What Ruined The Ballpark?

What Ruined The Ballpark?

References:

The Library of Congress

Cleveland Baseball Company; Dunn, J.C.

Jim Pickerell

PublicDomainPictures

Green Cathedrals, by Phil Lowry

Images:

"Luxury Suite - AT&T Park Tour" by jdnx is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

“Wrigley Scoreboard (14984619508).jpg” by Dan Gaken from Mt. Pleasant, MI, United States is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

“CitizensBankSkyline.JPG” by Airtuna08 is licensed under CC BY 3.0.

"US Cellular Field Chicago" by FaceMePLS is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

[Enginshim]

Because everyone wanted something to do at the game besides watching the game.

[samuelvasquez]

Prices. Unaffordable to the common man. Parking, concessions, tickets themselves... it's out of hand.

[andrewalden]

If you listen to Depressed Ginger, he would tell you that it all went downhill because they didn’t spend 5-10 billion dollars on a retractable roof stadium.

[billlong]

It's now all about revenue to pay the outrageous player salaries. The average person cannot afford to attend but maybe one game a year.

[notyourtypicalwatchreview]

I don’t even have to watch this to answer: Ridiculously high ticket and food prices.

[Michael-xyj]

Teams treat fans like they have A D D.

[kendallevans]

Short attention span. No one can just sit and eat their hotdog without visual/audio bombardment!

[dominicanball]

To be honest, I don't care if those features are never coming back. We still have Fenway and Wrigley with them, and the rest of ballparks still have something that the NFL doesn't and that is uniqueness in shape. Are there some that are similar? Yeah. But are there some that are exactly the same? No. Also, Every ballpark has at least one feature that makes it cool. The Western Metal Supply Co. in Petco Park, the Allegheny River with the bridge and the skyline in PNC Park, the San Francisco Bay in Oracle Park, no matter where you go, there will be something that will make it distinctive of others. To be different, you don't necessarily have to go with crazy dimensions or crazy walls, just give it a little touch of uniqueness.

[scottl.]

What ruined the ballpark is teams had to add so many superfluous amenities and distractions that it's like Six Flags without the roller coasters. The live baseball game used to be entertaining enough, but now there's a thousand ways to keep busy at the ballpark without ever watching the actual game 😒

[danieldanko]

Simply way too expensive. Our single A team charges $13 for the bleachers. It's unaffordable to take a family.

[brocklawer]

Baseball sucks now high prices, no deals on tixs, giveaways that go to the first 5 people in line. It’s not the same and why I stopped going.

[neanderthalsnavel]

Corporate suites. Look at where they are at Progressive Field. The upper deck of that place is absolutely horrible because of the space taken by the club seats and suites. The rise/run is horrible compared to the stadiums they replaced.

[HeritageRoad]

Kauffman Stadium is beautiful. Got to see my Royals play there. It was a great experience.

[bob]

I literally just rode the trolley home from Petco Park. What a wonderful ballpark and fascinating trip into downtown and back. It’s just as fun every time I go. I go to Coors Field occasionally when I visit friends in Denver and that’s a nice one as well

[isaiahdaddys]

They don’t take cash anymore. Took my pop to see the Phillies and couldn’t buy a beer and a pretzel. #digitalworld

[archstanton]

Fenway and Wrigley were the 1st two stadiums i visited. Now i have 1 to visit to complete the MLB 30.

Seattle on July 4th here i come.

[UHaulShorts]

Ginger guy wouid say they all gettin *domed*

[timothyredwine]

Let's be honest, the multi-purpose cookie cutters were built to take advantage of the growing popularity of the NFL. It had little to do with baseball.

I think that present-day stadium design has nothing to do with baseball or football. It is simply a variation of gentrification. Capital needs to be invested somewhere. Ballparks have been replaced with gentrified money machines. Do the people in those luxury suites actually watch the game? It's just another way for people who have capital to invest in something and for people who have money to spend to show their privilege and status.

We will never see another Fenway Park, Tiger Stadium or Wrigley Field because they were designed for the common working-class fan.

[christopherpellerito]

It seems like there have always been a few trendsetters and then a bunch of copycats. The original "cookie cutter" shape was Shibe (first permanent poured concrete grandstand) and the ballparks of the 10s and 20s copied that. Then in the 60s RFK (round stadium with reconfigurable stands to accommodate multiple sports) became the cookie cutter and everyone built copies of that design. In the 1990s Camden Yards became the cookie cutter and everyone built copies of that. "We want to stand out and be different, just like they did in Baltimore!" It's a non sequitur but that's what most cities did.

[Sacto]

There is NO WAY we can go back to something like Fenway or Wrigley given Americans with Disabilities Act requirements and with seating that properly points towards the field with no obstructions and wide enough to accommodate most Americans now.