yep...I remember the Croix De Candlestick pins you got when you stayed for extra inning games at the Stick....
Posted on 06/21/2012 10:31:55 AM PDT by TurboZamboni
The late Dan Quisenberry once said of the Metrodome, "I don't think there are any good uses for nuclear weapons, but then, this may be one."
And he only pitched in 16 games there his entire career.
Torii Hunter, on the other hand, played 10 full seasons in the Metrodome, so maybe he had a better read on it. This is what he told me about his former home just before the Twins moved out: "If they need any kind of help blowing it up, I will definitely be there. I will push the plunger. Boom. Boom. I will not miss the Metrodome at all."
The funny thing is, I kind of do. As much as I love the Twins' new field, I had a lot of great times at the Metrodome. (I asked my future wife out on our first date from the pressbox phone while covering the Twins' 1991 worst-to-first championship season.) Or, as my mother frequently told me, if you grew up in hell, you would miss it when you left. But even as much as I enjoyed the actual games on the field, I have to admit the Metrodome was not a good place for baseball.
But was it so bad it deserves detonation, either via dynamite or nuclear weapon? Was it the worst stadium in baseball history?
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.go.com ...
I love Fenway Park. It’s beautiful.
I don’t recall seeing those bumper stickers, but I do recall seeing Koufax pitch on a night in June in the sixties. Mark Twain was right: the coldest winter he ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.
It was fun to watch wigs and toupees fly off unsuspecting
fans.
yep...I remember the Croix De Candlestick pins you got when you stayed for extra inning games at the Stick....
Caught a bit of a soccer game from Montreal’s Olympic Stadium recently. It is impossible to underestimate how bad a venue it is for nearly anything. All the charm of a large concrete parking structure and not half as comfortable. Plus I think Quebec taxpayers are still going to be paying for it in 2030.
A seven-game series with every game decided by one run. At the conclusion, Sports Illustrated called it the best World Series in history.
But that still doesn't change the fact that Ken Hrbek tackled Ron Gant at first base.
That’s “Kent Hrbek.”
I remember that from the O'Dome at UF, a virtual wind tunnel.
The first time I saw it in person - walking in the shadows past the Jimmy Fund boxes, up the ramp, seeing the sun on the grass and the Green Monster - was as rich a baseball experience as I've ever had.
I was there that night. If you look at the replay, you'll see that by the time Hrbek's glove hand is under Gant's leg, Gant is already out. His momentum had already taken him off the bag.
That said, the Metrodome was built for football. The seats were angled for football, the lights were angled for football, and the ceiling was, and still is, white. A seat behind home plate didn't face toward center field, it faced toward the corner of the football end zone.
All that said, the Metrodome had what none of the cookie-cutter National League parks of the 1970s and 1980s had. It had personality. Whether that's good or bad, I don't know.
I actually did go to a few games at the "Ex", and I agree.
After all, it was Elwood Blues' home.
Glad to see that the L.A. Coliseum made the list, though not as highly as it probably should have been.
As the late, great Lindsey Nelson said, “The Coliseum is the only ballpark in history that has room for 93,000 people and two outfielders.”
LOL At least old Bush Stadium no longer exists!
At least the arches gave old Busch a little more personality than the other “ashtray” stadiums.
I remember when Royals (Kaufmann) Stadium was first built, I took an engineer from the New York area there who had grown up in Philly and whose baseball experiences were all the old northeast stadiums.
He was blown away — the cleanliness, the fountains, the nicely dressed and behaved fans — “its like a fricking country club” he said. He couldn’t get over it.
The twin stadiums for the Royals and Chiefs (Truman Sports Complex), were the first in a modern wave of stadium architecture. Kivett and Meyers Architects, soon merged with engineering giant HNTB began a whole new era of stadium design. Eight guys spun off and opened HOK Sports (now Populous) and also a Sports venue office for Ellerbe Beckett Architects.
Sports venue architecture’s biggest shift came from Kansas City and a lot of it is still designed there.
One of the worst days of my late teen life was travelling home from work in Tacony on the AmTrak commuter line through North Philly and seeing the plume of black smoke coming from the area of 21st and Lehigh.
The "locals" decided they didn't like that the stadium was being remade into a Community Center...they torched it.
Still have MANY fond memories of being in the $1.00 left field bleachers with my grandfather. Sitting for hours on those well-worn 4x6 planks was never a chore watching the worst team in baseball (early 60's Phils) and being with Grandpop.
We did the tour of Fenway and had a few cool ones in the bar within the Green Monster in left center. I HATE the American League but loved the park. Great place, I hope it stays.
What? No Baker Bowl?
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