Sunday, April 15, 2012

Going to baseball games


Zebster at Fenway
 Since it is officially baseball season and no one's been writing baseball blogs, now seems the time to post this little thing I nearly wrote six months ago.  We should all be able to have fun with this.  While going through my scrapbook, I made a tally of all of the Major League teams I have seen play in person and how many times, and then I took it one step further by listing the parks/stadiums I had seen games played at.  Obviously by pure chance there are a few teams I've never seen play and to me there are some surprises in that list. 
I have never seen the Cubs, Mariners, A's, Rangers, Rockies, Marlins, Braves, Indians nor Cardinals.  No, I'm not old enough to have seen the Boston Braves!

Obviously being a Boston Red Sox fan and growing up in New England, I've seen the BoSox many more times than any other team, followed by the Padres and Angels.  I've seen the Sox play live about 20 times, which seems like a low number to me; and have seen them play at Fenway Park, Nationals Park, Memorial Stadium in Baltimore and the Big A in Anaheim.  1971 would be the first year I saw them play, on a trip to Boston with my grandparents and youngest uncle.
I averaged a couple of visits a season to see Padres games during the four years I lived in San Diego County and would drive up to Anaheim whenever the Red Sox were in town during that same four-year stretch.

Next is a list of the rest of the teams I've seen play more than a couple of times:  Nationals 3, Orioles 4, Yankees 3, and Dodgers 4; followed by the teams I've seen once or twice:  Brewers, Phillies, Royals, Twins, Pirates, Reds, Expos, Diamondbacks, Astros, Giants, Rays, Tigers, Mets, Blue Jays and White Sox
PNC Park

What's interesting about the latter list is a couple of teams I would not have seen had I not made a visit to their park; namely the Tigers and the Pirates, which is a nice segue into listing the parks or stadiums I've visited to see a Major League baseball game:  Fenway Park, of course, in Boston; Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego; Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles; the Big A in Anaheim; RFK and Nationals Park in DC; Memorial Stadium and Camden Yards in Baltimore; Tiger Stadium in Detroit; old Yankee Stadium in New York and PNC Park in Pittsburgh.  "Honorable Mention" goes to Sky Dome/Rodgers Center.  My brother and I ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe that is in the outfield of that building and which overlooks the field but there was no Blue Jays game the weekend we were there to see a game at Maple Leaf Garden (perhaps a list for another day?)  It was actually in March and the basketball court had been set up on the field for a Raptors game the following evening...obviously before their new arena had been built.

RFK
 The next visit is already scheduled, a game at Fenway in June against the Nationals with our friend, DCHomer.  I would love to hear or see your lists.  Came back to add to another little list, that being those of you who are authors on this blog that I've seen a game with; namely, TrotRocks, AAHole, LittleCuz, Tpubgu and DCHomer.  Hopefully I didn't forget anyone.  NottaJohn, egbane and Buffetfan, you are on the next list.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You may find this shocking but I'm seriously thinking of going to Anaheim this summer to see the Angels play. A friend of mine suggested it and I'm leaning towards "yes".

DC Homer said...

Nice article. I've been to:

- Jacob's Field, Cleveland (1)
- Fulton County Stadium, Atlanta (1)
- Shea Stadium, NYC (2)
- Yankee Stadium, NYC (1)
- Busch Memorial Stadiu, St. Louis (1)
- RFK Stadium, Wash., DC (31)
- Nationals Park, Wash., DC (18)
- Camden Yards, Baltimore (9)
- Memorial Stadium, Baltimore (1)

Parks I stood outside of but couldn't (or didn't try to) get in:

- Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia
- Coors Field, Denver
- Jack Murphy Stadium, San Diego
- Arlington Stadium, Arlington, TX
- Tiger Stadium, Detroit
- Metropolitan Stadium, Minneapolis

dasnake said...

i agree, nice article; seeing as i live on the lower mainland the closest stadiums we had/have were the kingdome and now safeco field in seattle with the mariners, the ones i've been to are;

kingdome/safeco
candlestick,
at & t park,
oakland coliseum,
dodger stadium,
angel stadium,
yankee stadium,
wrigley field,
comisky park/u.s. cellular,
fenway park,
shea stadium,


stood outside of and smiled because that was all i could do.


busch stadium,
kaufman stadium,

i've spent a LOT of time and our local "nat bailey stadium" which used to house our vancouver canadians when they were triple a, but now that they have been single a for the last few years i haven't been there as much, but the old girl has the old stadium ambience.

Zebster said...

Nice lists, guys...impressive. I think the only one I've been near to but didn't get in was Jacobs Field. RJ, you know I'm nudging you to go. Hoping to see a game soon in Philly, since that's close. I have been to several minor league parks as well. Maybe I'll include them in the list when I do one of these for other sports

dasnake said...

the reason i stood outside of them is, on both occasions i took my dyslexic pills, i read the opposing teams were away games when they were home games, doh.

tpubgu said...

Nice article Zeb. Stadiums I've been to:

Milwaukee County Stadium – but not Miller Park
Jack Murphy Stadium, SD
Dodger Stadium, LA
Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim
Candlestick Park, SF
Oakland/Alameda Coliseum, Alameda
Memorial Stadium, Baltimore
Camden Yards, Baltimore
RFK Stadium, DC
Nationals Park, DC
Veterans Stadium, Philly – for a Springsteen concert

Stadiums I’ve either walked by or drove by without going in:

Tiger Stadium, Detroit
Commisky Field, Chicago
Wrigley Field, Chicago
Coors Field, Chicago
SafeCo Park, Seattle
Astrodome, Houston
Minute Maid Park, Houston