I’m not really a sports guy—and this question is inspired by a Star Trek episode—but it’s been stewing for awhile, and I thought I’d finally get around to asking it.
Anyway, the setup: You’re putting together an amateur baseball game, but you get the chance to play at any ballpark of your choice—literally, ANY regulation baseball field or stadium, in the entire history of the sport, at any point in it’s history.*
So, where do YOU play? Does it even make a difference?
*Well, I mean, at any point when it was used and usable for baseball. You can’t use a stadium when it was converted for playing ice hockey, or crammed with refugees, or on fire, or anything of that sort.
People have fond memories of Forbes, but it was an aging, worn out facility when they tore it down. No parking, a cavernous centerfield, and pillars blocking site lines.
But yeah, to play in it? That would be awesome!
I would also suggest that PNC Park is the one park today that I’d love to play in. I am a Pittsburgh fan, so I am sure this is looked at as homerism, but I’d like to think I am above that kind of petty crap when we are talking about stadiums. PNC is the best new park I’ve personally seen in the majors (the stadiums build in the Camden Yards era).
As for history, I’ll list mine:
Ebbet’s Field. Never saw it in person, but from everything I’ve read and the pictures I’ve seen, it must have been an awesome place to play. Fans were on top of the field. What a shame it is gone.
The old Fenway, before the renovations.
the Polo Grounds. I have vague memories of this stadium. Maybe someone can tell me if my memory is correct, but didn’t it have an overhang in left field? I remember where the left fielder could run to the fence, and could actually be under the outfield seats… I have a memory of a game when I was a kid where someone hit a fly ball to left field, the outfielder was getting set to catch it, and the ball landed above him, in the stands for a home run. Is that an accurate description?
Wrigley Field - Before the lights were installed.
Yankee Stadium with Monument Park. The old Yankee Stadium just oozed baseball history. I can’t imagine the feeling a player would have coming out of the dugout and jogging onto the field.
Although I am an Angels fan I have to agree with the original Tigers Stadium. How stupid of them to demolish it. That stadium had real character without the pretentiousness of things New York or Boston.
The Last Ball-field.
When the Sun has expanded into a Red Giant, & the Post-Human players are strange to look at, I would like to hear the crack of the last bat, to field the last pop fly, just before the Nova.
I would say the Polo Grounds due the short distance down the lines, but when I played I tended to hit the ball to the gaps. I guess I’d go with the House That Ruth Built.
Lamade Stadium in Williamsport, PA, because it would mean the Little League World Series, and there’s no more joyous time to play the game than when you’re 12 years old and your teammates are also your schoolmates and will be your friends for life.
Also because, as an adult, I might be able to hit one over the fence there.
1- The old Yankee Stadium. Would love to set up a pitching machine there and just hit away.
2- Tiger Stadium. So many memories there for me, chief among them being there for the 1971 All Star game.
3- The Polo Grounds. Homers down the lines I could manage. Centerfield, not so much. As I recall, only three homers were hit in CF in the history of the park, two of which were on consecutive days.
