Courtesy photo
Take Me Out to the Ballpark
Submitted by Peter Nicolas
There are 30 MLB stadiums. Which is the best? Which has the most delicious food? The Florham Park Library “Second Sunday of the Month” program held on April 14th featured John Cerilli who presented his personal rankings and reflections on the 30 current Major League parks — from worst to first!
John is a docent at the Yogi Berra Museum in Little Falls, NJ, a longtime New York Mets season ticket holder, a decades long member-supporter of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). In 2022, he completed his quest of current stadiums by attending three games at Globe Life Field, the latest MLB ballpark to open. During his baseball travels, he has attended MLB games at 48 stadiums — including many that no longer exist, as well as the first games ever played in Europe at London Stadium/Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in 2019. His current quest is to see his beloved Mets play in every current park; he’s missing eight.
Many of the presentation attendees noted that John Cerilli built up to #1 by starting off with #30. It’s important to note that he even had some good things to say about Tropicana Field. Also important is that while the presentation went from “worst to first”, for the purposes of this article it begins with John’s “favorites”. “Favorites”, because John explained that on any day of the month, he could reconsider the order of the Top 5. He considers the view for the fans, food, travel, ambiance (including enthusiasm of the fans), and much more. Read on to determine if you agree with these rankings!
- Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore
- Fenway Park, Boston (oldest stadium, built 1912)
- PNC Park, Pittsburgh (great park and not as expensive for fans as many others)
- Oracle Park, San Francisco
- Wrigley Field, Chicago (2nd oldest stadium, bult 1914)
- Busch Stadium, St. Louis
- Petco Park, San Diego
- Coors Field, Denver
- Comerica Park, Detroit
- T-Mobile Park, Seattle
- Great American Park, Cincinnati
- Progressive Field, Cleveland
- Target Field, Minnesota
- Truist Field, Atlanta
- Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
- Minute Maid Park, Houston
- Citi Field, New York (2009)
- Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City
- Yankee Stadium, New York (2009)
- Citizen’s Bank Park, Philadelphia (decent prices for fans, but don’t wear Mets gear!)
- Nationals Park, Washington
- Guaranteed Rate Field, Chicago
- Angels Stadium, Anaheim
- American Family Field, Milwaukee
- Globe Life Park, Arlington
- Chase Field, Phoenix
- Marlins Stadium, Miami
- Rogers Center, Toronto
- Oakland Coliseum, Oakland
- Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg (built 2020)
