MLB: 3 Reasons why cookie-cutter stadiums were phased out

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Today, we give you a few reasons why multi-purposeful MLB stadiums overstayed their welcome and eventually were phased out.

What can be said about the era of the multi-purpose facilities that has not been said before? Once deemed a spectacle, the cookie-cutter stadium was cost-efficient, while housing multiple events and teams from different sports. MLB Owners were looking for quick and easy access with a quick turn around.

Eventually, cookie-cutter stadiums are all, but obsolete as the Oakland A’s will be the sole owner of RingCentral Coliseum.

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Astro-Turf

The year was 1965, and the Houston Astros were moving into a massive multi-facilitated stadium known as the Astrodome. Grass did not last for long as a mishap led to the birth of the Astro-Turf.

The greenhouse inspired Lucite panels spanned the roof, but proved to be an issue when the Astros players were losing flyballs against the sunlight. As a result, the organization decided to paint the roof black and thus leading to the grass to die.

In 1966, Astro-Turf as it was coined by the re-brand took and the rest was history. The Astrodome was the predecessor of many cookie-cutter stadiums that would follow in the same spirit of hosting baseball and football as well as any other gatherings that were needed.

The Dark Side of Astro-Turf

On paper, fake grass with little to no maintenance and could be picked up and replaced with dirt for the next event the following day or night. That’s well and good, but at the end of the day, you’re running on a concrete floor and artificial grass.

The product subsequently took a massive toll on athletes’ legs, ankles, and potentially career-ending injuries such as turf toe and concussions took their toll.

Another reason why the turf was looked down upon is because of the impact of the ball movement in the game. Unlike grass, the ball gave a faster bounce and allowed for more base stealing.

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Lack Of Charm

Dual Use Facilities painfully took away the quaint and intimate style for the fan experience. Football stadiums and Baseball Parks have different dimensions especially when it comes to viewpoints and how close you can be to the action.

Rectangles paired with awkward and sometimes non-uniform dimensions of baseball will never mix beautifully. The consequence is a fanbase with a stale atmosphere for the sake of practicality.

Cold, indistinguishable, and void of individuality is the only way to define this style of construction.

Imagine taking away a potential beautiful view of a skyline and replace low fences and scoreboards with generic jumbotrons and you lose the magic of baseball. When dual-use stadiums took away the colorful texture of bricks and instead installed drab gray concrete there was a priority for practicality and not beauty.

Imagine a world where Ebbets Field, Fenway Park, and the Polo Grounds were discarded and Riverfront, Shea, and Veterans stadium took the forefront as the new architectural wonder for an MLB team.

With the birth of Camden Yards, the multi-purpose MLB stadium began to phase out.

There is no other way to say it, the days of the multi-purpose facilities were numbered when the ground broke for Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The forerunner of the neo-classic trend, Camden Yards is seen by all in the ballpark community as the game-changer for the direction of architecture.

In 1992, the Baltimore Orioles opened to rave reviews and allowed ballclubs to set in motion to distance itself from generic dimensions and artificial grass that was held onto dearly in the 70s and 80s.

The genius of Camden Yards is making something new feel old and majestic while sampling all the nuances from other ballparks in the league. The ivy walls from Wrigley Field, the big green monster seen at Fenway Park, and the quaint quirky field dimensions held by older ballparks like Forbes field.

Camden yards adopted the long warehouse, opened up their design to embrace the buildings surrounding the ballpark to resurrect the desire to add characteristics and charm back to the ballpark.

Progressive Field, Coors Field, Comerica Park, and Oracle park are just a few of the ballparks inspired by Camden Yards and this is no coincidence. All these teams desired to invest in their metropolitan areas by moving into the heart of their cities.

Gone were the days of driving all the way out to the suburbs to see a team that was miles away from their location. The skyscrapers and backdrops for the beautiful sunsets now are revealed where concrete walls would block these sights.

70,000 seats went to the wayside as ballparks decided to lower their seating numbers for the sake of bringing fans closer and enjoying the authentic baseball experience.

Historically, cookie-cutter MLB stadiums will always be looked at in a negative light.

They all had the same look with a few differences far and in between. They were clunky, robbed of beauty and uniqueness, and even mistaken for any other one of them if you took a quick glance.