Favorite and Least Stadium Besides Miller Park

[BrewCrewBlueDevil]

Favorite- Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City. Their Hall of Fame, the Negro League Hall of Fame, awesome barbeque near the park (Arthur Bryant's), great food at the park, reasonable prices and Miller products. I asked a Royals fan about Budweiser and he stated, " Most Royal's fans are with you guys up north." We stayed at a hotel across the road (walking distance). The fand were unbelievably kind.

 

Least Favorite- Target Field (now that old Tiger is tore down). Besides the rail to get you to the park the stadium was nothing special at all. Twins fans were ok. Poor beer selections and the bars around the stadium sucked. I had a better time at Wrigley. Very disappointing.

 

I am hoping to knock out San Diego and Camden next.

[jerichoholicninja]

Petco and Dodger Stadium are the only other two I've been to. I loved Petco. The downtown atmosphere was great and the stadium has some nice quirks with the beach in the outfield and a park with a giant screen showing the game behind CF. I had never heard any of the bad things about Dodger until well after I had gone there but they were basically true. The seating area and field are nice to look at but the rest of the stadium is pretty much a dump. A woman from the group of people walking in front of us thought someone from our group bumped into her and she tried to start a shoving match over it before her boyfriend pulled her away. Then on the way to our car in the parking lot I'm pretty sure we walked past a knife fight.

[paul253]

Favorite is PNC in Pittsburgh. Great stadium great view. Worst is Wrigley. I haven't been there since before they started putting money into it but man what a dump.

[bucks2281]

Favorite is AT&T.

 

Least favorites are Nationals Park (bland) and Fenway (truly an overrated, claustrophobic dump)

 

Edit: I forgot about the newly named Guaranteed Rate Field -- only park I've been to where people sitting in the upper deck aren't allowed to walk down to the lower concourse.

[BuckyBrewer61]

I'll second AT&T, but disagree on Fenway. Love the history and feel of the ballpark, like watching a game as it was decades ago while I felt they updated it to the point it was actually quite comfortable. And the area surrounding the stadium is lively and atmosphere great. Fenway may actually be my favorite.

 

For least favorite I'll leave out the stadiums that weren't built specifically for an MLB team (Tropicana Field, Metrodome is all time worst place I've been to watch a game). Otherwise I'll say Great American Ballpark...just not one single interesting thing about it.

[SomewhereInTime]

From favorite to least:

 

1. Wrigley - especially before the newest upgrades, loved the old school feel. Loved the neighborhood. Been there six times over the years for Brewers/Cubs game, including a doubleheader in 2013. Only loss was the 13-6 loss this year after the rainless rainout. First time was 13 years ago for a Cubs/Mets game.

 

2. Miller Park - Many, many great summer days spent there, and a few in fall too! You'll usually find me somewhere in the bleachers or at Fridays. First game out of hundreds was Easter Sunday 2001 on Miller Park's opening weekend.

 

3. Target Field - been to one game, July 2nd, 2011 Down 7-0 early after Narveson got shelled, they came back to win 8-7. Biggest comeback I've ever seen in person. It was incredible. When Nyjer Morgan hit the game tying double in the 9th, the crowd went nuts. I was sitting so high up I couldn't even see if it was caught, just heard the roar of the crowd, there were so many Brewer fans. Other than that it was a beautiful new stadium in the middle of downtown, great nightlife around the area. Fun night.

 

4. County Stadium - Many of you have more memories in County Stadium than I do. I was 11 years old when Miller Park opened. Still, first place I ever saw a game, I just remember being able to see half built Miller Park right behind the bleachers.

 

5. New Busch Stadium - Went to a couple games in August 2012 Brewers lost both of them. Stadium seemed kind of just like any standard stadium, nothing special. I'll take Friday's over Carl's Jr. any day. Area around the stadium is a barron wasteland, couldn't really find a bar or much of anything to do in the immediate walking distance. Got to the hotel early those nights.

[Bombers]

I have been to 19 parks and will make it 20 when the Brewers play at Kansas City next year. Of the Parks I have been too:

Least Favorites: TB Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, Nationals Park. Oakland Coliseum.

TB Rays and Nationals put their parks in bad neighborhoods and hoped it would improve area. It has worked but still a lot left to be desired. Tropicana is just a dump to me. Plus they serve boiled peanuts. What the? I don't want wet soggy peanuts.

 

DC has so many awesome buildings, monuments, etc you would have thought they could have had one in view. Big fail there as others have said. Very bland.

 

Toronto's stadium is just old and nothing spectacular. I do like the downtown area of Toronto though and the Real Sports Bar with a movie theatre TV screen is awesome.

 

Oakland - Stadium is crazy old. Although the people were nice and we played bags and drank a few beers with some random A's fans in the parking lot.

 

Guaranteed Rate Field - White Sox - Nothing around the stadium to do. Ballpark is bland. Just bottom of the barrel.

 

Favorites:

Camden Yards. I love the inner harbor and had a ton of fun at Pickles right outside of the park and enjoyed the stadium itself. They have bricks in place in the outfield walkways that show where homeruns have landed. Good trip down memory lane to see some of the names on the bricks.

 

PNC - I am a huge fan of PNC and like staying near the southside. Such a great place to go for a run or walk. Great bars. Great views. Nice people. One of my favorite cities.

 

PetCo - San Diego the city is great although I think the stadium itself is mediocre. The Gaslamp district is just amazing with all the food options. Just an awesome city.

 

Comerica - I know what you are thinking, Detroit? City aside, this park is pretty sweet in my opinion. Actually probably a park I would go to, to just hang out at a park and walk around. Their right field lounge area is awesome. Great bars, fire tables, ample seating. Just a great idea. Big wooden chairs line the last rows in the 100 level and seem pretty cool too. Count me as a fan

 

AT&T Park - I liked the park and we sat in some pretty awesome seats. The $25 for a round of beers is a tough swallow but whatever. Nice views into the bay. Fishermans Warf is a cool place to hand out.

 

Other notes. I like Wrigley and Fenway. With their history, if your a baseball fan and someone trying to get to some stadiums, they are hard to pass up. I also like the ballpark village at St. Louis, I just cant' stand the Cardinals.

[A Swing and A Drive]

I'll just take the time to rank the stadiums I've been to:

 

1. Petco Park (San Diego)- Love how it was designed to literally be PART of the downtown.

 

2. Wrigley Field (Chicago)- Love the neighborhood and the history.

 

3. Kaufman Stadium (Kansas City)- Love the fountains and the museums.

 

4. AT&T Park (San Fran)- Love the bay setting.

 

5. Miller Park (Milwaukee)- The House that Bud Build

 

6. Chase Field (Arizona)- This is a lot like Miller Park but with a Pool instead of a slide

 

7. PNC Park (Pittsburgh)- Great view of the city.

 

8. Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles)- Loved the history and the views.

 

9. Marlins Park (Miami)- The decor is a little gaudy but the rest of the stadium has futuristic feel to it. Also bobblehead museum was cool.

 

10. Comerica Park (Detroit)- This is an underrated Stadium with some nice features.

 

11. Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati)- Nothing special but view of the river.

 

12. Progressive Field (Cleveland)- Ditto sans river

 

13. Rogers Centre (Toronto)- Seems outdated.

 

14. Target Field (Minnesota)- Not too memorable

 

15. Busch Stadium (St. Louis)- You can see the Arch. But unfortuately the Cardinals as well.

 

16. Guaranteed Rate Field (Chicago)- Garbage

[Underachiever]

I have been to 23 parks and I have liked most of them. I can usually find something positive. I travel a ton for work and one of the perks is getting to see a lot of parks.

1. Sat in the rightfield bleachers at AT&T with McCovey's cove at my back on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Also went to a playoff game there last year between Cubs and Giants. Great atmosphere, great food. Froze my ass off at Candlestick, and never felt more in danger than I did at a Dodger/Giants game. Man, people were yelling **** at each other.

2. Love Miller Park, but then again, I loved County Stadium as well. Was in attendance when the Brewers swept the Yankees in a doubleheader in 74(?). Boomer Scott hit a grand slam. Great memory from childhood.

3. Went to two Red Sox-Yankees games at Fenway last year. Saw A-Rod and Papi hit a home run in the same game.

4. Lived in Cincinnati for a while. While Great American is nice and new, it's kind of anonymous. Best memories of Riverfront is that it was $3 to sit in the top six rows while I was in college, but there was a gate in the lowest level of the parking garage that would let you into the field level. So we would buy our $3 ticket. go down to that gate and sit in the lower level. Also got to attend both of the home games in 1990 series with a press pass. Was on the field during batting practice.

5. KC, Anaheim, Shea, went to all in the 90s, don't have much to say about them. Went back to an Angels game a few years ago. The updates are nice.

6. Comiskey, old and new. The new one always struck me as sterile, and just a concrete bowl with better concessions.

7. Liked Target field, hated the Metrodome.

8. Dodger stadium is great. Been there on a beautiful Sunday, and a playoff game, and also at Hideo Nomo's debut. Love it there.

9. Old Tiger games featured a brawl started by Gary Sheffield. Sat so close to the bullpen I was worried that I was going to get drilled by a warmup pitch. Haven't been to Comerica.

10. I like Wrigley, the whole neighborhood. Sat on the rooftop for a game, that was great.

11. Went to a Cardinals game at Busch last week. The Reds won, so it was a good night. Love the setting, and I think I sat in the same place as the guy who posted the picture above. Old Busch was an anonymous concrete bowl.

12. Safeco is great. Beautiful park.

13. Oakland is just awful. But, as far as a positive, I saw Sonny Gray against Verlander in a playoff game, so the game was great.

14. Old Cleveland. Not sad to see you gone.

Can't wait to see the rest!

[gregmag]

The second worst park I've ever been to is old Municipal Stadium in Cleveland. Cavernous, ugly, boring. But in absolute terms it's far closer to first place than last place, which is held by Olympic Park in Montreal. That gray cement atrocity was a mausoleum, a hellhole, a war crime. It drained all beauty and purpose from the world. Seriously, I have never been in a building of any kind that failed in its mission as spectacularly as Olympic Park.

 

I haven't been to many of the new parks, because one of the few losses in the transition from my former significant other to my wife is that s.o. liked baseball and wife doesn't. (I know, but you have no idea how many other factors offset that.) I have a real soft spot for Camden Yards.

[owbc]

I've been to 10 active ballparks...Safeco is my favorite right now (slightly biased...). It's not number one at anything (besides friendliest staff) but it consistently checks all the boxes for food, price, views, atmosphere near the stadium, and transportation.

 

Worst is whatever the White Sox are calling their stadium these days.

[bm1090]

My rankings of non Miller Park stadiums that I've been to:

 

1 AT&T Park

2 Busch Stadium

3 Yankee Stadium

4 Angel Stadium

5 Wrigley Field

6 Great American Ballpark

7 Dodger Stadium

8 Target Field

9 Guaranteed Rate Field

 

AT&T is in a beautiful setting and enjoyed the surrounding area/bars as well. I enjoyed the downtown feel of Busch. Nice views. Well designed. Yankee is 3rd solely because it's Yankee Stadium. Target and GRF (then US Cellular) were just very bland. I flip flopped GABP and Dodger Stadium a few times. Those two were pretty equal.

[bork]

I've only been to 2. I went to Jacobs Field back in the 90's when they were selling out every season. The place was rockin'. Don't remember much else.

Went to Wriggley in the late 80's in a luxury box. I just remember the place being old and walking forever when we parked, but the food was good (because my uncle ran the food service). It felt like county stadium to me. I preferred Jacobs field.

[StearnsFTW]

Favorite is PNC in Pittsburgh. Great stadium great view. Worst is Wrigley. I haven't been there since before they started putting money into it but man what a dump.

 

This is it for me. I loved PNC, but I admit I've only been to like 8 stadiums.

 

Wrigley is the world's biggest outdoor sewer.

[tmwiese55]

I've only been to the two Chicago and the two in MKE. Kind of surprising when I think about it, I've been to almost every big ten football. Sox is just the definition of blah and the area sucks. Wrigley is a dump but you really can't beat the Wrigleyville area and energy, kind of a college football vibe to it which I love. I actually like just going down there for games and not actually going to the game.

 

Ones I've liked from TV and what I hear, so kind of on my to do list would be PNC, San Diego, Colorado, San Fran, and the Dodgers. I suppose Cleveland too for the stadium but I hear their fans are awful.

[LouisEly]

Pretty hard to beat Petco. The neighborhood, the stadium, the weather.

 

California has perhaps the two best (Petco, AT&T) and the three worst (Dodgers, Angels, A's). (Some) Dodgers fans are almost as bad as the drunken smug Wrigleyville 20-somethings.

 

Not sure if Arizona still has a Leinie's Lodge outside the stadium, but if they do, it's right up there. I think overall it's underrated.

 

Surprisingly, Cardinals fans at the stadium were very tolerable. They pretty much mind their own business. They've done a good job of building up the area around the stadium.

[NYChez]

Excluding Miller and County (which would be top 5):

 

Favorite: Fenway - throwback, intimate

Other nice ones, in order

AT&T - the view

Wrigley - sucker for old parks, the ivy, and atmosphere outside the park

Target - feels compact due to outfield seats being on top of action, lot to do nearby

Safeco - a retractable roof without shadows!

Petco - feels cavernous due to outfield seats being far away from the action

Coors - the view, younger fanbase

Kaufmann - way ahead of its time

Camden - not a fan of the city, structure isn't impressive

Citizens Bank - nice, new park

 

Least favorite - old Riverfront Stadium - the most stale of the cookie cutters

Others, in order from most to least crappy:

Metrodome - not a baseball park

Old Vet (Philly) - not quite as stale as Cincy and cheesesteaks > skyline chili

Sky Dome - bad sightlines

Olympic - at least they spoke French

Shea - cookie cutter but had grass

New Comiskey - not bad, nothing special, not a good location

New Yankee - feel like you're in the old stadium (prefer an upgrade feel for the money spent)

Minute Maid - is the roof ever open?

Old Yankee - you could feel the history, but it's a dump

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

AT&T - Great scene, great area by bay and fantastic stadium

Fenway - Classic old school that lived up to the hype

 

I'd put Miller Park here - the tailgate atmosphere is so unique. The park is nice, but parks with a roof can be a little cold...they can't help it.

 

Dodger Stadium - I live out here so I know my way around and am a little biased...always get a parking pass right outside the gate so you don't take your chances walking around the Thunderdome like parking lot. The OF scene is great. Old time fans are really nice...but it can get rough in the cheap seats. Love the organ.

Coors - Fun area and nice park even if it is a band box. Fans pack the place.

Indians - Was there right after it opened and loved the downtown feel

Texas - underrated. Not much in area, but I love the stadium

Anaheim - remodel worked well...clean, friendly...like Disneyland

Safeco - Same as Chase, kind of cavernous. Neighborhood fun.

Chase Field - Dbacks - Like Miller Park but a little colder. Do like the downtown parks, but downtown PHX doesn't have much to it.

Nats - Fine, clean, not much to it.

Oakland - Multipurpose parks just don't work in the modern era

White Sox - plain but fine, not much to do around there.

Wrigley - Too be fair, I haven't been back since they redid it...but before it smelled like piss. I like old parks but they took care of Fenway while they let Wrigley rot.

 

Been to plenty of older ones too...old Yankee stadium was great, Shea was a dump, Metrodome was a pit, Atlanta was nice but plain, old Murph didn't work for baseball in SD, old Tiger Stadium was scary.

 

Pittsburgh and KC are on my bucket list.

[Patrick425]

Have not been to a ton of other stadiums. However, we were at Petco last March for the WBC. We sat in the bleachers and found it to be a bit of a Maze to navigate and get to our seats. As others have mentioned, the Gaslamp quarter is great. However, our GPS had us get off the freeway east of the stadium and go down Imperial Ave. This is basically homelessville. Both sides of the street, wall to wall tents, boxes, shopping carts, litter everywhere, people waking in the middle of the street. This was in very close proximity to the stadium (just a few blocks east).

[nate82]

 

Not sure if Arizona still has a Leinie's Lodge outside the stadium, but if they do, it's right up there. I think overall it's underrated.

 

 

I absolutely hate watching a game at Chase Field here in AZ. It feels so empty even when it is full and the game just feels like it is so far away. Everything else from the food and other things around the stadium are cool.

 

I just absolutely hate watching a game there.

[madbad2000]

Top 5 (non-Milwaukee)

 

PNC Park - The location is amazing, great views, good food, good value, great vibe.

Petco - Hard to put this one at number 2, but PNC just has a better feel to the game with the fans. The location is great, fun amenities and location

Camden Yards - The stadium is great with really nice views all around. The downside is the location in Baltimore. If this was on the Harbor it would probably be number 1.

Kaufman - The stadium has a great feel and the waterworks are a fantastic idea. The location of the stadium and the age is showing.

Coors - Location is great

 

 

Worst

 

Oakland Coliseum - Not a fun place to see a game at all. Not built for baseball and it shows.

Wrigley Field - An absolute dump of a stadium all around...seating, views, amenities. The only thing going for it is the Ivy, which is very nostalgic. You get over the history and ivy really quickly and then you're stuck in a dump. If not for Oakland, would be my least favorite. That is based solely on stadium and not even taking into account that it's the Cubs home field/fans.

Tropicana Field - Tampa. The area outside the stadium is pretty nice and some nice restaurants/bars.

[rickh150]

Kaufman and Wrigley- I go back and forth on which one is better. Wrigley- I like the two decks, the general admission bleachers, ivy, area around the park, and general feel of the place. Kauffman- Love the fountains, nice bleacher area, no big upper deck with bad seats by the poles, and big parking lot of interstate.

Worst? Probably the Metrodome though I liked visiting there too. Very unique place with the pressurized dome.

I would have said the White Sox stadium, but it was much better in 2015 compared to when I visited last in 1996.

Been to 11 teams' stadiums....

[bani1717]

My least favorite stadium is "Wrigley North". I much prefer Miller Park. I had the opportunity to visit each one a few times tonight and I cannot stand the Wrigley North fans one bit.

[Dean Machine]

I have been to 29 stadiums (24 are still in operation missing the 2 in Florida, the 2 in Texas, the new Atlanta and Toronto) and I tend to rate things in tiers and in the top tier of the stadiums still in operation are in no particular order:

Milwaukee

Kansas City

Pittsburgh

San Diego

Boston

Dodgers

San Francisco

 

Bottom Tier:

Cubs

White Sox

Reds

Oakland

New Yankee Stadium

 

Many things go into these ratings but I highly value tailgating and bars and restaurants around the stadium don't mean that much to me.