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Sunday December 25, 2011

Doug Booth-  Guest Baseball Writer:  The entire baseball community is looking forward to the ‘New Marlins Ballpark’ in 2012.  This new opening will give some of extreme ballpark chasers a chance to tack another ballpark to their viewing history.  I will be attending the opening of this Ballpark in April and that will make it 35 Major League Stadiums for me, 5 that are defunct and this park in Miami will help me re-establish the 30 current MLB Parks.  We all assume that Oakland will have a new baseball park eventually so I will have a few years before attending a new baseball park again.  These traditions only help the folklore of baseball.  I believe it helps distinguish the sport from the other major sports leagues.  

Here are the National League Parks Traditions:

Wrigley Field

1.  7TH inning stretch-made famous by Harry Caray and kept up by guests now.

2.  They started throwing the ‘opposition’s’ home runs back onto the field and have not stopped even though it is illegal to throw the baseballs back on the field.

3.  They have their own song “go Cubs go” which they play after every win.

4.  Of course they have the curse of the ‘BILLY GOAT’ and also have not won a World Series in 103 years.

Minute Maid Park

 1. They have a train that goes from side to side whenever they hit a homer.

 2. They play the song “Stars at Night” right after 7th inning stretch

 3. They play all their games indoors and only open up the roof when the park is cleared.

Miller Park

1. They do 2 really cool waves. One is a reverse wave where the goes clockwise all around the ballpark and then change direction. The other one they do is a slow motion wave which is hilarious.

2. They have the sausage race!!!

3. The sing the song “Over The Barrell” after “Take me out to the ballgame”.

4. ‘Bernie Brewer, (Brewers mascot) goes down the slide in upper left field bleachers-and has recently started throwing t-shirts from there.

5. They give out fridges for who has the best-“Tailgate Party”.

Busch Stadium

1.  Easily the most respectful fans in baseball.

2.  They cheered the 2004 Boston Red Sox even when they lost the World Series, so they are classy.

PNC Park

1.  They have the pierogi races.

2. Between every inning they have text messages posted on-screen from people.

3. They have one of the coolest beginnings where they have a pirate ship full of pirates and they take over the opposing team’s ship on the scoreboard.

Great American Ball Park

1. They have fireworks that explode from the ship in center-field when there is a home run.

2. The Reds Museum is the best “Hall Of Fame” out of all the teams.

Dodger Stadium

1. The beach balls are still being thrown around.

2.  It is routine to show up 4 innings into the game and leave at the 8th inning-Last year I watched a game that lasted only 2 hours and the parking lot was jammed because people had arrived late and did not leave early because the game was so quick. I still love the replay of the ‘KIRK GIBSON’ homer because of all the tail lights in the parking lot that were leaving.

AT&T Park

1. The Kayaker’s in McCovey Cove are fun to watch.

2. The hecklers in center-field always are after the opposing outfielders with this chant’ “What is the matter with (insert player here)? The answer is: “He’s a bum!” They do this all game.

3. They have a Panda Bear now because of Pablo Sandoval-(Kung-Fu Panda.)

4. They chart the splash hits that go into the cove.

Coors Field

1. They sell food and beverages outside the ballpark with their own vendors for a good price.

2. They use the ‘humidor’ to reduce the flight of the baseballs by 8-10%.

Chase Field

1. They sing “Sweet Caroline” like the Boston fans do.

2. They are the only park that plays a second verse of “Take me out to the Ballgame”.

3. They are very fanatical at security about you operating camera/videos so watch out.

Petco Park

1. There is a picnic area where you can watch the game for 5 dollars.

2. They are the most pet-friendly stadium as pets are allowed into the game a lot.

Turner Field

1. ‘The tomahawk chop’ is the worst tradition in baseball, but it is here to stay-routinely sections of people will get up and stand while doing the chop.

2.  Skip Caray and Mark Lemke do the pregame show from the media gondola in center-field every home game.

3. They routinely have ‘concerts’ on weekend night games free of charge and are decent groups. I saw Arrested Development there last year.

Citi Field

1. The ‘BIG APPLE’ still comes out after every homer is hit (unless it is stuck which has happened at Citi Field).

2. There are planes that come over every five minutes–I find this very disrupting to the game and that is why I have the park ranked 11th overall.

Sun Life Stadium coming soon/New Marlins Ballpark in 2012!!

1.  You can buy a parking pass that will work for any home date online-which is convenient.

2. The mascot is always featured on the big screen throwing fake pies at people in the stands who have on opposing gear.

Nationals Park

1. The president’s race is a definite highlight of every game-and one of them always falls flat on their face–usually it is Teddy Roosevelt.

2. They shoot t-shirts into the crowd-that have chili-dogs wrapped up in them–just ask the 20 people or so that were pelted with the contents when they failed to wrap the t-shirts tight enough with the food.

Citzens Bank Ballpark

1. The Phillie Phanatac is always in trouble with the ‘grounds crew’ because he whips around in the ATV.

2. There is about 4,000 S.R.O’S for every game and most hang out in ‘Ashburn’s Alley’.

3. They boo the home players more than any other team including Boston and both NY clubs. That is understandable considering they booed Santa Claus–and cheered when Michael Irvin was knocked unconscious at the old ‘VET’.

4. They have the biggest fine in the league for jumping on the field.

 Click here to view  Part 1 of Doug Booth’s Ballpark Traditions feature on MLB reports, with a look at the American League Traditions. 

*** Thank you to our Guest Baseball Writer- Doug Booth for joining us today on MLB reports.  To learn more about “The Fastest 30 Ballgames” and Doug Booth, you can follow Doug on Twitter (@ChuckBooth3024) and click here for Doug’s website, fastestthirtyballgames.com*** 

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