Rank (or discuss) your favorite MLB ballparks!

I’ll try to find some.  Most are on my PC, which is in another state.  I’m now in Texas and brought my Mac with me.  

Good topic.  I love it when all you need is your own potty little opinion with no facts necessary to back them up.  Anyway, since I am rather prehistoric, a lot of my parks were demolished before some of you were born.  And I haven't necessarily made a point to try to visit as many as possible, a lot of them just targets of opportunity because of work or unrelated travel.  And I have made no effort to get to newer parks I could reach easily, like Citi Field or whatever they call the Nats park.

1. Original Yankee Stadium -- the one with the obstructed views and Monument Park in play and 463 or whatever it was to dead center and where Babe and Lou and Joe and Mick actually played.  A dream.  Number One forever in my book.

2. Wrigley Field -- deserves the accolades.  The prettiest of them all.  A jewel box with its own great history.

3.  Fenway Park -- sorry guys.  I hate the Red Sox as much as anyone on this board, but this is a great place to watch a game.  And I am admittedly a sucker for the historic aspects.  Which leads me to --

4.  Dodger Stadium -- tremendous place to watch a game, and now the third-oldest park out there, although as was noted it does not have an old feel to it.  I love the atmosphere and the Dodger Dogs and the old-fashioned ushers and organist.

5.  Camden Yards -- the first and still the best of the retro parks that I have been to.  Good food.  You can chat with Rick Dempsey in his restaurant before the game.

6.  Tiger Stadium -- something about that overhang.  Loved it.

7.  Crosley Field -- bet I'm the only one here who can evaluate this one.  Had the terraced outfield before it was fashionable.

8.  Memorial Stadium -- Camden Yards is better, but not as much better as some Baltimorons would have you believe.  It had kind of a pastoral feel to it with the hedges and Earl Weaver's tomato plants.  A kinder, gentler stadium.

9.  Connie Mack Stadium -- by the time it closed, it was probably in the worst neighborhood of any major league stadium.  But it retained a faded grandeur from being the first reinforced concrete baseball stadium ever built.  A genuine green cathedral.

10.  PNC Park -- beautifully situated, great views of the skyline, friendly, cheap, easy to get a ticket.  Highly recommended.

11.  Yankee Stadium Three -- okay, it's well done and at least it is still called Yankee Stadium.  But I dock it several spots for not being where the real Yankees Stadium was.  It's very nice, but can't hold a candle to Jacob Ruppert's vision.

12.  Forbes Field -- another oldie but goodie.  Not in the top handful of original old parks, but still ornate and historic.

13.  Citizen's Bank Park --  it's pleasant -- after the Vet, that was a low bar.  Overall a nice experience.

14.  Griffith Stadium --  My least favorite of the old parks I have been to.  It was kind of musty and depressing.  But at least it was old and Walter Johnson pitched on that mound!!

15.  Coor's Field --  Indeed a great crowd in an easily accessible downtown location.  There is a wonderful quirky baseball museum a few blocks away.

16.  Oakland-Alameida County Stadium -- I was first there in 1972, before the toilets backed up and the rats were in their infancy.  Probably should rank it a few rungs higher, but the latter-day deterioration influenced my ranking.

17.  Skydome -- what it was called when I was there.  It was my first dome to visit, and it was impressive for what it was.  I feel a little guilty about ranking any domed stadium over a real stadium, but at least it's retractable.

18.  Anaheim Stadium --  it's okay, and definitely gained a few points when they put in the rocks and water in the outfield.  But if you are in the LA area and only have time for one park, definitely make it Dodger Stadium.

19.  Bank One Ballpark -- yeah, it's Chase now.  Again, worth a visit, but nothing special.

20.  Shea Stadium -- I have some nostalgia for the planes stopping all conversation when they flew overhead, and the unparalleled views of an automobile graveyard, but I always thought this place, like the team that played there, was second-rate.

21.  Municipal Stadium --  bland and soul-less and much better suited to a Browns game than an Indians game.

22.  Exhibition Stadium --  pretty much the same as above, except the Argonauts played there.

23.  Jack Murphy Stadium -- the park was not worthy of the city where it was located.

24.  Yankee Stadium Two -- a sacrilegious vandalism of the real thing.  Sorry for my blatant prejudice.

25.  Candlestick Park -- why was this ever a baseball stadium?  I froze in July.  Even though I have never been to its successor, I am completely confident that it is far superior.

26.  Veterans Stadium/Three Rivers Stadium/Riverfront Stadium -- you saw one, you saw them all.  The one good thing I can say is that they were so bad that they brought about the backlash to all-purpose stadiums.

27.  Parc Jarry -- a high school stadium befitting the early Expos teams.  Strictly Amateur Hour.

28.  Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome -- last and certainly least for me, this giant suffocating baggy was conclusive proof that God did not intend for baseball to be played indoors.  The most polite and friendly fans I have ever met.  They deserved better.

Wow, you've been to 28 MLB parks pipps? Pretty impressive!

I just can't compete with Yankee54's exciting life of garbage man barbecues and driving to Baltimore to watch the Yankees cause he can't afford Yankee stadium tickets despite his claims of having great wealth. 

Inger, seeing that many parks is less of an achievement than it may appear because I have lived in so many places that made it relatively simple.  First of all, growing up where I did, it was only roughly one hour to Philly, one and a half to Baltimore, two to New York and three to Washington.  Had I been smart enough as a kid, I would have held my breath until I turned blue unless my parents agreed to take me to the Polo Grounds or Ebbets Field.  But I wasn't thinking ahead and I was very focused on the Yankees, so I wasn't going to pester them to take me to New York unless it was to see the Yankees.  Plus I had the enormous benefit of having two baseball-loving parents and a mother who looked for any reason to go to New York (our trips did not involve just a Yankees game.)

Add to that that I have lived as an adult in or near San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, New York and Washington, and you can get lots of stadiums without really trying very hard. 

Actually, I left out one I got to during a cross-country move -- County Stadium in Milwaukee when the Brewers were there -- meh, I would put it somewhere around the middle.  Great bratwursts.  I don't feel like going back to rearrange the ratings.

I have been to other stadiums where major league baseball was played without seeing an actual major league game.  Does that count?  Went to RFK in DC for one of those Cracker Jack Old Timer's games in the 1980s.  Been to the LA Coliseum many times, but only for USC football.  Did tours of Turner Field and the King Dome on days when no game was played.  Had I seen a game at the King Dome, I probably would have ranked it just above the HHH Dome.

How about places where major league stadiums used to be?  Hilltop Park in Upper Manhattan where Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center is now and where the Yankees played as the Highlanders when they entered the American League.  Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston where the Red Sox played in the first World Series, pre-Fenway.  If you just count sites, then I have indeed been to the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field, as well as Baker Bowl and Columbia Park in Philly.

The left field wall of Forbes Field in Pittsburgh is still standing should anyone choose to see it.  Where Griffith Stadium once stood is now part of Howard University.  Sometimes the ghosts are interesting in their own right.

An additional Larson note: During his Yankee seasons, Larsen accrued a regular season mark of 45-24. Since he was 3-21 with the Orioles the year prior to joining the Yankees and 1-10 with the A's the season he was traded away, he has the "distinction" of having a 4-31 record in the two seasons wrapped around a productive and successful time in NY...

I do wish Yankee stadium had a retractable roof. Rainouts/the threat of rain are always an annoyance when attending games.