February 14, 2023
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For Valentine's Day, we decided to ask our writers about the baseball stadiums that they love.
We asked:
I have been to this many Major League Baseball stadiums:
The best stadium I have been to is:
This is a stadium I plan to visit in 2023:
This is a stadium I hope to visit someday:
Here are their replies...
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Paul Semendinger:
I have been to this many Major League Baseball stadiums: I have been to games in 10 different MLB ballparks
The best stadium I have been to is: Camden Yards (and it's not even close)
This is a stadium I plan to visit in 2023: PNC Park (Pittsburgh). I'll also go to Citi Field and Yankee Stadium (of course).
This is a stadium I hope to visit someday: Wrigley Field
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James Vlietstra:
I have been to this many Major League Baseball stadiums: 6 in total (I really haven’t been to too many stadiums. YS2, YS3, Shea, Citi, Veterans, and Fenway.)
The best stadium I have been to is: Best stadium ever is Yankees Stadium 2 (1976-2008)
This is a stadium I hope to visit someday: Downfalls of working for a family business is vacations are few and far between. I’d love to spend an entire summer driving city to city, ballpark to ballpark and see the Yankees at every one. But I’m guessing that is at least ten years in the future.
Wrigley will be the next probably
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Michael Saffer:
The best stadium I’ve been to: Yankee Stadium II. I attended my first game there in May, 1984 vs the California Angles with my dad. I have countless memories of that ballpark.
A stadium I plan on visiting in 2023 is Loan Depot Park in Miami when the Yankees visit in August.
A stadium I would like to visit one day is Petco Park. It looks beautiful on TV and I’ve heard it is equally as beautiful in person.
*** Tamar Chalker:
Stadiums I have been to: Yankee Stadium II, current Yankee Stadium, Jacobs Field, Wrigley, and Fenway. I’ve been to many more minor league parks. Favorite Stadium: YSII for the nostalgia, but I went to a lot of games at the Jake and there was never a bad seat - it is kind of the antithesis of Fenway where the seats rarely face the field…I love the history of Fenway, but it’s a terrible place to watch a game. A stadium I plan on visiting in 2023: I hope to make it to a Yankees game in the Bronx this season. A stadium I would like to visit one day: The Giants’ stadium is probably top of my list of stadiums I want to get to, with Camden and PNC Park not far behind.
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Mike Whiteman:
I have been to this many Major League Baseball stadiums: I have been to five MLB stadiums.
The best stadium I have been to is: The best stadium I have been to is Camden Yards. An enjoyable place to catch a game. Cincinnati's Great American Ballpark is pretty nice too.
This is a stadium I plan to visit in 2023: I don't have firm plans to attend any MLB games in person in 2023, but look forward to catching some minor league contests.
This is a stadium I hope to visit someday: I do desire to see the classic stadiums someday - Fenway and Wrigley Field.
*** Lincoln Mitchell:
I have been to this many Major League Baseball stadiums: I have been to this many Major League Baseball stadiums: I have been to the following current and ancient big league ballparks: Candlestick Park, Oracle Park, the Oakland Coliseum, Dodgers Stadium, Anaheim Stadium, Petco, Jack Murphy Stadium, Municipal Stadium (Cleveland), Progressive Field, the Metrodome, Fenway Park, Nationals Park, Citizen’s Bank Park, Shea Stadium, Citfield, Yankee Stadium II, Yankee Stadium III, Fenway Park, the Tokyo Dome
The best stadium I have been to is: The best stadium I have been to is: Oracle Park. Most people know about McCovey Cove and the great food, but the valet parking for cyclists is also a real perk there.
This is a stadium I plan to visit in 2023: I am going to try to make it to Camden Yards. I have never been there and would like to go.
This is a stadium I hope to visit someday: Wrigley Field. It is one of the last great ballparks and unlike Fenway Park, when you go you don’t have to listen to Red Sox fans self-righteously rabbit on nonsensically about how they are morally superior to Yankees fans.
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Derek McAdam:
I have been to this many Major League Baseball stadiums: Sadly for me, I have only been to three stadiums, which include Nationals Park, Tropicana Field and Busch Stadium.
The best stadium I have been to is: The best stadium was Busch Stadium. The park was fantastic and the surrounding area was filled with great hangout spots. Plus, seeing Albert Pujols’ 701st career home run was unforgettable.
This is a stadium I plan to visit in 2023: A stadium I hope to visit in 2023 would be Camden Yards. Being a Virginia native, Camden Yards is the closest park that I have yet to visit. Plus I’ve heard the park is a great place to see a game. Hopefully, I can make that work this year.
This is a stadium I hope to visit someday: A stadium I would like to visit one day would be Yankee Stadium. To be surrounded by Yankee fans would be a dream come true, so I hope I can turn that into a reality soon.
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Tim Kabel:
I have been to this many Major League Baseball stadiums: I have been to four major league stadiums. Yankee stadium although I suppose that would count as two since I went to both the old and the new stadiums. I have also been to Camden yards and Fenway Park and Olympic stadium in Montreal.
The best stadium I have been to is: I really enjoyed both Camden yards and Fenway Park but there’s no place like home so, my favorite stadium is Yankee stadium. I enjoy the new stadium more than the old.
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Andy Singer:
I have been to this many Major League Baseball stadiums: I have only been to 4 (and only seen a game in 3): Old Yankee Stadium, New Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, and Petco Park. However, I've been to countless minor league and amateur fields. Lately, I prefer minor league and amateur parks; there's just more character.
The best stadium I have been to is: I'm going to cheat here, because my favorite baseball field on the planet isn't professional. My favorite ballpark is Eldredge Park in Orleans, MA, home of the Orleans Firebirds (formerly Cardinals) of the Cape Cod Baseball League. That is my personal field of dreams. Besides that, I loved Petco Park in San Diego, even though I've never seen a game there. It looked way better and more accessible than either new Yankee Stadium or Citi Field. Old Yankee Stadium was the House That Ruth Built, and will always hold a special place in my heart. I miss that stadium terribly. If I concentrate hard enough, I can still smell the walls in the corridors...
The stadium I plan to visit in 2023: I don't know how much I'll be able to make happen this year, but I'm dying to get to one of Fenway or Wrigley. I'm loosely discussing making one of those happen this year. I also definitely plan to visit Hinchcliffe Stadium, an old Negro League park that has been renovated to be the home of the independent NJ Jackals.
This is a stadium I hope to visit someday: All of them. I would love to see a game in every big league ballpark. In a time far, far away, I was a radio broadcaster calling a wide variety of college sports as the play-by-play announcer. My most frequent partner as color commentator (and my successor at the radio station) blogged his visit to every Major League park across the summer after he graduated college. I've always been jealous/envious of that trip, and I'd love to do it someday.
