MLB stadiums

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ I just recently noticed that Wrigley does sort of have a scoreboard - a tiny ribbon board below the old scoreboard. Guess that's enough for them.

And Ryan Dempster once said that if Wrigley had a jumbotron, it would rob him of his favorite trick to pull on rookies, like "Hey, look out there at the replay!"

Okay, next question. You Rangers fans feel free to weigh in on this. Should the Rangers' ballpark have a retractable roof? I've heard about how hot it gets down there...

 

[Starbreaker]

Rangers shouldn't do anything to their ballpark until the pay all the money they owe.

 

[SmoothieX]

^Winner.

As for Wrigley, I enjoyed the old school charm. It felt classic but well maintained, as opposed to Fenway, which was an old dump that smelled like urine and had poor sight lines.

 

[RevDMV]

MY one visit to Wrigley was amazing. I scalped a ticket about 4 rows back just to the left of the visitors dugout. I've been further away at league softball games.

It was funny about the lack of the the Jumbotron. I instinctively looked for the reply after a great play at the plate and realized hey I'm only getting one shot to watch it here.

 

[Starbreaker]

The Braves rarely reshow plays on the jumbotron. It's kind of a waste for it to be that big.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

So, as a Cubs fan, what's your thoughts on the whole jumbotron thing? Do you think they need one?

There's no room for it inside Wrigley; it would have to go on one of the rooftops out on Sheffield or Waveland.

If Tom Ricketts wants to buy one of the houses to install a jumbotron on the rooftop, I'd probably shrug my shoulders and say, "Whatever." I think some of the charm of Wrigleyville would be lost, but at least it wouldn't be inside the stadium.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Isn't there some big casino ad on top of one of the buildings that the Cubs are actively trying to block?

 

[Scout101]

It felt classic but well maintained, as opposed to Fenway, which was an old dump that smelled like urine and had poor sight lines.

Everything has improved about Fenway in the past 8 years or so, except the sight lines. Still seats pointing the wrong way, and occasionally poles blocking your view. That's just a matter of knowing where to pick seats, I guess. And realizing that when they say "obstructed view", they aren't fucking around! It's not a tough view, there's probably a pole directly in front of your seat!

 

[SmoothieX]

I'll give it another shot, probably next season at this point.

The sight lines were dreadful, my legs were pointing one way and my upper body the complete opposite way. It felt like posing for a school picture for 4 hours straight.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I wouldn't mind a return to Fenway either... Although if it's a Sox-Yankees game I don't know if I'd have the guts to wear Yankee gear there.

 

[Scout101]

I'll give it another shot, probably next season at this point.

The sight lines were dreadful, my legs were pointing one way and my upper body the complete opposite way. It felt like posing for a school picture for 4 hours straight.

Picking the right seats/area is definitely part of it. Some seats are a little small/tight, and others are pointing more towards center field than the mound or the plate. If you're debating over seats to buy on stubhub, ebay, or whatever, this is the best source I've found to check them out first:

http://www.preciseseating.com/index.php

Gives seat and row numbers, obstructions, other info. I use it before buying any tickets, as don't wanna get stuck with bad ones. Nature of the old ballpark means most seats are gonna be oriented at least slightly off. Not like new parks, where every seat is pointed right where you want, wide rows, etc. Doing that would force them to remove thousands of seats, unforunately. All that said, they've done an amazing job since the new ownership took over in the last 10 years. Tons of improvements (monster seats, bud deck, pavillion seats, wider concourses, all new bathrooms and food options, etc). Other plus is that they don't make stadiums like this anymore, and you're right on top of the players, unlike new ballparks, which set you a lot farther back...

I wouldn't mind a return to Fenway either... Although if it's a Sox-Yankees game I don't know if I'd have the guts to wear Yankee gear there.

Not a problem, unless you act like an obnoxious douche about it. Plenty of opposing jerseys at Sox games, even Yankees ones. Aside from an occasional drunken asshole (present everywhere, not just Fenway), never seen anyone have a problem with it unless they were stiring up shit themselves first...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I wouldn't mind a return to Fenway either... Although if it's a Sox-Yankees game I don't know if I'd have the guts to wear Yankee gear there.

Not a problem, unless you act like an obnoxious douche about it. Plenty of opposing jerseys at Sox games, even Yankees ones. Aside from an occasional drunken asshole (present everywhere, not just Fenway), never seen anyone have a problem with it unless they were stiring up shit themselves first...

Does Fenway have decent stadium security that would put a stop to this sort of thing before it starts? I've never had the occasion to find out. I've personally seen what Yankee Stadium security can do (I've seen guys get thrown out just for taking off their own shirts), but I have no similar experience with Fenway security. If they are equally on the ball, then that's fine.

I mean, I'd just as soon not get the crap beaten out of me *by* that occasional drunken asshole just because I wore the 'enemy colors'. All it takes is one. Even if all I'm doing is cheering, which would definitely be the case (think what you like about me, I would never go looking for trouble in the other guy's ballpark. I wouldn't even look their fans in the eye, let alone yell at them).

And even if I don't get beaten up, I'd also prefer not to have my Yankee jacket or shirt ruined by food or beer getting dumped all over it.

 

[Scout101]

pretty much. Worst case, only takes a few seconds of standing up and yelling for security for someone to show up. Or can call/text the security number on the back of your ticket, and someone will come right over. If anyone is actually being a dick, the rest of the section is usually pretty quick to call for security for you, and point out the guy that's the trouble.

Not sure where people get the idea that there are roaming gangs running around looking for traitors, that seems a pretty childish notion to me.

Cheering is fine, i'd imagine, as long as it's not total asshole-ish behavior, taunting the local team (or fans), etc. Clapping and cheering hasn't ever been a problem I've seen. Worst I've seen is from Yankees fans (in uniform, usually Jeter or A-Rod), that have had a few too many drinks, and are jumping around drawing more attention than necessary. Which then leads to talking shit back and forth, a few peanuts thrown around, etc.

But as far as regular fans just there cheering and clapping, etc? Not a problem. Easiest way to avoid that altogether, i suppose, would be to sit in better seats. A lot less shit going on in the visible areas (lower seating, monster, entire upper section, etc). Bleachers, back rows of the grandstand, or most of the outfield grandstand (OS grandstand sucks, don't buy those anyway), those are more likely to have problems, or contain more drunks than average...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Worst case, only takes a few seconds of standing up and yelling for security for someone to show up.

Riiiiiiiiight...I wouldn't last three seconds if I did that...

Or can call/text the security number on the back of your ticket, and someone will come right over.

That is much more useful, I'd think. The last thing I would want to do is call attention to myself.

But as far as regular fans just there cheering and clapping, etc? Not a problem.

cool.

Easiest way to avoid that altogether, i suppose, would be to sit in better seats. A lot less shit going on in the visible areas (lower seating, monster, entire upper section, etc). Bleachers, back rows of the grandstand, or most of the outfield grandstand (OS grandstand sucks, don't buy those anyway), those are more likely to have problems, or contain more drunks than average...

Those better seats can't be very easy to afford, or even find, can they? If they've been selling out as often as I hear, then it's probably very hard to get in without season tickets or StubHub (or 'knowing somebody' ). When I was there, I saw the ticket window outside and I thought, how many people actually use this? Tickets probably sold out a month ago.

That being said, the Cask & Flagon has awesome french dip sandwiches. Just thought I'd throw that in!

Also, just in case you're wondering if it's this bad for Red Sox fans at Yankee Stadium, I have two responses: 1) No, and 2) Hell no. As I said, I've *seen* what happens there. And it's fine. Not only because of the aforementioned security, but I even saw Sox fans *in the bleachers* with us. What happens is this: Some time before the game starts, a few of the regulars, the bleacher creatures, scan the stands and get an idea of who (if any) is being a dick. Those who are not, are generally left alone. If you're saying that Fenway is also like this, then that definitely makes me feel better.

 

[Scout101]

yeah, you're not some special civilized place, and the rest of the world barbarians. Pretty much how it works everywhere.

As for tickets, stubhub is probably your best bet. Otherwise, they sell out in January when they go on sale. Stubhub you can usually do ok, if you look around, and most of the time, can find decent prices. Been going down each of the past few years. I sell a bunch of tickets there every year... Now's a good time to do it, as because the team is out of contention, you can buy them on Stubhub for almost nothing, and way under face value. There's $55 seats up for 10-15 right now, if you pick your game and section right...

 

[SmoothieX]

^When the Nets in the NBA were having their historically awful season, you could get lower level seats for a buck or two. It's pretty comical actually.

Ooooh...Mets tickets for $3 against the Brewers on a Monday night! That's about $3 more than I wanna spend at this point.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I wish I could be at Yankee Stadium tonite, 'cuz they're unveiling the monument for the Boss. And I missed it.

 

[SmoothieX]

What I think is interesting is how his image went from meddlesome, impetuous, loose cannon, bully with shady ties in the 70s-80s, to this gentle, loving, charitable, father figure type in the later years.

You kinda wonder where reality fell on that spectrum.

 

[Timby]

Well, he was a felon who aided in illegal campaign contributions. But some fans like to ignore all that and just remember him as the public face of the Yankees, despite him being a crazy, mercurial bastard.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I was surprised that Joe Torre had never been to the new stadium before. I thought he'd seen it at least once.