Thankfully, in recent years, there has been a renaissance of beautiful new ballparks, and many of baseball's most objectionable venues have met their demise. However, a few (four, in my view) of these atrocities still remain in the Majors, much to the chagrin of myself and, presumably, baseball purists everywhere. To be fair, I've never been to any of these ballparks (nor do I particularly want to), but they do make my TV viewing experience less enjoyable. My negative judgments are based primarily on the presence of artificial turf, domes, and ballparks that are actually football stadiums. Feel free to respond with your thoughts in the comments.
4. Overstock.com Coliseum, Oakland, CA
First of all, this place is called the Overstock.com Coliseum. Well, no; maybe that's not first of all. First of all is that this is a football stadium, and watching a baseball game here is painful. Especially when there are 63,000 seats and the A's pull in 17,511 (2010 average attendance). I also hate the 50 miles of foul territory on the first and third base sides.
3. Sun Life Stadium, Miami, FL
At least this one won't be a Major League ballpark much longer. This building has 75,000 seats; the Marlins' average attendance in 2010 was 18,953.
2. Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON
While the former SkyDome does have a retractable roof, it's still a dome, and it's cursed by the #1 most damning feature a ballpark can have, artificial turf. It's also too round and symmetrical.
1. Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL
I don't think any explanation is needed for this one. The turf, the lighting, the roof, the friggin catwalks. Please, for the love of god, will someone tear this place down so I don't have to watch the Red Sox play ten games here every year.
4. Overstock.com Coliseum, Oakland, CA
First of all, this place is called the Overstock.com Coliseum. Well, no; maybe that's not first of all. First of all is that this is a football stadium, and watching a baseball game here is painful. Especially when there are 63,000 seats and the A's pull in 17,511 (2010 average attendance). I also hate the 50 miles of foul territory on the first and third base sides.
3. Sun Life Stadium, Miami, FL
At least this one won't be a Major League ballpark much longer. This building has 75,000 seats; the Marlins' average attendance in 2010 was 18,953.
2. Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON
While the former SkyDome does have a retractable roof, it's still a dome, and it's cursed by the #1 most damning feature a ballpark can have, artificial turf. It's also too round and symmetrical.
1. Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL
I don't think any explanation is needed for this one. The turf, the lighting, the roof, the friggin catwalks. Please, for the love of god, will someone tear this place down so I don't have to watch the Red Sox play ten games here every year.
