Baseball's Greatest Parks

One of the many shows I watch on the MLB Network is Prime 9. The show picks a baseball related topic and counts down the top nine (in the opinion of their staff) second basemen, broadcasters, outfield arms, whatever. Yesterday, I watched one where they count down the top nine ballparks.

This one was of special interest because I love ballparks. I have seen games at roughly 40 different Major League and Minor League ballparks. One of the things on my bucket list is to tour all 30 MLB ballparks in one summer.

So I was mentally comparing my own list to the Prime 9 list and I thought they did a pretty good job of choosing the top ballparks. Here's the list, in reverse order, with my comments:

9. Shibe Park, Philadelphia: Shibe Park, later called Connie Mack Stadium, isn't one of those ballparks most people think of when they list the classics. It opened in 1909 and was home to the A's until they moved to Kansas City and the Phillies until Veterans Stadium opened. While not as famous as other parks from the era like the Polo Grounds or Ebbets Field, it contained a number of important firsts in ballpark construction. It was the first concrete-and-steel major league stadium and it was the first stadium with a second seating deck. All the other ballparks built during this era took their cues from Shibe Park. With it's historical significance in providing the template for ballparks for the next half-century, it certainly belongs on this list.

8. Astrodome, Houston: The first domed stadium, the Astrodome certainly belongs on this list. Whatever you might think of indoor baseball (I'm not a fan), you can't deny the influence of the Astrodome on ballpark construction to this day. You could add the Rogers Centre as sort of an 8a for being the first retractable roof stadium.

7. Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles: Believe it or not, Dodger Stadium, opened in 1962, is the third oldest MLB stadium still in use (after Fenway Park and Wrigley Field). It's at the top of my list of ballparks that I want to visit that I haven't been to yet. From the pictures I have seen on TV, it still looks brand new, even though it's almost 50 years old.

6. Tiger Stadium, Detroit: A classic old ballpark I was lucky enough to visit before it closed. Baseball was played at "The Corner" of Trumbull and Michigan for over a century until the Tigers moved to Comerica Park for the 2000 season.

5. Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore: Camden Yards was the first of the "retro-modern" ballparks when it opened in 1992. The combination of old-time ballpark atmosphere with modern amenities has been the template for every new ballpark and major ballpark renovation since. It's still my favorite of the ballparks I have visited (other than Fenway). It probably should be higher on the list.

4. Ebbets Field, Brooklyn: The most storied of the old ballparks on the list, it probably deserves to be here just based on the fact that Jackie Robinson played his first game there. If I had a time machine, a game at Ebbets Field in the early 1950s would be one of my stops.

3. Wrigley Field, Chicago: Because, really, if Wrigley weren't so great, would anyone be a Cubs fan?

2. Yankee Stadium (Original), New York: The House that Ruth Built. 26 Yankee World Series Championships were won here. Home of Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Jeter and so on. Gotta be on the list.

1. Fenway Park, Boston: It's the oldest ballpark in MLB and the renovations undertaken by the John Henry ownership over the last 10 years have tremendously upgraded the fan experience. Sometimes, older is better.