Undefeated against the White Sux

As a huge baseball fan, one of the items on my bucket list is to see all 30 MLB stadiums. I currently do not have the funds to see all of them in 23 days like one guy did. Heck, I couldn’t even see all of them in one season, much less 30 days.  However, I do make it a point to check out every stadium I can when travelling, and I have personally seen the following stadiums:

Great American Ballpark (Reds), Wrigley Field (Cubs), US Cellular Field (White Sox), Minute Maid Park and Astrodome (Astros), Busch Stadium – both old and new (Cardinals), Arlington Stadium (Rangers), Target Field and Metrodome (Twins), AT&T Park (Giants), Fenway Park (Red Sox), and of course, Kauffman Stadium. I should note that I was not able to go inside AT&T Park (although I did get inside their team store), Fenway Park, or the Astrodome. 

I know this is a short list and only 9 MLB teams are represented so I am likely missing out on some beautiful baseball stadiums (in particular, I really want to visit PNC Park in Pittsburgh and Camden Yards in Baltimore). However, I did want to provide some rankings on the stadiums I have visited. 

Best overall stadium: Kauffman Stadium. I know I am biased but you cannot beat the tailgating atmosphere, cheap tickets, and beautiful views of the field from anywhere in the stadium. My favorite place to watch the game is to watch from the seats in Rivals (bar in right field) or standing in front of the fountains in the outfield area. 

Beautiful Kauffman Stadium, behind the famous fountains. Heaven on Earth

Best stadium food: Minute Maid Park. The Astros, despite their losing ways in recent years, have really hit it out of the park with the food they offer. I have posted about their food previously (here and here), but you really have to experience it yourself. They serve local beers that are delicious, and although they do not have a tremendous amount of variation in their food offerings, they do have helmet nachos, which are one of my favorite things in the world. If you ever want to visit, I am happy to show you around.  The stadium is best when the roof is open, which isn't all that often since it is so humid in Houston.

Minute Maid Park in Houston, which has a retractable roof and delicious food

Best view from stadium: Busch Stadium. It is hard to beat the view of the famous St. Louis arch, although Minute Maid Park has a fantastic view of downtown Houston from seats on the first base side. 

Gorgeous view from Busch Stadium

Best tailgating: Kauffman Stadium. Ribs, dogs, brats, Boulevard – what can beat that?!? No stadium can even come close to the wonderful sights and smells emanating from the massive parking lot surrounding the Truman Sports Complex. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington is built similarly to the Truman Sports Complex in that there is a huge parking area surrounding the Rangers and Cowboys’ stadiums, but even though everything is bigger in Texas, their tailgates are not as good.  

Worst Stadium: By far, the worst stadium on this list, in my most objective and unbiased opinion, is US Cellular Field in Chicago. I will openly admit that I thoroughly dislike the White Sox, but their stadium simply sucks. It has a poor, bland design and the views of the field are not very good. Even worse, you are only able to walk around whichever level your seats are on, so if you buy the cheap seats in the nose bleed section you cannot get down to the field level and watch batting practice. Downtown Chicago is barely visible from the stadium, and many White Sox fans are disgusting. Food options are very mediocre (although they do have helmet nachos!), and just about the only positive (besides helmet nachos!) is that it is easily accessible by public transportation, although it does take a good 20-30 minutes to get there from downtown. White Sox uniforms are boring, they have no exciting players to watch (except for Chris Sale, who is only exciting if you like watching pitching), and their manager is a joke. While attending the University of Iowa, I met many people from Chicago and even though almost everyone from there loves the Cubs, very few of them have the same sentiment towards the White Sox. And after watching last night’s game between the Royals and White Sox, it is certainly easy to see why.

US Cellular Field. Blah.

 For those of you who didn’t watch or have not heard/read about it yet, the game included an almost 10-minute brawl that interrupted the game and set off another media storm surrounding the defending AL Champs. This time, the blame should be placed on the White Sox, who first hit Mike Moustakas with a pitch (on the shoulder and face), and then later instigated both benches clearing when Adam Eaton made a remark to Yordano Ventura to which Ventura replied with an expletive that set off the brawl. 5 players were ejected (3 Royals), giving the Royals 9 ejections for the season (most in all of baseball), and even though that makes them look like the ultimate bad guys, one need only look to the very first game of the season to see why the White Sox commenced the violence this year (Jeff Samardzija plunked Lorenzo Cain after Moustakas hit a home run on Opening Day). In all honesty, the Royals were due to go after the White Sox, if only to keep their pride. Samardzija was one of the main pugilists during the brawl and was ejected. He should be facing a suspension.

After the dust settled from the brawl, the game itself lasted until the 13th inning, when Eric Hosmer drove home Jarrod Dyson, who was filling in for Lorenzo Cain after he was ejected in the melee. The Royals are now 4-0 versus the White Sox this season. Let’s hope they stay undefeated against those boys from the South Side. There are 3 games left in the series, so we may see another fight or two…