Sunday, July 1, 2018

How Many MLB Ballparks Have You Visited?


The Phillies Room will be on auto-pilot for a short while due to a planned vacation and required routine maintenance.  A full report will be forthcoming upon our return, and I am especially looking forward to updating the list I've compiled below by adding two additional stops.  A recent comment from fellow collector Steve F. motivated me to put this list together.  I'm about to cross over the half-way point, but I still have a long ways to go to get to his list of 27.

In chronological order, here's the list of Major League ballparks I've visited.  How many have you visited?  Where should we head next?

Team - Ballpark (First Game Visited) 
  1. Baltimore Orioles - Oriole Park at Camden Yards (5/23/1992) 
  2. Colorado Rockies - Coors Field (5/29/2000) 
  3. Pittsburgh Pirates - PNC Park (7/2001) 
  4. Cleveland Indians - Progressive Field (8/2001) 
  5. Chicago White Sox - Guaranteed Rate Field (9/17/2002) 
  6. Kansas City Royals - Kauffman Stadium (9/26/2002) 
  7. Chicago Cubs - Wrigley Field (9/28/2002) 
  8. Detroit Tigers - Comerica Park (8/9/2003) 
  9. Cincinnati Reds - Great American Ballpark (8/12/2003) 
  10. Philadelphia Phillies - Citizens Bank Park (4/12/2004) 
  11. Tampa Bay Rays - Tropicana Field (4/16/2006) 
  12. Los Angeles Dodgers - Dodger Stadium (4/20/2011) 
  13. Boston Red Sox - Fenway Park (8/16/2014) 
  14. Washington Nationals - Nationals Park (8/24/2016) 
  15. Atlanta Braves - SunTrust Park (5/17/2018)*
  16. San Diego Padres - Petco Park (6/30/2018)
  17. Arizona Diamondbacks - Chase Field (7/2/2018)
Crossed off the list, now inactive: 
  1. Philadelphia Phillies - Veterans Stadium (7/15/1979
  2. Atlanta Braves - Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium (8/1/1995) 
  3. St. Louis Cardinals - Busch Stadium I (9/27/2002) 
  4. Montreal Expos - Olympic Stadium (9/25/2004) 
  5. New York Yankees - Yankee Stadium I (8/14/2005) 
  6. Washington Nationals - RFK Stadium (10/2/2005) 
*Game rained out, but I’m counting it since hot dog and beer were purchased and I waited through the 2 1/2 hour rain delay.

12 comments:

Section 36 said...

I don't quite have your list. I'm at two of each.

Active:
Fenway Park
PNC Park

Inactive:
Veterans Stadium
Olympic Stadium

Jim from Downingtown said...

Connie Mack Stadium
Veterans Stadium
Citizens Bank Park

Three Rivers Stadium (once, for a Steelers game in the mid-70s)

Jim from Downingtown said...

That got me to thinking about all my sports-venues visits. Here's what I can remember:

PHILADELPHIA AREA:
Connie Mack Stadium - 1967-69 (but not 1970)
Veterans Stadium - Phillies' games most years from 1971-1993, and 2003.
Citizens Bank Park - most years from 2004 to 2010.
JFK Stadium - Army-Navy game; 1st WFL Philadelphia Bell game.
Arena - one 76ers game in 1967.
Convention Hall - 76ers, I think?
Spectrum - Flyers, Phantoms, circus, concerts.
Wells Fargo (etc) Center - Flyers, Phantoms, concerts.
Wilmington Blue Rocks stadium - various years.
Widener University football stadium - saw PMC vs. Wagner College in the mid-1960s (Cub Scout field trip, I think).


(Never been to Franklin Field or the Linc, nor have I ever been to an Eagles' game.)



OTHER:
Hershey Park Arena - took my son to see the Hershey Bears in the late 1990s.
Hershey outdoor stadium - took my daughter to see Hanson (back when they were a thing).
Washington DC-area hockey arena - took my daughter to the Olympic Gymnastics show following the 1996 Olympics.
Three Rivers Stadium - One Steelers' game in the mid-1970s.

Brett Alan said...

Active: Citi Field, Wrigley, Fenway.
Inactive: Shea, Yankee Stadium (the old one), Comiskey, Olympic in Montreal.

Went to a concert at the Vet, but never a game.

The Shlabotnik Report said...

Active: Camden Yards, Nationals Park, Skydome
Inactive: Shea, Yankee Stadium II, The Vet, RFK, Candlestick Park

It's a significantly longer list if I include minor league ballparks, but I'm not even sure I'd remember them all.

Rob said...

I'm lucky that growing up an Air Force kid and now having a career that has moved me a few times I've seen a lot of parks. My Dad always made seeing a new ballpark a vacation goal when we were kids.

Active: Fenway, Camden Yards, Progressive (Jacob's when I saw it), Comerica, Kauffman, Minute Maid, Anaheim, Globe Life, National's Park, and Wrigley.

Inactive: Memorial Stadium, Municipal (worst stadium ever), Metrodome, Tiger Stadium, Astrodome, Kingdome, Arlington, Turner Field, Busch II, and Riverfront.

By the end of the year I'm adding Coors and Safeco, which is exciting!

Rob said...

Forgot one - Jack Murphy back in the day. One of the worst sunburns ever.

Dan said...

Active: O.Co Coliseum, AT&T Park, Citizens Bank Park, Dodger Stadium, Petco Park, Rogers Centre (Skydome when I was there), Camden Yards, Chase Field

Inactive: The Vet, Memorial Stadium, Busch Stadium II, football game at Candlestick Park

Fuji said...

Oakland Coliseum, Candlestick Park, AT&T Park, Chase Field, Dodger Stadium, Jack Murphy Stadium, and the Kingdome.

Steve F. said...

Active (16)
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (A’s) - 1998-2005 (each year) (known as Network Associates Coliseum and McAfee Coliseum then)
Angel Stadium (Angels) – 1998 (Edison International Field of Anaheim then)
Minute Maid Park (Astros) - 2016
Wrigley Field (Cubs) - 1998
Chase Field (Diamondbacks) – 1998 (Banc One Ballpark then)
Dodger Stadium (Dodgers) - 1998
AT&T Park (Giants) – 2000-2005 (each year), 2011 (Pacific Bell Park and SBC Park then thru 2005)
Progressive Field (Indians) – 1995 (Jacobs Field then)
Safeco Field (Mariners) – 2007
Nationals Park (Nationals) – 2010
Oriole Park at Camden Yards (Orioles) – 1992-99 (at least 3 years)
Citizens Bank Park (Phillies) – 2004-18
PNC Park (Pirates) – 2012
Fenway Park (Red Sox) – 1991, 1996
Kauffman Stadium (Royals) – 1998
Target Field (Twins) - 2013

Retired (11)
Milwaukee County Stadium (Brewers) – 1998
3Com Park (Giants) – 1998-99 (better known as Candlestick Park)
Pro Player Stadium (Marlins) - 1997
Shea Stadium (Mets) – 1992(?), 1997 (maybe more)
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium (Nationals—but I saw Phillies vs. Red Sox exhibition game) – 1991
Memorial Stadium (Orioles) – 1990-91 (?)
Qualcomm Stadium (Padres) – 1998
Veterans Stadium (Phillies) – 1977-80, 1983-2003 (each year)
Three Rivers Stadium (Pirates) – 1998
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (Twins) – 1998
Yankee Stadium I (Yankees) – 1991, 1997, 1999 (maybe more)

Tours only (2)
Turner Field (Braves) - 2006(?)
Olympic Stadium (Expos) - 1994

I saw 13 stadiums in 1998 (not coincidentally, my last year as a single man) because I drove to a summer internship in California and back, seeing games along the way as well as throughout California during the summer.

Steve F. said...

By the way, as you can see from my list, that 27 includes "retired" stadiums as well--I am only one ahead of you on the active list. Although I do have two low-hanging fruits: Yankee Stadium and Citi Field.

P.S., I like your idea of putting the date of first game next to each one. When I have the time to dig out my ticket stubs, assuming none have gone missing, I am going to update my list for myself (no need for me to do it here though!).

Jim said...

Awesome lists everyone!

I've officially crossed the half-way point with recent visits to Petco and Chase. Probably need to cross off a few more California ballparks next year . . .