes, Matt does counts that against the park because it seemed to fit in with the game-as-a-secondary-event feel that Dodger Stadium had. Everyone was rooting for LA, but if they lost, hey, we're in California and it's beautiful. The vendor even sold Matt the wrong month's program which wouldn't have been a big deal except the correct month had a big feature on longtime broadcaster Vin Scully, which would have been cool to read.
Finally, Dodger Dogs? Overrated. But Matt ate two of them.
Overall, it was a nice stadium in a lovely setting. Nothing spectacular and none of the bells and whistles of the newer parks. Although the above doesn't seem like a ringing endorsement, going to Dodger Stadium was a treat and Matt would happily go to another game there. He'd even stay for all nine innings.

STADIUM TWO - Petco Park
Heading to Petco Park, home of the Padres, Lynne and Matt had no expectations. Matt's Dad had said it looked nice when he visited in the winter. Otherwise, Matt didn't know much about the park, which opened in 2004. By the time Matt left, he had fallen in love.
The Pads lost to the Florida Marlins 3-2, and the highlights on the field were a moon shot by Hanley Ramirez and a back-to-back homers by Adrian Gonzalez (so good) and Kevin Kouzmanoff.
As for the park: amazing. Fantastic. One of the best.
Where to start?
Let's start in the city of San Diego itself, which is delightful. If you don't know - and Matt didn't - San Diego is a huge Navy town. Giant air craft carriers line the shore and there are salutes to the military everywhere. The back of the park (behind home plate) faces the ocean, which provides a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean sunset on most days. Stupendous.
In the outfield, there is a just-right Tony Gwynn statue: arms extended, pushing a double towards left center. There is also a miniature stadium where all game long, Padres staff pitches whiffle ball to kids. And if the kiddies get tired of that, they can go play in the giant sandbox in right field, where seats are $10. Great.
Petco Park, as a structure, is impressive. There are no bad views. An old warehouse is built in to left field, with decks to watch the game. It gives the park a very unique feel. There's plenty of Padres history inside the park, even though there really isn't much Padres history to celebrate. Two National league pennants only go so far. But that's supplemented by a history of the grounds the park was built on (what was found during the dig) and a general history of the area. Classy, San Diego.
Finally, the prices. You could buy a nice Padres shirt and hat for $15. Then you could get the five-for-five deal: hot dog, peanuts, popcorn, cookie and a drink for $5. And not some tiny drink or wimpy hot dog - quality food. (They also had something called "All you Can Eat Seats", but Matt never did figure out how true that was.) So, a family of four could get tickets, a hat and shirt, as well as dogs, cookies and drinks for ... are you ready... $120. Cut the souvenirs out and it's $60 for a family of four to eat and see the Padres. Two Sox tickets or one Cubs ticket run you that much. $120 is still a lot of money, but compared to every other park, that's good value.
Of course, you have to watch the Padres. And that was one of the only sad parts of game. Yes, it was a Tuesday. And, yes, the Padres are terrible and the Marlins weren't much better. And, sure, the Tim Stauffer-Rick VandenHurk pitching matchup wasn't super sexy. But there was no one at that game. Announced attendance was 17,184, but thousands of fans were disguised as empty seats. It was sad.
The only other strike against Petco was that they didn't have a Penny Smasher, which is absolutely one of Matt's favorite souvenirs. Clearly, that's not much of a complaint.
So, Petco was one of the best parks Matt's visited, behind only the parks (or maybe teams) with more history to show off. Still, it's a must see if you get the chance.

Here's Matt's updated ratings of the fields he's visited:
First tier: Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox), Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles), Petco Park (San Diego Padres) and PNC Park (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Second tier, and close behind: Busch Stadium (St. Louis Cardinals), Comerica Park (Detroit Tigers), Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs)
Third tier, still close behind: Coors Field (Colorado Rockies), Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers), Citi Field (Mets) and Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles Dodgers)
Fourth tier and further back: Shea Stadium (New York Mets), U.S. Cellular Field (Chicago White Sox), Yankee Stadium (New York Stinkees)
Fifth and this is a bad stadium: Metrodome (Minnesota Twins).
You can read ESPN Page 2's review of all these stadiums right here, although it's getting a bit dated!

A visit to Citi Field

A few weeks back, Matt and his dad got a chance to go out to New York to see some golf, some baseball and some family.
The Men watched the U.S. Open, which was played at Bethpage Black, a very difficult course. (And one that Matt's Dad has played while growing up on Long Island.) The Men had been to the U.S. Open at Bethpage in 2002. That was a great tournament -Tiger edged Phil. This year didn't have a brand name winner and it had plenty of rain, but it wasn't any less fun. The Men saw all the big golfers and saw them up close. Plus, there was random sightings of Rudy Guliani (walking with Phil) and former Mets catcher Gary Carter (watching golf, oddly enough).
The Men also had a chance to check out the Mets new ballpark, Citi Field for a game against The Rays. The park opened this year, replacing that overgrown behemoth, Shea Stadium.
The outside of Citi Field is supposed to resemble Ebbets Field, the former home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. The centerpiece is the Jackie Robinson rotunda, which lines up behind home plate. The rotunda includes video and images from Robinson's career and a huge blue No. 42 that you can get your picture with. The space was impressive although the meanings were a bit jumbled. The area seemed designed to invoke storytelling. And, if you know the stories, that's great. Sadly, Matt didn't get a very good picture of the rotunda.

As for the stadium itself, Citi Field is huge and beautiful. Players are complaining about the dimensions and understandably so. The Men saw David Wright launch a ball - for a double. But the park itself is stunning. It's similar to Coors Field, with sightlines from every part of the ballpark. You can watch the game while standing in line for your hot dog. And, the Mets let you walk around in - or look into - every level of the park, rather than forcing you into your ticketed seats (like the White Sox do to upper deckers). Even sitting in the upper deck, The Men had a great view.

The food was average for baseball food and the prices weren't outrageous. The staff there was exceptionally friendly, which goes against some of New York's reputation. And all of the items in the gift shop came out to even dollar amounts so the lines moved faster, which was sort of ingenious.

The only downsides to Citi Field was the surprising lack of baseball history in the stadium. There was very little to commemorate the Mets' two World Series championships, and no team artifacts or tributes to the great Mets. Matt had the feeling those will be added in the future, during special events. (Tom Seaver Day!)

The Mets were generous about keeping the stadium open, even after a night game so The Men got to walk down behind home plate and visit the Big, Big Apple. The Apple used to emerge from the ground of Shea when Mets' players homered, and it has been transported to Citi Field where you can take a picture with it. After that, Matt got to run the bases of Shea Stadium, which are marked in the parking lot.

Overall, a nice park and only going to get better.

So, Matt's baseball stadium total remains at 12, because Matt's goal is to visit the stadium of every team, not every stadium ever. (Matt's dad has been to many more, including a bunch of retired stadiums.

Here's Matt's ratings of the fields he's visited:
First tier: Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox), Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles) and PNC Park (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Second tier, and close behind: Busch Stadium (St. Louis Cardinals), Comerica Park (Detroit Tigers), Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs)
Third tier, still close behind: Coors Field (Colorado Rockies), Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers), Citi Field (Mets)
Fourth tier and further back: Shea Stadium (New York Mets), U.S. Cellular Field (Chicago White Sox), Yankee Stadium (New York Stinkees)
Fifth and this is a bad stadium: Metrodome (Minnesota Twins).
You can read ESPN Page 2's else review of all these stadiums right here.

Lynne and Matt plan to add two new stadiums to the list this weekend, so reports will be posted here soon!