USA Today this week came out with its ranking of every big league ballpark. Great American Ball Park took its lumps, ranking in the bottom half of baseball, and rightfully so. It's tired and has always been meh.
Between my job and coaching youth baseball, I have a lot of conversations about ballparks. I’ve been to 21 MLB ballparks, 16 of which are active. Some of my players’ families have a checklist of ballparks to visit. My two sons and I do, too.
I tell everyone without hesitation: Visit Dodger Stadium.
It’s my only must-visit ballpark. If you're on a budget, save up, skip other ballparks and hold out for Dodger Stadium. And make it a night game, when you can watch the sun set over the rolling canyons off in the distance beyond the outfield
wall.
I’m not a good enough writer to describe the aura, energy and sheer beauty of Dodger Stadium. Blue sky. Sunshine. Warmth. Palm trees. Tree-covered canyons. Pristine.
There’s simply no other ballpark like it. Trust me, Dodger Stadium is the No. 1 ballpark to visit, despite it ranking third on USA Today's list (which took more than tourism into account).
Amazingly, Dodger Stadium is 64 years old, the third-oldest active park in Major League Baseball. And yet the place is so clean, you could eat off the concourse floors. No dungeon-like concourses and bad sightlines like there are at Fenway Park. No sterile, corporate-like atmosphere like at Yankee Stadium, which feels too big and too impersonal for a baseball stadium.
I’ve been to five games at Dodger stadium (covering two series). My first visit was June 10-12, 2005, when I was covering the Minnesota Twins for the St. Paul paper. I rarely get caught up in this job. But on my visits to Dodger Stadium, I’ve stopped, stared out for several seconds, took deep breaths and said to myself: "This is incredible."
Perhaps my first impression of Dodger Stadium was helped tremendously by then-Los Angeles first baseman Hee-seop Choi belting six home runs in a three-game series. I can still picture the bright, flashing lights on the outfield bleacher canopies popping off, the heart-thumping music and sustained roar of the crowd each time Choi rounded the bases. It’s the kind of energy that’s not replicated at any other ballpark.
I went again last year, when the Reds played there in the postseason. I made sure to take in even more this time. You can drive around the entire perimeter of the stadium. It’s surrounded by a massive concrete jungle of a parking lot, and yet you never really notice it. Because every parking spot surrounds the stadium, providing easy access – and the immediate perimeter of the stadium has pristine landscaping and palm trees. You don't feel cramped while visiting Dodger Stadium, where the Reds will play Sept. 7-9.
A unique part of the stadium, built into Chavez Ravine, is you can park on the level where your seat is. Yes, even if your seat is on the top deck, you can park on that level. That top deck provides incredible views – the hills beyond the outfield walls and the downtown LA skyline if you look south from the concourse.
The late, great Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda nicknamed the ballpark “blue heaven on earth.” It’s darn near perfect.
One of my biggest trip goals in life is to go back to Dodger Stadium, only this time with my sons. I want to sit on the top deck, one son on my right and the other on my left, soak in the sun and eat Dodger Dogs together.
Then, it will be perfect.
Contact columnist Jason Williams at jwilliams@enquirer.com
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Great American Ball Park's meh. Why Dodger Stadium is great | Williams
