Braves ditching The Ted for suburbs

You must have missed the memo. To the anti-stadium crowd, there are no benefits to building one. Even as an investment in blighted downtown areas that would have continued to be blighted without it, or simply as an investment in civic pride.

 

I believe Texas' ballpark opened in 1994, the year before Coors.

 

Insane that a stadium that opened in 1995 is third-oldest in the league.

 

By building the stadium, Denver didn't create a giant pile of cash out of thin air. Money was going to be spent. All they did is change where.

 

I think I can possibly speak for Lugs here, as someone who is also a fan of the Braves but not of the new stadium (more specifically how it was handled and where it is located. I haven't been in it yet, so I can't speak to how the stadium actually is yet).

For me, I was secretely and immaturely hoping the new stadium would tank so I could pull out the "I told you so!" card and play it with reckless abandon. If the new stadium had gotten terrible reviews and the Braves had tanked the first weekend there, there would have been a good bit of schadenfreude for me, even though it was my team that was on the losing end. Like "We left The Ted for this?"

But now the Braves are 3-0 in the new stadium and people apparently seem to really enjoy it, robbing me of my opportunity to be self-righteous about this stadium I've been railing against for months. It is a silly mental contradiction, admittedly. I wanted the Braves to succeed but the stadium to fail. But I've never claimed to make sense.

I may be way off of what Lugs was thinking, but that is why I had a similar reaction after the first weekend at SunTrust Park. Go Braves, I guess?

 

Here's the full list of MLB parks, from oldest to newest, including date of first MLB regular-season game (I didn't bother to split it by league, since the Astros have switched leagues since their stadium opened):

1. Fenway Park, Boston Red Sox — April 20, 1912 (105 years old)
2. Wrigley Field, Chicago Cubs — April 23, 1914 (103 years old)
3. Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles Dodgers — April 10, 1962 (55 years old)
4. Angels Stadium, Los Angeles Angels — April 19, 1966 (51 years old)
5. O.Co Coliseum, Oakland Athletics — April 19, 1968 (49 years old)*
6. Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City Royals — April 10, 1973 (44 years old)
7. Rogers Centre, Toronto Blue Jays — June 3, 1989 (28 years old)
8. Guaranteed Rate Field, Chicago White Sox — April 18, 1991 (26 years old)
9. Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore Orioles — April 6, 1992 (25 years old)
10. Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas Rangers — April 1, 1994 (23 years old)
11. Progressive Field, Cleveland Indians — April 4, 1994 (23 years old)
12. Coors Field, Colorado Rockies — April 26, 1995 (22 years old)
13. Tropicana Field, Tampa Bay Rays — March 31, 1998 (19 years old)**
14. Chase Field, Arizona Diamondbacks — March 31, 1998 (19 years old)
    
15. Safeco Field, Seattle Mariners — July 15, 1999 (18 years old)
16. Minute Maid Park, Houston Astros — April 7, 2000 (17 years old)
17. AT&T Park, San Francisco Giants — April 11, 2000 (17 years old)
18. Comerica Park, Detroit Tigers — April 11, 2000 (17 years old)
    
19. Miller Park, Milwaukee Brewers — April 6, 2001 (16 years old)
20. PNC Park, Pittsburgh Pirates — April 9, 2001 (16 years old)
21. Great American Ballpark, Cincinnati Reds — March 31, 2003 (14 years old)
22. Petco Park, San Diego Padres — April 8, 2004 (13 years old)
23. Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia Phillies — April 12, 2004 (13 years old)
24. Busch Stadium, St. Louis Cardinals — April 10, 2006 (11 years old)
25. Nationals Park, Washington Nationals — March 30, 2008 (9 years old)
26. Citi Field, New York Mets — April 13, 2009 (8 years old)
27. Yankee Stadium, New York Yankees — April 16, 2009 (8 years old)
28. Target Field, Minnesota Twins — April 12, 2010 (7 years old)
29. Marlins Park, Miami Marlins — April 4, 2012 (5 years old)
30. SunTrust Park, Atlanta Braves — April 14, 2017 (first year)

* — First MLB game; stadium opened in 1966 as home of AFL's Oakland Raiders (would still be fifth)
** — First MLB game; stadium opened in 1990 and was used for tennis, concerts and hockey prior to Rays (would be eighth)

Interesting (but not surprising) to note, after Fenway and Wrigley, the three oldest are all in California. The only other park that's more than 30 years old is Kauffman Stadium, which is one of the rare parks from that era that was built for baseball-only.

 

Thanks for posting that chart, Steak ... although it's depressing as hell that I'm older than all but five MLB stadiums.

 

Kauffman opened 4 months before I was born. Otherwise, I'm right there with you.

 

I always put an asterisk on Angels Stadium, as it's in its third incarnation. It was built in 1966, rebuilt as a dual baseball/football facility in 1980 and transformed back to baseball only in 1997-98.

That latest version would still put the stadium at No. 13 on the list.

I know the older stadiums have all undergone renovations, but I'm not sure any were as drastic as Anaheim.

 

Why can't we build things to last? Disposable electronics. Disposable stadiums.

Most stadiums, even back in the days we love to think fondly of, have always had a shelf life of about 40-50 years.

Shibe Park, Forbes Field, Crosley Field, Ebbetts Field, the original Yankee Stadium, Comisky Park, Met Stadium, County Stadium, Candlestick, the Polo Grounds, Tiger Stadium, Busch Stadiums I & II, Three Rivers, Riverfront, Municipal Stadium (Cleveland and KC), DC/RFK Stadium, Atlanta Fulton Co. Stadium, Veterans Stadium, Arlington Stadium, the Astrodome, the Metrodome, the Kingdome, Mile High, Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, Shea Stadium, others I forgotten or overlooked ... all worked for about 40-50 years, then got outdated and outmoded and replaced by newer, better (for the most part) ballparks.

Fenway and Wrigley are the exceptions, and even there the "game" experience is far superior to the "fan" experience. The concourses are crowded, the rest rooms old and not enough, etc. Wrigley has ambiance, and charm, but Coors Field, which I absolutely love, is a far, far better place to watch a game.

 

Even Wrigley and Fenway have had to undergo major renovations to stay viable. Wrigley had chunks of concrete falling off it at one point. Fenway was largely considered an uncomfortable dump by the late 1990s and people were starting to call for a new ballpark. Then the Red Sox started winning World Series, they modernized the place a bit and added the Monster seats, and it's an iconic stadium again.