FYI...

Over the past couple of weeks we have been updating every page including rewritting the history of many ballparks. This is an ongoing process so if one still looks wrong, we will correcting it soon.

Until the next time,

-BoB.com Blogger

Sorry its been a while...

Wow time does fly. It has been a long time since our last post. We have been very busy and on the road to several cities since the last time we posted.

If you have not already discovered there is a lot of new stuff on the website. The new travel guide section made its debut last week. Hopefully this section will help you and other fans when traveling to various baseball games across the country. Be sure to let us know if anything should be added in this section or to one particular city. Lots of pictures of Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, Fenway Park, RFK Stadium, and Citizens Bank Park have been added to the website. If you want larger pictures of these stadium, be sure to let us know. We also have many pictures that have never been posted on the website.

All of the ballpark pages throughout the website have received a slight makeover. We have also redesigned the Directions and Parking pages to make it easier to navigate and access.

Have an idea for something new? Let us know.

Until the next time,

-BoB.com Blogger

Wanna Talk Ballparks?...

Want to talk with us in person about baseball and ballparks? Last year we met some great people and here is your chance. We will be traveling to the Northeast for games at five ballparks the end of the month at:

Citizens Bank Park - May 26 - Philles vs. Brewers
Fenway Park - May 27 - Red Sox vs. D'Rays
Yankee Stadium - May 28 - Yankees vs. Royals
Shea Stadium - May 29 - Mets vs. D'Backs
Camden Yards - May 30 - Orioles vs. D'Rays

If you would like to meet us, email us at customerservice@ballparksofbaseball.com and we will email you our seating location. We will also be traveling to other ballparks this summer so look for other opportunities later.

Until the next time,

BoB.com Blogger

Groundbreaking...

So today the Washington Nationals officially broke ground for their new ballpark. It is a big event when it happens, but how many people actually remember these ceremonies? Should be interesting to see whether the ballpark opens in April 2008 like the team hopes. Our guess is that it will not open by that time. It always takes atleast two years for any ballpark to be built if everything goes according to schedule. Speeding up the construction process any faster than it already goes is almost impossible. It will probably be another 2+ years of the Nationals playing at RFK Stadium.

Lets fast forward to 2008 then. RFK Stadium will probably close mid season as the Nationals move into their new ballpark. However that will not be the only stadium closing in 2008. It will be one of the biggest years for the closing of stadiums since the end of the 1999 season when the Astrodome, Tiger Stadium, and Candlestick Park closed. If everything goes according to schedule, Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium will both close at the end of the 2008 season. Just imagine what it will be like at Yankee Stadium for the final game ever. We have been at several stadiums for the final games played and they all had great closing ceremonies but just think what it may be like at Yankee Stadium with everything that has occurred there. Just think about that!

Until the next time,

-BoB.com Blogger

Its becoming a weekly thing....

Looks as this blog is becoming a weekly thing. Things have been kind of slow lately. However, the Twins got good news today with the Minnesota House passing a financial plan for a new ballpark. The Twins have been trying for almost a decade to get a new ballpark and we are sure fans would welcome outdoor baseball again.

If you visited the site on Monday, you may have saw it was down. Sorry about this! April is our biggest month traffic wise and because so many fans were visiting the site, it went down briefly. Hopefully it will not go down any more this month. If so, it will be back up shortly.

In other site news, look for a new section coming in June. We will keep it a secret until then, but it is big and will help all you travelers out there.

Until the next time,

-BoB.com Blogger

Whats New?

It has been a while since we have made a post. There has not been any huge news other than the normal stuff that happens every week. More news out of Detroit where it seems the city is dead against anything other than tearing down Tiger Stadium. We have discussed this before in previous posts how the city does not care about the old ballpark when there are people willing to invest in the ballpark to redevelop it.

The views from the new Busch Stadium are great. It is truly a classic ballpark with no gimmicks like some of the other newer ballparks have. Over the past week, we have added new pictures to the Busch Stadium page.

As always if you have any pictures of any ballpark, especially past ballparks, please submit them and we will post them.

Until the next time,

BoB.com Blogger

Day Two...

Just got done watching the exhibition game from Busch Stadium. We have seen plenty of photos from the inside and aerial video, but the place looks great from watching the game. It shouldn't take long for Busch to become one of the top ballparks in baseball. We should have some pictures sometime this week from the game up on the site. We will be making a trip to Busch Stadium in mid July once the stadium is 100% complete.

If you haven't seen TV highlights or watched the Dodgers games so far, be sure to check them out. The new look at Dodger Stadium is very different. It is defiantly 1960's retro. It is nice to see something new with different colored seats.

The Cubs open at home later this week so we will see what the bleacher renovation looks like then.

Until the next time,

-BoB.com Blogger

Opening Day....

After a long winter, Opening Day is finally here! It is always an exciting time and a day alot of people skip school and take off from work to go to ballgames. It is also a day when every team is in first place and we all have hope for our favorite team. The Cincinnati Reds have the best Opening Day tradition with the annual parade before the game and the whole city coming to a stop for the Reds opening game.

We will be watching a number of games today and if you are at work, check out www.mlb.tv to watch every game today and any other day.

Until the next time,

-BoB.com Blogger

Its almost time....

Sorry, it has been a while since we posted. Opening Day is less than a week away and there has been a lot of progress to Busch Stadium. Check out some new video from inside the stadium at night at:

http://www.kmov.com/topstories/stories/032806cckkKMOVstadiumtesting.6f3634f1.html

Some great new pictures from outside can be found at:

http://www.ballparkconstruction.com/gallery.asp?CatID=262

We have also added some new pictures to our Busch Stadium page.

http://ballparksofbaseball.com/nl/BuschStadium.htm

Look for our predictions for the upcoming season later this week.

Countdown 'til Opening Day 2006: 5 Days!

Until the next time,

-BoB.com Blogger

Mets New Ballpark....

The New York Daily News provided a first glimpse of what the new New York Mets ballpark will look like. You can check out the article and rendering at:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/story/400647p-339426c.html

The rendering is really small. The Mets are supposed to release plans for the ballpark sometime this month. We have not seen any other renderings of the current proposed ballpark other than the one that is found in this news story. We have updated the Mets ballpark page under our future page with the latest information. However, the old renderings of the proposed retractable roof stadium are still up. As soon as more renderings become available we will place them on that page.

Countdown 'til Opening Day 2006: 15 Days!

Until the next time,

-BoB.com Blogger

A Lot of News.....

Wow so far this week has been very busy as far as ballparks go. As you have probably seen on the homepage, the Nationals and the DC Sports Commission released plans for their new ballpark. Interesting design as they seem to have went with a glassy futuristic look. Most would have probably figured they would have went with a Camden Yards type look. The ballpark looks the most like Petco Park. You can see the latest renderings on the Washington Ballpark page in the future section of the website. As more renderings become available, we will post them. You can check out a virtual tour of the ballpark at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2006/03/14/VI2006031401066.html

The local media out of Detroit is now reporting that Tiger Stadium may be near the end of its life. It will be a sad day if this ballpark is demolished. Hopefully some group or someone will step in to help save this stadium because the city defiantly does not care about Tiger Stadium.

In other news, grass is being laid at the new Busch Stadium today. The entire field should be down by the end of the week. You can check out the latest video and pictures today from KMOV at:
http://www.kmov.com/topstories/stories/kmov_localnews_060310_BuschStadium_.1150e7d3.html

Some new shots from outside Busch Stadium can be found at:
http://www.ballparkconstruction.com/gallery.asp?CatID=257

Countdown 'til Opening Day 2006: 18 Days!

Until the next time,

-BoB.com Blogger

Naming Rights Gone Bad.....

Although it has been official for about a week, the new stadium that is being built for the Indianapolis Colts (NFL) will be known as Lucas Oil Stadium. This has to be the worst name for a new stadium in any sport. While naming rights bring in a lot of money for teams they give stadiums bad names. Looking into the past, although they may have been multipurpose the names Riverfront, Three Rivers, and Atlanta Fulton County Stadium were great names. Luckily there are still several ballparks in baseball that are not named after corporations. We will not see Dodger Stadium renamed Staples Field or Yankee Stadium renamed Trump Ballpark anytime soon. Both teams have committed to not selling the naming rights as have the Cubs, Red Sox, and Royals.

If there was not such a thing as selling naming rights, what would today's ballparks be called? Before Minute Maid Park opened it was known as The Ballpark at Union Station. That would have been a great ballpark name. The Giants home has now had three different names since it opened in 2000. Now known as AT&T Park, you have to wonder how many more times it will be renamed. It would be great to see it named something like Willie Mays Park. The same goes with McAfee Coliseum in Oakland. Since the mid 1990s it has had four or five different names. Just give it is oriniginal name Oakland Coliseum.

Perhaps the best name slapped onto a stadium is in Cincinnati on Great American Ball Park. Atleast it sounds decent and isn't something like Safeco, Ameriquest, or Comerica.

That is all for now. No stadium updates this time.

Countdown 'til Opening Day 2006: 22 Days!

Until the next time,

-BoB.com Blogger

Some stuff....

First, we have a couple of new additions to the website. Our highly popular wallpaper section has been updated. Of course it is usually updated at the beginning of each month with two new pictures and we have recently added two additional pictures. Collages of all 30 ballparks with interior and exterior views have been added. We will tweak both once Busch Stadium opens in April. If there is ever a picture you would like to have a larger size of, let us know and we will try to get the size you want.

Of course a new post would not be complete without something from Busch Stadium. KMOV tv took a tour of the new stadium on Friday. You can find the video and pictures here:
http://www.kmov.com/video/video_stories/stories/kmov_localnews_060203_BuschStadium_kk.67c9fb25.html

As stated in our last post, Cardinals tickets went on sale this past Saturday. We looked at several games and only standing room tickets remain. Your best bet for good tickets now is ticket brokers.

Countdown til Opening Day 2006: 27 Days!

Until the next time,

-BoB.com Blogger

Here we go....

So yesterday we promised something for today. Well we have two things regarding one thing, the new Busch Stadium.

First check out this cool time-lapse of the demolition of old Busch Stadium and the construction of the new one.

http://www.redbirdcentral.com/demolition_TL2.htm

(Give it a few minutes to load!)

Second, KMOV has some new video up of the construction.

http://www.kmov.com/topstories/stories/kmov_localnews_060227_ps2buschstadium.6c64412d.html

If you are looking to go to a Cardinals game this year, good luck! Over three million tickets for the season have already been sold. Single game tickets go on sale this Saturday, March 4th at 10amEST/9amCST.

That's it for today.

Countdown til Opening Day 2006: 34 Days!

Until the next time,

-BoB.com Blogger

It has been a while.....

If you have been checking in every so often you have seen no new posts lately. Sorry about that. Hopefully tomorrow we will have some links with new images of the new Busch Stadium. As many posts as we make about the Cardinals you probably think they are our favorite team. Not quite, we like to cover all the teams equally.

Back tomorrow!

Countdown til Opening Day 2006: 35 Days!

Until the next time,

-BoB.com Blogger

New Stadiums.....

As you can see from the new headlines on the homepage, the Mets are close to officially announcing plans for a new ballpark. It finally looks like this will be a done deal. Look for a formal announcement from the Mets before the season starts. As soon as anything is announced you will see it here within a hour.

The Cardinals released new images of the Ballpark Village that will be constructed on the site where old Busch Stadium was located. Click here to view them.

Click here to see new Busch Stadium video from KMOV.

Countdown 'til Opening Day 2006: 47 Days!

Until the next time,

-BoB.com Blogger

Its getting closer.....

Spring Training 2006 is almost here. Pitchers and catchers report this week. If you are on the east coast, you may have got snow this weekend and probably cannot wait until it starts to get warmer. Sometime this week we will get our Spring Training section up on the site. Let us know if you know of anything we should add to the section. It is the same layout as in years past. We have thought about expanding the section but that may come in another year.

The Cubs have added new pictures of the bleacher renovation at Wrigley Field to their website at www.cubs.mlb.com.

New construction pictures of the new Busch Stadium are up at:
http://stlbaseball.johnsebben.com/index.php?page=14&gallery=20060210A

Countdown 'til Opening Day 2006: 51 Days!

Until the next time,

-BoB.com Blogger

Super Bowl Sunday....

As you can see from the latest news on our homepage Tiger Stadium has been brought back to life this weekend. Yes football, not baseball is the reason. The Bud Bowl was held at the stadium there this weekend. Fans were not allowed to go into the stands just onto the field where a tent was constructed for this party event. Defiantly check out the articles that are on the homepage as they tell the condition of the stadium today. It is ashame that this classic ballpark has been left to rot when so many people would love to see it in person. Obliviously the City of Detroit and others do not care about Tiger Stadium.

The picture above is one from Friday night from the Detroit Free Press.

The other big news of the weekend is the renaming of SBC Park to AT&T Park. Three different names since this ballpark opened. Wonder how many more times it will change during the next five years. It would be nice if stadiums were named after people or places like they used to be. Willie Mays Field would be a great choice here.

Countdown 'til Opening Day 2006: 58 Days!

Until the next time,

-BoB.com Blogger

new Busch Stadium

The other day I gave a link to some pictures of the new Busch Stadium. KMOV the local CBS affilate in St. Louis does a good job of providing some aerial video and pictures of the new stadium a couple of times a week. They shot some new video this morning. You can check it out at:

http://www.kmov.com/topstories/stories/kmov_localnews_060203_BuschStadium.67c9fb25.html

They also have a great webcam.

Countdown 'til Opening Day 2006: 60 Days!

Until the next time,

-BoB.com Blogger

2 in 2 Days....

Wow two posts in two days. Many baseball fans and all Cardinals fans know that the team will be opening new Busch Stadium in just over two months. We like to keep track of various websites to see if there are any new pictures or video out on the net. John Sebban has added some new pictures from Tuesday, Jan. 31st to his website at:

http://stlbaseball.johnsebben.com/index.php?page=14&gallery=20060106A

Check out his great pics from outside the ballpark. For some reason the Cardinals do not keep up to date pictures of the construction progress on their website.

Sad news out of Philly today, as longtime Phillies organist Paul Richardson is retiring after over three decades of entertaining Phillies fans at games. No announcement on whether anyone will replace him, but its doubtful since a organist booth was not constructed at Citizens Bank Park.

Countdown 'til Opening Day 2006: 62 Days!

Until the next time,

-BoB.com Blogger

The First One....

Hello and welcome to the first blog from Ballparks of Baseball. For several months we have been contemplating on whether or not to start a blog. So we decided to give this a try and see where it goes. This will be an informal way for us to give you perhaps an insiders view for some of the ideas that we have for the site, when we update the site (maybe sometimes, this happens to much to write about it), or just some random thoughts about ballparks and baseball. Look for a new post atleast once a week. Maybe more, hopefully not less!

Feel free to leave comments here about the blog and what we have wrote. Any other comments about the website should be sent through our feedback section of the site.

Now for the blogging part.....

If you haven't checked out the Off Season Ballpark Tour by Anthony Lorenzo yet you are missing out. Each Monday we are posting a new article from a different MLB city that he has visited. Its a great way to start off the week by reading some baseball and to pass the weeks until spring finally gets here!

It's also a good time to start thinking about your summer plans! If you are planning a roadtrip to see your favorite team play it is never to early to start. Two high profile teams, the Yankees and Red Sox, already have placed their tickets on sale and most games are already almost sold out. Several other teams already have tickets on sale, with most other teams putting their tickets on sale in mid February.

Countdown 'til Opening Day 2006: 63 Days!

-BoB.com Blogger