My thread on 2018 baseball predictions got me to thinking about some of the old baseball stadiums or arenas I have attended sporting events or concerts in over the years. Living in the northeast I am blessed and cursed to the extent of wishing for a Fenway 2 a new ballpark similar to the parks built in Baltimore,Philly, Pittsburgh,Cincinnati, Cleveland,Detroit, St Louis and Minneapolis. Fenway has character with tight seats and obstructed views and expensive ticket prices. However I would not trade it for any of the in vogue stadiums of the 60'S and 70'S like Busch in St. Louis, River Front in Cincinnati, Three Rivers in Pittsburgh, Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia or RFK in Washington DC. These stadiums were ok for football but lacked the charm and character of the stadiums they replaced. Forbes Field in Pittsburgh being one. A great place to take in a game. It was a sad day for me watching the Pirates play their final game at Forbes Field on 06/28/1970 against the Cubs( Who happened to be the opponent back in 1909 when Forbes Field opened). Regrets never made it to Crosley Field in Cincinnati, The original Yankee Stadium before the remodeling in the 70'S, The Met in Bloomington MN.was a great baseball park. Again sadly didn't get to see a game there. But having seen several games at Target Field the Twins have a wonderful facility for their fans.

Please share your memories

New Yankee stadium is nice, I loved the old stadium. Same with Met life and Meadowlands. We have to remember that they have a shelf life and need to be updated or new one rebuilt. Not sure we will ever see MSG go which is nice because that is probably my favorite.

NIKV69 wrote:

New Yankee stadium is nice, I loved the old stadium. Same with Met life and Meadowlands. We have to remember that they have a shelf life and need to be updated or new one rebuilt. Not sure we will ever see MSG go which is nice because that is probably my favorite.

I went to the old Yankee Stadium sometime in the 2000's. My thoughts were this place has a lot of history, but it is kind of a dump.

cledaybuck wrote:

NIKV69 wrote:

New Yankee stadium is nice, I loved the old stadium. Same with Met life and Meadowlands. We have to remember that they have a shelf life and need to be updated or new one rebuilt. Not sure we will ever see MSG go which is nice because that is probably my favorite.

I went to the old Yankee Stadium sometime in the 2000's. My thoughts were this place has a lot of history, but it is kind of a dump.

You just perfectly described my feelings about Wrigley Field as well. Although to be fair, I haven't been there since the Ricketts family spent boucoup bucks on upgrades so it may be better now.
The last night I spent as an Illinois resident was at Old Comiskey Park watching the White Sox with my best freind. He and I had gone to countless games there over the years, ever since we were kids. It was a fitting farewell as that was in summer of 1990, the last year before the new park opened.
My other favorite venue from back in the day is also gone now - the old "Madhouse on Madison," Chicago Stadium. What a great place that was

ER757 wrote:

cledaybuck wrote:

NIKV69 wrote:

New Yankee stadium is nice, I loved the old stadium. Same with Met life and Meadowlands. We have to remember that they have a shelf life and need to be updated or new one rebuilt. Not sure we will ever see MSG go which is nice because that is probably my favorite.

I went to the old Yankee Stadium sometime in the 2000's. My thoughts were this place has a lot of history, but it is kind of a dump.

You just perfectly described my feelings about Wrigley Field as well. Although to be fair, I haven't been there since the Ricketts family spent boucoup bucks on upgrades so it may be better now.
The last night I spent as an Illinois resident was at Old Comiskey Park watching the White Sox with my best freind. He and I had gone to countless games there over the years, ever since we were kids. It was a fitting farewell as that was in summer of 1990, the last year before the new park opened.
My other favorite venue from back in the day is also gone now - the old "Madhouse on Madison," Chicago Stadium. What a great place that was

I really liked both Wrigley and Fenway when I visited in the 90's (Wrigley better). I grew up going to Indians games at the old Cleveland Stadium. I didn't realize what a dump it was until I went back for a Browns game after Jacobs Field opened. I also attended a game at the old Tiger Stadium in the late 90's which was also a dump, but the upper deck was super close to the field because of the overhang. Sitting behind those poles really sucked though.

Yeah, those old stadiums could really get you close to the action - the example of Tiger stadium's upper deck is a great illustration.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I once attended a baseball game at the Metrodome in Minneapolis and it was spectacularly ill-suited for the sport. Never went to a football game there, but I'd imagine it would be a far better experience. That's what I found at the Kingdome in Seattle anyhow. Awful for baseball, pretty good for football.

cledaybuck wrote:

NIKV69 wrote:

New Yankee stadium is nice, I loved the old stadium. Same with Met life and Meadowlands. We have to remember that they have a shelf life and need to be updated or new one rebuilt. Not sure we will ever see MSG go which is nice because that is probably my favorite.

I went to the old Yankee Stadium sometime in the 2000's. My thoughts were this place has a lot of history, but it is kind of a dump.

Let us not forget it was built in 1923.

ER757 wrote:

You just perfectly described my feelings about Wrigley Field as well. Although to be fair, I haven't been there since the Ricketts family spent boucoup bucks on upgrades so it may be better now.
The last night I spent as an Illinois resident was at Old Comiskey Park watching the White Sox with my best freind. He and I had gone to countless games there over the years, ever since we were kids. It was a fitting farewell as that was in summer of 1990, the last year before the new park opened.
My other favorite venue from back in the day is also gone now - the old "Madhouse on Madison," Chicago Stadium. What a great place that was

Ahh the good ol days

The only old stadiums I've been to are the Metrodome (lots of Twins games, one Vikings game, monster truck rallies, and a couple Twins Fest), and Fenway Park last year (Red Sox vs. Twins, very close and exciting game, Twins managed to stay ahead).

I went to Dodger Stadium once in 1986. meh... I know the Giants and Dodgers were playing and the guy three rows down tried to get The Wave started for like four innings.

My first NHL game was at Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver BC. Horrible lighting and terrible acoustics. It was heaven. I have seen hockey games at Key Arena in Seattle and Rose Garden and the Coliseum in Portland and Toyota Center in Kennewick, and the Boone St. Barn in Spokane. Any live hockey game is a good game. Especially when Vancouver wins.

Always a spot in my heart for the Astrodome. When my grandparents lived in Houston in the 80s, we made annual visits to go see them. Multiple times they took us to Astros games. Being a young kid at the time, there was literally nothing else like it. My final visit inside the Astrodome was going to WrestleMania 18 (?) with a Rock vs Stone Cold Main Event and I think Triple H vs Undertaker undercard. Also, a stupendous TLC match with Hardy Boys and Dudley Boys.

So sad to see the Astrodome overshadowed by the behemoth next door, and Harris County politicians too cowardly to either demolish it or refurbish it.

LittleFokker wrote:

Always a spot in my heart for the Astrodome. When my grandparents lived in Houston in the 80s, we made annual visits to go see them. Multiple times they took us to Astros games. Being a young kid at the time, there was literally nothing else like it. My final visit inside the Astrodome was going to WrestleMania 18 (?) with a Rock vs Stone Cold Main Event and I think Triple H vs Undertaker undercard. Also, a stupendous TLC match with Hardy Boys and Dudley Boys.

So sad to see the Astrodome overshadowed by the behemoth next door, and Harris County politicians too cowardly to either demolish it or refurbish it.

They actually just voted to refurbish it a couple of days ago.

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/new ... -105m.html

I have attended baseball games in the following major league stadiums: Fenway, Yankee (old), Memorial, Camden, RFK, Turner, Jacobs, Cleveland Municipal, Tiger, Comerica, Riverfront, Great American, PNC, Wrigley, Milwaukee County, Busch (old), Kaufmann, Arlington, Ballpark at Arlington, Chase, Petco, Dodger, Candlestick, AT&T, Oakland Coliseum, SAFECO, and Coors. My favorite old stadium are Wrigley and Fenway. My favorite new stadium are Camden, PNC, and AT&T. I also really like Ohio Stadium, but I am a bit biased about that one.

cledaybuck wrote:

LittleFokker wrote:

Always a spot in my heart for the Astrodome. When my grandparents lived in Houston in the 80s, we made annual visits to go see them. Multiple times they took us to Astros games. Being a young kid at the time, there was literally nothing else like it. My final visit inside the Astrodome was going to WrestleMania 18 (?) with a Rock vs Stone Cold Main Event and I think Triple H vs Undertaker undercard. Also, a stupendous TLC match with Hardy Boys and Dudley Boys.

So sad to see the Astrodome overshadowed by the behemoth next door, and Harris County politicians too cowardly to either demolish it or refurbish it.

They actually just voted to refurbish it a couple of days ago.

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/new ... -105m.html

Well that's nice to see. Glad they're finally committing to something practical rather than letting it rot to death.

Don't know about favorite, but have lots of fond memorys of attending Aussie Rules matches at AFL/VFL Park in Waverley as a kid.

VFL Park was planned & developed in the 60's as a replacement for the MCG when the then VFL & the MCC who controlled the MCG at the time were at loggerheads. The stadium was built in the then outer suburb of Waverley on former market garden land. The state government at the time promised train access which never happened. The original plan was to have an eventual capacity of around 126,000 people - this was in the days when the VFL was basically a suburban Melbourne Football league, and there were no games shown live on TV to protect gate takings. Until the mid 80's, the only match shown live to air was the Grand Final, otherwise everyone had to make do with a Saturday night highlights show (nearly all games to the mid 80's were played on Saturday afternoons). The eventual capacity was around 75,000.

By the late 90's the AFL & the MCG trust had sorted out their differences, and the AFL decided to build a new stadium in Downtown Melbourne to supplant the MCG, what is now Etihad Stadium. The land that AFL park was eventually in the middle of a sought-after residential area, and there were no shortage of residential developers willing to purchase the land for redevelopment, which is what happened. The last official AFL game was played in 1999, the stadium was used for another year for 2nd-tier state league games the following year before finally being redeveloped in 2002.

The AFL Grand Final was played at the MCG only once, in 1991 while the MCG was undergoing redevelopment...


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waverley_Park

What could have been....

http://www.anthonycosta.com.au/content/ ... -never-was

As much of a monstrosity as it was (and how much better its replacement is), I kind of miss the Kingdome in Seattle. I have a lot of fond memories of watching Griffey and co. back in the '90s (even if they were rarely winning) and remember it as one of those venues that you kind of enjoyed for how comically ill-suited it was to its primary purpose. My mom worked in the old Seafirst Bank building in downtown Seattle back in the 1970s and told me that it took the better part of a year after it opened before someone informed her "actually, it IS finished..."

Am I crazy for thinking the plural of stadium is stadia?

Even though it's still around, I miss Turner Field. So much history in the short time its been standing from an Olympic stadium to a great baseball venue, and the Braves just blew it off to go build their new shiny stadium in the suburban sprawl.

I also have found memories of the Georgia Dome too - my first time in Atlanta was visiting there for the Chick-Fil-A kickoff game. Though I will say the new stadium is breathtaking.

gunsontheroof wrote:

As much of a monstrosity as it was (and how much better its replacement is), I kind of miss the Kingdome in Seattle. I have a lot of fond memories of watching Griffey and co. back in the '90s (even if they were rarely winning) and remember it as one of those venues that you kind of enjoyed for how comically ill-suited it was to its primary purpose. My mom worked in the old Seafirst Bank building in downtown Seattle back in the 1970s and told me that it took the better part of a year after it opened before someone informed her "actually, it IS finished..."

I watched them build and then implode the Kingdome. After Sick's Stadium. I was at the last game in Cominsky Park and made it Brewers Stadium or whatever it was called, the season it closed. Dodger Stadium has a real vibe to it, to bad about the Dodgers. Spent lots of foggy nights at Candlestick but minor league gets all my attention now. Nice atmosphere, close to the action, cheap prices and the players are still approachable.

Who's been to Field of Dreams?

Route66 wrote:

gunsontheroof wrote:

As much of a monstrosity as it was (and how much better its replacement is), I kind of miss the Kingdome in Seattle. I have a lot of fond memories of watching Griffey and co. back in the '90s (even if they were rarely winning) and remember it as one of those venues that you kind of enjoyed for how comically ill-suited it was to its primary purpose. My mom worked in the old Seafirst Bank building in downtown Seattle back in the 1970s and told me that it took the better part of a year after it opened before someone informed her "actually, it IS finished..."

I watched them build and then implode the Kingdome. After Sick's Stadium. I was at the last game in Cominsky Park and made it Brewers Stadium or whatever it was called, the season it closed. Dodger Stadium has a real vibe to it, to bad about the Dodgers. Spent lots of foggy nights at Candlestick but minor league gets all my attention now. Nice atmosphere, close to the action, cheap prices and the players are still approachable.

Who's been to Field of Dreams?

I watched the Kingdome implosion from up above I-5 south of the stadium in a little neighborhood park. Had my old 35MM SLR loaded with a 36 exposure roll and set the shutter on continuous - love those pics.
Was at Old Comiskey less than a month before it closed (moved to Seattle in early Sept 1990) and got to watch that last game you attended since it was against the Mariners so it was on out here. Went back the Chicago the following summer and visited the new park and Lord Almighty what a crappy ballpark that was (probably still is - haven't been there since).
Loved old County Stadium in Milwaukee too - have never been to Miller Park, was already out here when it opened.

Cleveland Municipal Stadium was a nasty place in a lot of ways - dark, cramped, bad bathrooms/plumbing, etc., but at least it was used for more than one purpose. We had football and baseball games there, and it served as a concert venue. The current stadiums stand as divas... they only serve the purposes of their home teams and don't host anything else. It's sad that Cleveland citizens invested so much money into these venues - and the infrastructure to support them such as the Waterfront (light rail) Line, just to see them sit empty most of the year.

RetroRoo wrote:

Am I crazy for thinking the plural of stadium is stadia?

It is, but Latin grammar has taken a back seat to English bastardization.

ER757 wrote:

Route66 wrote:

gunsontheroof wrote:

As much of a monstrosity as it was (and how much better its replacement is), I kind of miss the Kingdome in Seattle. I have a lot of fond memories of watching Griffey and co. back in the '90s (even if they were rarely winning) and remember it as one of those venues that you kind of enjoyed for how comically ill-suited it was to its primary purpose. My mom worked in the old Seafirst Bank building in downtown Seattle back in the 1970s and told me that it took the better part of a year after it opened before someone informed her "actually, it IS finished..."

I watched them build and then implode the Kingdome. After Sick's Stadium. I was at the last game in Cominsky Park and made it Brewers Stadium or whatever it was called, the season it closed. Dodger Stadium has a real vibe to it, to bad about the Dodgers. Spent lots of foggy nights at Candlestick but minor league gets all my attention now. Nice atmosphere, close to the action, cheap prices and the players are still approachable.

Who's been to Field of Dreams?

I watched the Kingdome implosion from up above I-5 south of the stadium in a little neighborhood park. Had my old 35MM SLR loaded with a 36 exposure roll and set the shutter on continuous - love those pics.
Was at Old Comiskey less than a month before it closed (moved to Seattle in early Sept 1990) and got to watch that last game you attended since it was against the Mariners so it was on out here. Went back the Chicago the following summer and visited the new park and Lord Almighty what a crappy ballpark that was (probably still is - haven't been there since).
Loved old County Stadium in Milwaukee too - have never been to Miller Park, was already out here when it opened.

We may have been at the same park. Beacon Hill on 12th and McClellan?

Route66 wrote:

ER757 wrote:

Route66 wrote:

I watched them build and then implode the Kingdome. After Sick's Stadium. I was at the last game in Cominsky Park and made it Brewers Stadium or whatever it was called, the season it closed. Dodger Stadium has a real vibe to it, to bad about the Dodgers. Spent lots of foggy nights at Candlestick but minor league gets all my attention now. Nice atmosphere, close to the action, cheap prices and the players are still approachable.

Who's been to Field of Dreams?

I watched the Kingdome implosion from up above I-5 south of the stadium in a little neighborhood park. Had my old 35MM SLR loaded with a 36 exposure roll and set the shutter on continuous - love those pics.
Was at Old Comiskey less than a month before it closed (moved to Seattle in early Sept 1990) and got to watch that last game you attended since it was against the Mariners so it was on out here. Went back the Chicago the following summer and visited the new park and Lord Almighty what a crappy ballpark that was (probably still is - haven't been there since).
Loved old County Stadium in Milwaukee too - have never been to Miller Park, was already out here when it opened.

We may have been at the same park. Beacon Hill on 12th and McClellan?

Boy, it's been so long I don't remember exactly. It was postage stamp-sized and I had my tripod balanced on a blanket someone threw across the top of a blackberry bramble that was at the edge of the hill. It was surprisingly sturdy.