The turn of the century saw a surge in brand-new ballparks across the league, though a few stadiums from yesteryear would be incredible to see today.
While the Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays remain in some sort of ballpark limbo, Major League Baseball has entered a period of relative stability when it comes to a home for all of its teams, with the most recent brand-new stadium, Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, opening in 2020.
This calm in construction followed a boom in new stadiums seen throughout the 1990’s and 2000’s, which saw a plethora of franchises trade in multi-purpose “cookie-cutter” stadiums for retro-inspired modern ballparks that prioritized more open views and are often located in a city’s downtown area.
As I turn 30 years old next year, many of my earliest baseball memories come from watching games in parks that were on its last leg, displaying the final breaths of an era where NFL and MLB teams sharing a home was commonplace.
Though it seems far-fetched to even myself, there was of course an era of utility and prominence for the cookie-cutter stadium – a homogenous design, massive seating capacities and the ability to host a multitude of events drew in teams and cities alike during the 1960’s and 1970’s when the stadiums were built.
As NFL and MLB teams strived for their own home, stadiums in both leagues have taken on a new element of personality and detail that more clearly distinguish one home field to another.
As for myself, I got the chance to see just one game in a cookie-cutter stadium – an Astros-Cardinals game at the original Busch Stadium in June 2004. While my memory as an 8-year-old can’t be counted on as incredibly vivid, I remember being taken back by the cavernous feel inside the ballpark, which gave a much different feeling than seeing a game in either ballpark in Chicago, the metropolitan area I grew up in.
While this piece certainly won’t yearn for the days of Three Rivers Stadium and Cinergy Field, I did want to take a look back at a few parks that are no longer around that I think would be fascinating to see a game in today.
With that said, this brief list isn’t going to include any truly old-time parks. I feel like every baseball fan would love to see a game at Shibe Park, Ebbets Field or the Polo Grounds, and my personal knowledge/age doesn’t speak well to talking about those stadiums at length.
Here’s a look at three MLB parks I wish I could still see a game in:
Yankee Stadium, New York Yankees, Bronx, NY (1923-2008)
The park on this list I’m the most familiar with, it still doesn’t fully make sense to me why an extensive renovation of one of the sport’s most historic structures wasn’t pursued in favor of a brand-new ballpark.
I’ve gotten the chance to see a game at the current Yankee Stadium, and after visiting just under half of the ballparks in today’s MLB, it’s certainly one of the more forgettable parks in my opinion – yet that certainly didn’t seem to be the case for its predecessor.
From the characteristic white façade along the top of the back outfield wall to the intimidating upper deck stands and majestic, intimidating marquee and entrance, the original Yankee Stadium was a stunning display of the 20th century cultural marriage between baseball and Americana.
With a dizzying amount of historic baseball events occurring on the diamond of this treasured ballpark, no amount of disdain for the Yankees could override just how cool it would be to see the original Yankee Stadium.
Comiskey Park, Chicago White Sox, Chicago, IL (1910-1990)
Though this park didn’t exist in my lifetime, hosting its final game just under six years before my birth, the significance of this historic ballpark is not lost on any longtime Chicago resident, many of whom will still say “Comiskey” when referring to Rate Field.
The oldest stadium in all of baseball at the time of its demolition, Comiskey Park was once known as the “Baseball Palace of the World” for its once massive seating capacity, a modern marvel of its time as it was just the third concrete-and-steel park.
Unlike its successor’s more cavernous feel that echoes a cookie-cutter environment without actually being a cookie-cutter stadium, Comiskey Park appeared to have a significantly more intimate environment. From a tightly-packed upper deck environment in both outfield and infield seating along with nostalgic box seating throughout the lower bowl in the field, Comiskey Park appeared to have personified the retro baseball experience.
While I would have loved to have seen a game at Comiskey Park, the stadium’s replacement ultimately made sense, even if it was replaced by an underwhelming stadium. The park was noticeably outdated at the end of its lifespan, and it’s hard to see what a modern interpretation of the original park would look like.
Astrodome, Houston Astros, Houston, TX (1965-1999)
While this historic stadium has been standing as a mostly vacant eyesore since the turn of the century, the Astrodome served as the most recognizable home of the Houston Astros for well over three decades.
The first-ever multi-purpose domed stadium anywhere in the world, the Astrodome was lauded as a massive architectural achievement upon its opening, even nicknamed the “Eighth Wonder of the World” by some.
Though most would not mistake its colossal atmosphere and mostly homogenous appearance as one of the league’s most beautiful parks of all-time, it would be fascinating to get a glimpse of how it all looked when it began.
Although domes have fallen out of favor with MLB teams, fixed-roof stadiums remain a fixture in the NFL, while the Athletics plan to have a fixed-roof stadium upon their planned move to Las Vegas. While these are of course designed differently than domes, it was the Astrodome’s design that inspired several other similar stadiums in the coming years, such as the Kingdome in Seattle and the air-supported Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis.
In many ways, it looks like the gameday experience in Daikin Park (it will always be Enron Field to me) is much better than it was in the Astrodome, with abundant daylight, a retractable roof and a handful of distinct features. Yet as a baseball nerd from the turn of the century, I would be enamored to see the world’s best baseball players go toe-to-toe in the world’s first domed stadium.
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