Nationals Park is on the river and there is a marina across the street from the park, but I dont’ know if you can just paddle up and stow a kayak there.
The Flushing World’s Fair (1964) Marina is easily walkable to Citi Field, there is indeed pedestrian access - in fact, in good times the Marina parking lots are used as satellite/overflow lots. In fact, during his stint with the Mets in the late 1990s, outfielder Derek Bell lived on a houseboat that he docked there, riding a bicycle to the ballpark (it’s about a one mile walk). He had done this previously in Houston as well, and later with the Pittsburgh Pirates. (There, after the Pirates ate his final year’s worth of contract money in order to release him, the local paper quipped that truly he was a Pirate: “lives on a boat and steals money”).
As for Yankee Stadium, there is no marina or dock on either side (Manhattan or the Bronx) on the Harlem River. You could go over to piers on the other side of Manhattan on the West Side (Hudson River) or much further down the East River. In the Bronx there are industrial docks at Hunts Point and marinas near Throgs Neck, both quite far from Yankee Stadium even if you were allowed to disembark at Hunts Point.
It’s also not a baseball stadium.
The Reno Aces (Diamondbacks AAA Pacific Coast League affiliate) play a couple of blocks off the Truckee River, around 1/4 mile downstream of the Reno Whitewater Park. If you take out before the whitewater park, you’ve got around 1/2 mile walk to the stadium; after, you have 2 blocks. There are any number of put-in locations upstream, so your boating time can be anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours (provided there’s enough water in the river - don’t try it in late summer).
Victory Field in Indianapolis is a block away from the White River.
The Chattanooga Lookouts play at AT&T Field which is right next to the Tennessee River at a place called “Ross’s Landing Park” which implies you can land your kayak there.
You could tie up a canoe on the Detroit River near Hart Plaza and walk to Comerica Park. Not sure how you’d secure it while you’re gone.
Montgomery, AL.
Riverwalk Stadium is the home of the AA Southern League Montgomery Biscuits (Tampa Bay Rays farm club).
Put in would either be at the Oyster bar/Marina up-river, or Powder Magazine Park downriver.
Take out would be Riverfront Park, which is right next to the ball park.
Two possible problems–
(1) If there are HEAVY spring rains, the river tends to rise. A lot. Like 20-30 feet a lot.
(2) mind the stern-wheeler riverboat…
Raley Field, home of the Sacramento Rivercats (Oakland A’s AAA affiliate) is a block or so from the Sacramento River. There’s a riverfront park maybe 1/4 mile upstream where you could land, and there’s a large park with boat launches and plenty of put-in spots maybe a mile upstream from that.
Along with the Cleveland Indians stadium, it may be possible to paddle south to Canal Park stadium in downtown Akron via the Cuyahoga River and/or the old Ohio & Erie canal. Canal Park is the home of the Indians’ AA affiliate, the Akron Aeros. It would be a very pleasant & scenic trip thru the Cuyahoga Valley National Park between Cleveland & Akron.
Frankly, it’s almost not a foodball stadium.
I keed, I keed.
(Mariners fan, here. I like the Cubbies mostly because they’re harmless: wrong division, and also the Cubbies. I like the Bears for mid-80s nostalgia, but I have to be careful because my son bleeds green and gold.)
Sacramento is home to the River Cats, AAA affiliate for the Oakland A’s. Raley Fieldis actually in West Sacramento, across the Sacramento River from the Capitol, and only a couple of parking lots separate the stadium from the river. You can put in/take out across the river in Old Sac on the east bank of the river - there is parking, a park, and docks at the riverside. Plan to carry your kayak from the river and lock it at the bike racks at the stadium.
Sounds like a fun quest!
Edit: **Suburban Plankton **beat me to the punch!
Believe it or not, you can do this in Denver. Confluence Park is at the joining of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River, and the site of the origins of Denver. There is a kayak run right there. Get out at the REI store, and you are two blocks the Pepsi Center (Avalanche and Nuggets) and six blocks to Coors Field.
A mile or so upstream of the Park on the South Platte is Mile High Stadium.
A terrific list so far. Thanks, all. A lot of these definitely sound worth pursuing. Too bad time, money, real life, etc., get in the way.
I suspect I will have to make doing this (at least once) a priority for next season. If it works out, I’ll let you all know what I find…
Any other suggestions, I’d be happy to add 'em to the list.
OP, do you have to paddle to the game, and back again, or is one-way sufficient?
If the answer is there-and-back, the whitewater park is probably out.
Good question. The logistics of the one-way could be a bit tricky, but if I could work that out I guess I don’t see any reason why a round trip would be necessary. Cool to think there might be an actual whitewater park so close to the stadium, in any case!
You’d enjoy the trip to Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport, Iowa, home of the Quad Cities River Bandits. And since the park is actually outside of the city’s flood wall, there have been a number of times you could actually kayak right to your seat!
I would have thought just the opposite. If you only travel by kayak (or whatever) one way, that’s sort of emphasizing the gimmicky nature of the endeavor. It’s not kayaking to the ballpark anymore, it’s a trip to the whitewater park and a baseball game. If you go round trip, you’re demonstrating the kayak as a (admittedly, not necessarily viable) form of transportation, a means of getting to the ballpark, not just recreation.
Read the caption-- that picture was taken on a game day. The stadium used to get submerged once a decade or so until they built a levee all the way around it with a pedestrian causeway to get people there from parking lots on dry land.
Excellent point. Upon further review, I withdraw my off-the-cuff ruling. Yes, I would have to get there and back. Thanks.