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Posted

Austin used to have a downtown minor league park from 1947 to 1967, this is Disch Field.

med_res

Imagine if that was still there, but rotated to have downtown views.  Today's view of the same area:

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Posted
On 5/27/2025 at 10:52 AM, mdmost said:

Great thread idea. mdleast and I are doing a trip to San Diego in August. What are some good places to go to around the stadium? 

I've hit 13 stadiums so far. We've discussed Seattle for next summer. 

Top 5 for me so far: 

1. Wrigley

2. Fenway

3. Oracle Park

4. Dodger Stadium

5. Target Field

Haven't been to PNC Park or Camden. I know those need to happen but PNC will probably have to be a combined trip with Cleveland and Cincinnati to be worth it. Baltimore was out of town when we hit DC and Philly one year. 

There is a bit of sameness with the new stadiums so they get bonus points if they're around a good area or it's easy to get to them via rail or walking. I didn't mind the Nationals park for that reason. 

 

torrey pines 

Posted

wrigley is my all time #1

tampa bay was my #2, loved that trip and area around the stadium. the dali museum is always amazing. i'll miss that one 

whataburger field is pure and a great lay out. i've been to hooks games, saw ut vs amcc, and many many hs playoff games. if the stadium is available, they pretty much let the hs's use the stadium for little to nothing. people start lining up at 7am 

Posted
On 5/27/2025 at 1:20 PM, royiv said:

The best part of the Coliseum experience was the hordes of entrepreneurs outside the stadium selling bootleg merchandise and beers out of coolers.

 

im so glad @Scraps and i went out last summer for the astros last game there. great one day trip 

Posted
5 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

wrigley is my all time #1

tampa bay was my #2, loved that trip and area around the stadium. the dali museum is always amazing. i'll miss that one 

whataburger field is pure and a great lay out. i've been to hooks games, saw ut vs amcc, and many many hs playoff games. if the stadium is available, they pretty much let the hs's use the stadium for little to nothing. people start lining up at 7am 

Fenway >>> Wrigley 

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Posted

If I ranked where I have been so far (I have 6 left Seattle, Detroit, both LA, Mets, Miami) my list would probably go like this (I don't know all the stupid fucking names now since they change them):

1. Wrigley

2. PNC

3. SF Giants

4. Fenway

5. Petco 

6. Camden 

7. Coors

8. Cincinnati

9. Target Field

10. Busch 

11. Progressive Field

12. Citizens Bank Park

13. Daikin Park

14. Kaufmann 

15. Rogers Centre

16. Atlanta 

17. Chase Field

18. Milwaukee

19. Texas

20. Yankees

21. Tropicana

22. Nationals Park

23. White Sox

24. Oakland 

 

 

Posted
On 6/9/2025 at 9:04 PM, Texas Jeff said:

Austin used to have a downtown minor league park from 1947 to 1967, this is Disch Field.

med_res

My Mom and Dad loved baseball … thankfully, I had no choice.  Our family spent many summer evenings at Disch Field rooting for the Senators.  We saw a few future MLers pass through … Frank Howard (Victoria Rosebuds) and Willie McCovey (Fort Worth Cats) come to mind.  Years later, my Dad told me that we also saw Brooks Robinson.  Funny, I only remember seeing him in person many years later in Baltimore at the end of his fabulous career.

Baseball was much more fun when BA, ERA, W-L were the stats we tracked … unlike now where the nerds have created data minutiae to eye rolling levels.

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Posted

I’ve slowed on my march to all 30 (only 1 new one in the last two years) but checked off Loandepot Park last Monday with 11,127 of my closest friends.

That place cost $600M to build and it looks it. Sucks it gets to host a WBC final next year.  At least it has a roof and the AC is good.

The whole time all I could think about was “this is like a 21st century version of the Alamodome.”

The ambiance was worse than a minor league game. They didn’t even try to get the crowd in to it. (Not the worst thing… no one needs to hear “errybody clap yo hands”). But it was still bizarre at how little  attempt there was to get the crowd to be part of the action.

I guess  a 2-1 game in front of 11k is about as snooze worthy as it gets.

at least I saw a Stowers homer…. And Martin Maldonado double.

(And as evidence I know nothing about Marlins baseball history, I did learn it was built on the site of the old orange bowl which makes sense because I was really confused how a current day stadium could be built in the middle of a residential area… and also learned the current “Miami Marlins” name is a nod to the old independent leagues. This a great (longcat) read on Satchel Paige ending his career with the Miami Marlins:

https://sabr.org/journal/article/satchel-paige-twilight-with-the-marlins/
 

 

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Posted

Not sure how I’ve missed this. Wife and I have done 29. Final park will be Toronto in two weeks for the rangers series. It’s been a long, but fulfilling quest. (Also more than half way through nfl, nhl, and 14 nba arenas down as well)

my favorite part has been the planning. Our best quest was 8 games in 8 days. It was real life planes, trains and automobiles. September of 21, we started with a flight to Detroit for a Friday night game. Drove to Cleveland that night for a Saturday game. Drive onto Pittsburg that night for a Sunday day game.

flew subday night to LaGuardia, took the subway to citi field Monday for Mets game. Tuesday morning was a train to Philly to watch them play the cubs (only game we’ve caught a foul ball at). Wednesday morning train to Baltimore for the o’s. 
 

Thursday morning early flight to Atlanta to sit three hours for a rain delay before the game was cancelled. (Went back to Atlanta last year to make up for it,) early Friday morning flew from Atlanta to dc fir nat’s gane. Saturday flight home.

Every city we were in we packed in as many eats and sightseeing as we had time for. Averaged 13k steps a day. And as fun as it was. I’m too old for that shit now. I’d never attempt something that exhausting again.

also, the tigers beat the rays in the first game we saw. The home team lost every other game. 🤷‍♂️ 

 

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Posted

That’s great. Good call on the planning.

The closest thing I have to resemble your example was 2017.

Day 1: Fly to Philly. Astros vs Phillies

Day 2: Bus to NYC.

Day 3: Subway to Yankee Stadium. Yankees vs Rays

Day 4: Drive to Cooperstown

Day 5: Hall of Fame induction day (Bagwell, Rock Raines, Pudge Rodriguez, John Schuerholz, f Selig)

Day 6: Drive to Boston. Red Sox vs Indians

Day 7: Fly home 

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Posted

I’m up to 20. My ranking (year(s) attended in parentheses)

1 San Diego, Petco Park (2021)

2 Boston, Fenway Park (2017, 2024)

3 Seattle, T-Mobile Park (2023)

4 Detroit, Comerica Park (2023)

5 San Francisco, Oracle Park (2012)

6 Cincinnati, Great American Ballpark (2019)

7 Atlanta, Truist Park (2018, 2019)

8 Minnesota, Target Field (2018)

9 Kansas City, Kaufman Stadium (2019)

10 Houston, Daikin Park (2000-2025)

11 St. Louis, Busch Stadium (2006)

12 New York, Citi Field (2022)

13 Los Angels, Dodger Stadium (2017)

14 Philadelphia, Citizens Bank Park (2017)

15 Washington, Nationals Park (2014)

16 New York, Yankee Stadium (2017, 2019, 2022)

17 Texas, Globe Life Field (2023)

18 Miami, LoanDepot Park (2025)

19 Arizona, Chase Field (2023)

20 Milwaukee, American Family Field (2018)

Honorable mention: Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú

 

Still to go:

Anaheim, Anaheim Stadium

Athletics

Toronto, Rogers Centre

Tampa Bay

Baltimore, Camden Yards

Cleveland, Progressive Field

Chicago, Guaranteed Rate Field

Chicago, Wrigley Field

Pittsburgh, PNC Park

Denver, Coors Field

Posted
4 hours ago, UTexasFight said:

That’s great. Good call on the planning.

The closest thing I have to resemble your example was 2017.

Day 1: Fly to Philly. Astros vs Phillies

Day 2: Bus to NYC.

Day 3: Subway to Yankee Stadium. Yankees vs Rays

Day 4: Drive to Cooperstown

Day 5: Hall of Fame induction day (Bagwell, Rock Raines, Pudge Rodriguez, John Schuerholz, f Selig)

Day 6: Drive to Boston. Red Sox vs Indians

Day 7: Fly home 

Lucky you to be able to squeeze in the hof ceremony. Great planning to be able to drive there, then onto Boston. The adventure around seeing the stadiums is a huge plus. I have driven through, eaten at, and done so many cool things in this stadium quest. 
 

I’ll rank my stadium list and give some of my favorite things in each place when I have more time. 
 

I haven’t done a search, but has anyone done a thread on nfl stadiums? Most of the stadiums aren’t as nice as baseball stadiums, but for me the stories around the games are always great. 

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Posted

I am just starting this. Have been to a lot of stadiums by chance. Including all locations in the Dominican Republic. Icing still is Cooperstown.

So now my goal is simple. Negro Hall of Fame on my way to Wrigley. Never been to either. Planning on early Spring and then next summer Williamsport. 

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Posted

 

After seeing 29, here are my rankings.

1. Coors Field (6-2018 (mets), 5-2024 (rangers), 5-2025 (yankees)) Denver is one of my most favroites cities, and my daughter lives half a mile from the ballpark, so I may be biased. It's a great place to watch a game in the summer. There is nothing better than sitting in the stands as the sun sets and temperatures go from mid 70's to mid 60's in the middle of the summer. There are some great bars in the nearby area, many of them have great roof tops to watch the west coast games once the rockies are finished. We usualy stay around 16th street, and the walk across downtown is no bad. Usually a ten minute walk or so. Very safe downtown, and pretty clean.

 

2. Oracle Park (8-2018 (rangers)) Love the ballpark, great sightlines. The bar up on the deck behind right field overlooking McCovey cove was a great place for a few drinks before the game. It  was extremely hot in August, however right as the game ended the fog rolled in and we were freezing on the walk  back to the hotel. Stayed a five minute easy walk from the stadium. Getting around on the trollies and by rideshare was very easy. Great place to spend a long weekend.

3. Petco Park (7-2024 (Braves)) Went with friends and stayed at the Hyatt an easy 10 minute walk from the stadium. Didn't matter because we spent so much time in the gaslamp district with so much food and drink. The ballpark is large, but has a neighborhood feel to it with the huge park at the park area behind center field. Love watching kids playing on the grass and families just hanging around the ballpark. The bars get extremely crowded after the game, but totally worth staying and meeting the local fans.

 

4. Target Field (8-2023 (Rangers)) Stayed a 15 minute walk from the stadium. Hit a couple of sports bars on the way to the game. Not a very busy downtown, but very clean and safe feeling. Very intimiate feel in the ballpark, may be because of the closeness of the buildings around it, and the walk right in front of the target center which opens into the main gate. Foot traffic can get pretty crowded. Great fans who made us feel very welcome. Perfect August weather for baseball, in the low 70s. There wern't many bars in close proximity, but a few blocks away we found a nice place to eat after the game. 

 

5. Globe Life Field (5 trips to the new stadium(including all star game 2024) have been to all three stadiums 60-70 times.) I was a bigger fan of the old ballpark, other than the heat. It was getting so hard on me, that I could only schedule April or late September games. The AC has been very welcome. Very modern ballpark feel, however some areas can get open and stale. Having access to the clubs is a huge plus and some good food can be found. I love having Tx Live right next door. There are some great places to eat and drink before the game. I've never stayed around after though as it's a 2.5 hour drive home. 

 

6. Fenway Park (6-2019 (Blue Jays)) Stayed downtown, so not easy to get to. Had to take a rideshare. But once there knew that we were somewhere old/special. Being as old as it is, the place is extremely packed tight and full with the crowds. Nice to hit a bar before the game, but very crowded which made the service poor. A rainshower right before the game made everything very humid, and slightly miserable whent he sun came back out. The scoreboard in the green monster really give you the nostraglia feeling. You definatly feel like you could be watching a game a hundred years ago. One lesson I learned...don't sit in an aisle seat. If you do you will be up and down,  over and over every inning. It seemed every person in that stadium had to be up and down once an inning to piss and grab another beer. Security does keep the fans under control. They won't tolerate any heckling at all. i watched 4 people tossed immediately for heckling the right fielder. We made our way over to the yardhouse for dinner before heading back downtown.

7. Truist Park (9-2021 (Rockies(rainout)) 4-2024 (Rangers)) Beautiful ballpark, but way out of town. I'm thinking it's a 20-25 minute drive from where we stayed. Once in the area there are plenty of bars to drink and have a snack at before the game. Good eating options inside the park as well. Very crowded stadium, and a nice place to watch a game. Very wide breeze way and easy to get around in the park. After the game was a nightmare getting around. All of the bars in the area fill up fast. We ended up making our way to the bar at the movie theater and ate there before catching a ride back.

8. Citizens Bank Park (9-2021 (Cubs)) We stopped on the way and had a cheesesteak, so we didn't look for anything around the ball park. For a park that's 20 years old it was in great shape. The fans were good, they did however get vocal in a good way. Twice getting on adults for scrambling for foul balls and not letting small kids get to them. All in all very baseball knowledgable  group. Didn't stick around long as we had to get to Baltimore the next morning. Very far from town, but right in the same vacinity as the other stadiums.

9. Citi Field (9-2021  (Cardinals)) We love NYC, and love the convenience of the subway system to get around. So it was great to hop on the 7 train and as soon as you get off at the stop it's only 100 yards to the main gate. The place has a very NY feel to it. Very intimate cozy ballpark. It's probably because of the large score board in center field that your eyes are constantly drawn to. Very relaxed place to watch a game. Once done the subway can be pretty crowded getting back to the city we heard, so we left an inning early. 

10. Comerica Park (9-2021 (Rays)) Came in early and was able to eat some Detroit style pizza across the street. Went in as soon as the gates opened and spent time walking around. I love how it's set below street level. It really opens up as you walk  down the stairs. Weather was perfect, and had really nice fans. Lots of warnings of the safety in Detroit, but I've been downtown many times, and I've never felt unsafe downtown. They have done a great job at cleaning up and revitilizing the city. If staying downtown I wouldn' t hesitate to walk to and from the game as long as I'm walking back towards the river. I woudn't cross the highway and walk around after dark. 

 

I'll post the rest when I get a little more time. 

 

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Posted

I mean everyone has an opinion, that is what makes this great but....

Wrigley not in your top 10 and Globe Life #5?  I am not sure I can take you seriously lol 

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Posted
35 minutes ago, Scraps said:

I mean everyone has an opinion, that is what makes this great but....

Wrigley not in your top 10 and Globe Life #5?  I am not sure I can take you seriously lol 

I’ll get to wrigley.

Posted

Milwaukee (county stadium and miller)

SF Giants (Candlestick)

Braves (Fulton County Stadium)

Cubs (Wrigley)

Angels (Anaheim Stadium)

Padres (San Diego Stadium and Petco)

Rockies (Coors Field)

Phillies (Citizen Bank Field)

Tampa Bay (Tropicana Field)

A's (Oakland Coliseum)

Pirates (PNC Park)

Rangers (Arlington Stadiun, The Ballpark at Arlington, Globe Life)

Astros (Astrodome, Daiken Park)

 

 

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