Organized "biographically," as John Cusack did with his album collection in High Fidelity.
new comiskey (10 times) -- i echo chris's sentiment that this isn't as bad as it's been perceived, but i still don't think it's very good. i've had the pleasure of sitting in good seats there, but then it was with guys like jeremy plowman, so that experience could have been better. the upper deck is notorious, but at least the steep grading makes you seem not so unbelievably far away from the action, and the sight lines are remarkably good from this section, in my opinion. i haven't sat in the bleachers, so i can't comment on that, and unlike chris, i haven't taken the kids, so i also can't comment on the price. parking is fine, though again, that's occasionally been donated by Twin members, improving the experience. i've sat through two of the hottest games i've ever attended at new comiskey, the first a twi-night doubleheader against the Twins with Brian Boice, circa 1993, and then in 1998 with Steve Laurencell ... in this last one, the temp was around 100, but because I was nursing a summer cold, I wore a windbreaker. in the doubleheader with Brian, we got there at sunset, and sitting along the left field line right where Rock Raines was positioned, we saw that the archways behind the first base side were letting in the brilliance of the setting sun, and it was a very beautiful experience for the first 5 minutes ... until I realized I couldn't look at home plate without being blinded for the first 3 or 4 innings.
old comiskey (10 times) -- i enjoyed the charm, and as a kid, i thought this was on par with wrigley. i grew up and grew out of that thinking, but i still have enjoyable memories. again, as this closed down when i was 18, i can't comment much on food or parking or prices, but like chris, something pretty cool always seemed to happen when i went here ... torborg playing puppetmaster with his pen in 1990, using middle men to get to the 8th and barry jones, who was relieved by bobby thigpen, who picked up one of his 57 saves that night against Cal and the Orioles ... yeah, willie wilson hit an inside-the-park home run, but my most vivid memory of that day in '79 was Dad ushering us out early to beat traffic, and claudell washington hitting a game-tying home run as soon as we got to the car (I wasn't happy about that, but I learned some important lessons about the cosmos with the whole experience) ... sitting in the front row of the left-centerfield bleachers in '78 with Dad, and seeing the great Chet Lemon up close as he was getting chased to the wall on seemingly every at bat ... going to a game with Chris and Kelly Hansen in '87, and 1) Kenny Williams making an incredible catch at the wall, 2) some old guy a section over going into cardiac arrest, and Chris rushing over to offer his CPR skills (turns out the guy was just real sweatty or something), 3) Kelly flirting with, then eventually sitting next to, two guys a section over, and 4) Chris yelling profanities at Larry Sheets in right field, when he should've been yelling at Kelly. would be more well thought of if not for hat day in '82, where everyone in the world was also there, and the only available seats were in the leftfield picnic area underneath the bleachers, and about all we could see the whole game were the shoes of Steve Kemp ... and in '81, we sat behind home plate, kinda high up, and I swear, I couldn't see home plate from our seats ... sup with that?
metrodome (2001, once) -- less than zero charm. my vision was as bad as it's ever been when we went here, but i could not see the ball off the bat at all the entire game, as the turf was impossibly fluorescent. took me three or four innings to figure out where the "big" scoreboard was, and when i did find it, it shocked me to get some perspective of how bad some of the seats are above the baggy. it was cramped in the bleachers that saturday night, and I sweated off 10 pounds waiting in line at the concession stand. i hated being hermetically sealed, too. the good thing about it all was it was with kristin and justin and fletcher, and it was the first MLB game for the boys, and they had a very good time. it was also pretty close to our hotel, so we walked, and it seemed like we were safe as we walked. it was some special deal for the bleachers that night, some kind of family night that included a hot dog, popcorn and a drink, which is why the concession stands were so full, so it was a reasonably priced event. i cannot believe it's this charmless park that's gonna save the Twins from contraction.
Network Associates Coliseum, aka the Mausoleum (2000, once) -- like the metrodome, this is totally charmless. there's a concrete facade in the outfield between the wall and whatever seating is out there, which is just plain ugly. went to the game with Julie Bennett when I was in Silicon Valley on a business trip, and it was as cold a May night as you would expect in that area. she bought a $8 peach-flavored imported beer, which i'm sure is available in other stadiums, but it just about ruined my night to watch her do that. also, in driving around trying to get out afterwards, you have to drive through a few decrepid Oaktown 'hoods to get back to the interstate, and in getting from julie's to the bay bridge back in San Francisco, you have to drive through a frightening section of that city, all the while dealing with frightening traffic. the thing is, it was a good game against the Mariners -- a game between two resurgent franchises, in ARod's last season in Seattle, Buhner went yard in his last decent season, I got to see Matt Stairs, Jason Giambi, the rookie Chavez, Tejada, Ben Grieve ... all hitting like softball players and looking like something besides baseball players in those white shoes. the seats were reasonably-priced, I'm thinking less than $25, for the equivalent of "Wolfsen seats." however, the seats 5 rows back here are about where seats 30 rows back at Wrigley would be. I was a little put off when the usher quieted the college kids a row in front of us for calling Dan Wilson a bum. the best part of the whole experience was the parking ... we pulled up probably a 1/2 hour before first pitch, and in this spacious lot, we got to park in the Twin equivalent of 3-50.
Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium (1996, once) -- ok, it wasn't the Braves, it was the US vs. The Netherlands in the '96 Olympics, but it still counts. this was a dirty, smelly stadium. probably didn't help that we paid Olympic prices for concessions, or that we had to take some overcrowded Olympic transportation to get to the park, which took us through a kinda rundown area of town. about the only positive was the prices of the tickets, especially considering all of the prices for other Olympic events ... but considering how rotten the view was from the upper deck in right centerfield, these should have been even cheaper than $6. like the Metrodome, I could not see the ball the entire game, but that had much more to do with the sight lines from these seats than with my vision or with the turf. there was a rumor than Kris Benson pitched and Travis Lee and Jacque Jones hit home runs, but I cannot verify that anyone was actually on the field, other than when I occasionally saw a speck that could have been a third base coach. due to this atrocious experience, when i was pricing tickets for chris for a trip to busch stadium a year or two ago, i would not allow him to consider anything in any upper deck general admission. outside the park, they had a statue of Hank Aaron, which was cool, but not far from Aaron, it kinda sickened me to see a statue of Ty Cobb ... don't get me wrong, I think Cobb was an extraordinary player, but he seems to be the complete antithesis of Aaron. outside the stadium, it was nice to see the flame in the Olympic cauldron in the nearby Olympic Stadium, but that and the Aaron statue were the only ambiance to an ugly stadiium. as an aside, a few days later, Kristin and I went to Olympic Stadium, which later became Turner Field, and watched some Track and Field events. we sat in what would be the right centerfield bleachers, and we were fortunate to sit in the first few rows. from that experience, I think the sight lines for the bleachers have to be very good for baseball. it was hard from a track and field perspective, as with a lot of stuff going on at the same time, you need to have a good view of the JumboTron to follow the action, and we ended up with cricks in our necks as we repeatedly turned our heads at awkward angles to see the board situated behind us.
Miller Park (2001, twice) -- my only indoor experiences, as one of the games I went to was a freezing April night with the roof closed, the other game a TGIFridays in left field eat and watch game. just no personality or charisma or whatever you want to call it, as chris suggested. pricy seats(*), and parking is miles away. anything brewers-related is just sour to me now, with Commissioner Bud doing what he's doing with MLB. the TGIFridays game was, ummmm, a litle bit awkward as Kristin and I joined Ken and Linda mid-breakup for that Father's Day game. the April game was great for the fact that it was Matt, Ken, Chris and myself ... reading Bill James on the way up, tailgating in the lot once we found Matt, and then talking baseball and brotherhood for 9 innings. that night Matt got the seats for 1/2 price, and considering where they were, full price would have been way too pricy. i put the asterisk next to the pricy seats comment earlier as i think Matt ended up paying for our tickets in April, and in June, they were courtesy of Linda.
county stadium (15 times) -- what can i say about county stadium that chris didn't? it was a lot of steel and concrete, had a minor league look, reeked of stale beer, but all of that is what made it perfect. i don't remember setting the parking lot ablaze, but i remember tons of tailgating, with Chris, and sometimes Ken, a young Greg Nims and Mike McLoughlin, with Tommy Maloney, once or twice with Matt, even with Phil, Ashish, Stump and Boog -- brats and beer in the shadows of county stadium just seem to have that nectar of the gods taste. i was with chris when he had a hand on (or nearly on) the 6 or 7 balls, and he's not exaggerating too much ... which made me especially appreciate Willie McGee's home run saving catch in the '82 series, because he surely had to fend off some fans to make the catch. might not have been the same game, but a fraternity gathered in the same bleacher section as Chris and I goaded one of their brothers to jump out onto the field that night, which was quite a spectacle ... and I though I didn't know Jim Frank all that well then, I could understand the essence of him by thinking of the kid in that frat. enjoyed their bathrooms outside of the bleachers. in terms of history, in September of '92, I was fortunate enough to see Yount get his 3000th hit. 'nuf ced.
wrigley (25 times) -- dare i attempt to describe the laughs of my children? a Puerta Vallarta sunset? i hadn't gone in a couple years, and then last year Kristin and I went ... and while watching batting practice, I don't know, I just couldn't get over that grass could be that green. from the bleachers to the Wolfsen seats, the best place on God's green earth to watch baseball.
Chris's Review
Keith's Review
Steve's Review
Dave's Review