MLB: The Five Best Ballparks in Major League Baseball
All MLB ballparks offer something. These five give us that extra special feeling of importance and fun.
The ballpark is as much of the experience of going to a ballgame as the game itself.
Whether you enjoy a Dodger Dog at Dodger Stadium or the train set at Houston’s Minute Maid Park, going to a game in person is always better than sitting on the couch watching on television. For some it is the ability to sit where a father and grandfather sat years ago. Others just want to be seen in the plush expensive seats. Some want to sample the food. There are even some of us there to watch a game. Whatever the reason, where teams play nearly equals how well they do.
With 30 teams in Major League Baseball, some places are a cut above others. What was once cutting edge, such as Oakland-Alameda Coliseum, now is outdated and in dire need of replacement. Others, like Angels Stadium in Anaheim, have undergone remodeling and look sharp despite age.
Unlike the other major sports, no two playing fields are the same. Fenway Park and Wrigley Field are shoehorned into a city block. Kauffman Stadium was built as part of a complex for easy access. A night at Marlins Stadium in Miami will feel different than a game at Minnesota’s Target Field.
Trying to pick the best five stadiums is tough and subjective. You will be a fan of wherever your home team plays. That is where the magic happens for all of us. But, whether you want to tour other parks or have the clicker stop on a Friday night, here are the five best ballparks in the game today.
Next: Awesome Stadiums Outside the Top 5
BEST OF THE REST
From historical to modern, these parks just are outside the top five, but are worth checking out:
— Millions have been spent refurbishing Boston’s Fenway Park over the last 15 years. Built in 1912, so much has been added and changed to the place that it is almost too much. New seats give fans views that are extraordinary and the neighborhood has turned into a friendly Boston Red Sox community. What has changed too much is all the additions has made Fenway a different park than 30 years ago. Before the luxury boxes and roof seats, left-handed pitchers hurled at Fenway at their own peril. Now, that disadvantage is gone. Still, Fenway oozes history and is worth the trip.
— When built in 1973, what was Royals Stadium was so different from other parks of the era it shook ballpark design. With a uniquely shaped scoreboard and waterfalls in the outfield, television made the place shine. A recent remodel of now Kauffman Stadium has modernized this gem. The Kansas City Royals have great fans, making the park special. The lone thing keeping it out of the top five is a new generation of stadiums that moved the bar higher. Great beer and baseball are in abundance at the “K.”
— Another refurbish gives Cleveland Indians home Progressive Field a good look. New lighting and scoreboards restored one of the newer parks into a better place to watch a game. Considered a retro park in design, from the bench bleachers in left to the grandstands, Progressive Field fits the city well. With the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nearby and the Tribe playing well, the former Jacobs Field is under-appreciated.
— As a new neighborhood goes up around it, Washington’s Nationals Park transformed the Navy Yard on the Anacostia River into a vibrant community. With the Capitol Building on the horizon, Nationals Park does not look old, yet possesses enough originality to not be bland. When the construction is finished in the area, the park will be the centerpiece of a 21st Century masterpiece.
Next: The New Detroit
5. COMERICA PARK
When the Detroit Tigers decided to leave iconic Tiger Stadium, coming up with a replacement was nearly an impossible task.
Having played on the corner of Michigan and Trumbull in Corktown, Tiger Stadium hosted baseball in some form since the 1800s.
Nestled along the Detroit River, Comerica has grown into a worthy replacement. Built in a retro-style, Comerica did not try cloning the old stadium. Instead, along with nearby Detroit Lions home Ford Field, Comerica represents a resurgent downtown Detroit. A reason to come to town. With two trips to the World Series in the park’s history, a new set of memories fill the place.
The Tigers do a fair share of day games, making Comerica different compared to other teams. A dirt path from the pitcher’s mound to home and a home plate area shaped like home plate itself give the park a unique look without being contrived.
Although there are not the stunning views found elsewhere, Comerica Park is a vital part of the city of Detroit’s re-emergence. It succeeds because it is original. A destination that mixes history with today.
Next: Eutaw Street's Finest
4. ORIOLE PARK AT CAMDEN YARDS
The first of the retro parks, the Baltimore Orioles moved from a football stadium in the north of the city to an old railroad yard on the Inner Harbor.
What the Orioles got was a masterpiece of a stadium that feels like it has been there forever. Whether it is the old Baltimore and Ohio warehouse preserved outside the right field wall or the bar run by Babe Ruth’s father now part of center field, Camden Yards changed ballparks forever.
As the old-style stadiums felt the wrecking ball, replaced by stadiums designed for both baseball and football, Oriole Park ended that cookie-cutter style. Non-uniform dimensions and old-style scoreboards returned. Now with a new cityscape rising above the outfield, the Orioles play in a place that could have been there 75 years ago. The stadium fits the city as much as crab cakes and Boog Powell’s barbecue stand in right field. Often imitated, the original is still near the top.
Although there has yet to be a World Series played there, Camden Yards hosted the game where Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive game record and two American League Championship Series. As with Comerica in Detroit, Camden Yards balances history with modern convenience.
Next: A North Side Tradition
3. WRIGLEY FIELD
The oldest park on the list, Wrigley Field has undergone dramatic change and yet still feels like a ballpark in the middle of the neighborhood.
With a much needed renovation ongoing, new bleachers, concourses, clubhouses and replay boards—for better or worse—gives the home of the Chicago Cubs a new life.
When the place finally received lights in 1988, the designed matched the original towers designed to go up in 1942. Yes, Wrigley was to be lit that early, but the steel for the task went to the military after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and America’s entry into World War II.
The signature ivy still climbs on the brick outfield walls—with the occasional ad in spots—and home runs not hit by the Cubs are tossed back on the field. Yes, it is harder to watch a game now from the rooftops, but the basic character of Wrigley Field remains, mostly. The winds still play a role on home runs. The neighborhood bars still sell Old Style and everyone root, root, roots for the Cubbies during the seventh inning stretch.
It is the neighborhood that makes Wrigley unique. Unlike the mall atmosphere around Fenway, people really live across the street at Wrigley. With concessions to the modern game, Wrigley carries much of its historic charm.
Sure the video boards are big, but no one is talking new stadium.
Next: No Longer Three Rivers
2. PNC PARK
When the city of Pittsburgh built new parks for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers, tearing down their shared Three Rivers Stadium, anything would have been an improvement.
What they got instead is the nicest ballpark on the East Coast. As the Roberto Clemente Bridge gracing the view in right field painted in Pirates’ Gold, the city finally has a baseball replacement worthy of old Forbes Field at the University of Pittsburgh. Magnificent sightlines with the Allegheny River running behind center and right field greet you, waiting to collect another home run. Shrubs in the center field batting eye are cut to reveal the Pirates’ wordmark logo.
Any time a team left the old Astroturf circular stadiums for their own place, it was an immediate improvement. Real grass fields did miracles for the Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals. What separates PNC from Busch Stadium and Citizen’s Bank Park is the view. The whole package and the deep nod to Pirates history works. Statues for Honus Wagner, Willie Stargell, Bill Mazeroski and Clemente surround the place giving the Pirates a true home of their own.
Now, if they can get past the National League Wild Card Game, then the country can take in what Pittsburgh has enjoyed since 2001.
Next: Garlic Fries on McCovey Cove
1. AT&T PARK
Let’s face it, playing in a dirt lot at Fisherman’s Wharf would have been an improvement over Candlestick Park. The old windswept icebox on Candlestick Point as great for the San Francisco 49ers, not so much the San Francisco Giants.
When given the option to build a new park on San Francisco Bay, the original design was to have the outfield face downtown. Although probably not a horrible view, the decision to face the Bay made the park an instant classic from Opening Day.
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With a neon glove catching a Coca-Cola bottle in left to McCovey Cove in right, what opened as Pac Bell Park was an instant hit. Whether you sit in the stands or bring a kayak to the cove in right to catch a homer, this gem features everything.
From signature foods—garlic fries, anyone—to three World Championships in six years, AT&T Park mixes nostalgia, breathtaking views and current memories in the same package. At Candlestick, San Francisco liked and tolerated them. At AT&T, there is now a full-blown love affair. Not since the team moved west from New York has the city embraced the Giants the way they do now. Winning helps, but so does not freezing in July at night games.
Next: AL Central's Greatest Seasons
As with the Pirates and PNC, AT&T gave the Giants a true home, one they share with us 81 times a year. Retro in design, contemporary in look, if you were to design a ballpark, you would start here.