Been a while since my last update on here, but I did end up getting to my ballparks this year of Texas, Detroit, and Cleveland. I loved Rangers Ballpark in Arlington and rank it high on my list. Now I went to Comerica 6 years ago but a lot has changed with that park and Progressive Field, which I have heard mixed reviews on, even by my friends who went to that park.

I'll start with Comerica Park. I am probably biased since I'm a diehard Tigers fan. But I thought the stadium was great, even since the last time I was there. I still miss my Tiger Stadium and cannot see any pictures of the demolition anymore (like watching a person dying to me). But Comerica is more than serviceable. It is a gem of a ballpark and one of the things that is trying to make Detroit a tourist attraction (har har) but it is good. It still ranks as one of the best parks I've been to.

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT COMERICA PARK:
1. The interior-just a scenic backdrop as well as the fountains out in CF.
2. The exterior-great brick facade and the mural of the classic glove behind the LF scoreboard make me think Ty Cobb. That and all the statue of Tigers everywhere
3. The fans-why I am biased. I think Detroit has some of the best fans around.
4. The concourses-reasonably spaced and plenty of spots to stop as well as the food court with the carousel over there.
5. The food-spiciest Italian sausage I ever had. And it was good!
6. Fun things to do-Carousel, Merry-Go-Round, stuff for kids and fans alike.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE ABOUT COMERICA PARK:
1. Location-granted, it is Detroit and better than where Tiger Stadium was, but you move past the side where third base is and the area gets dirty quickly. Some other spots were dirty as well.
2. Music-You'd think they had some musice with a Motown beat to it. Nope.
3. Scoreboard-Not bad, but out of date with all the HD boards up in other parks.
4. Souvenir prices-It is a stadium so it is high, but it is a little higher than normal I think.


As for Progressive Field, I was more than pleasantly surprised. It is a beautiful ballpark and it bucked the major trend when the new modern stadiums were built of having brick facades everywhere. Cleveland was the first to really use the exposed steel beams instead of bricks (some spots had bricks, but even then it had an Ohio feel to it, similar to Cincinnati). The inside view was tremendous and beautiful as well. I always thought Cleveland had that poster boy label of how the rest of the teams should build a park (luxury boxes, major souvenir shops, etc.) and throw the "we need a new park to compete" bit. Which might be true considering a lot of teams followed suit but failed to actually put a competing team on the field. That being said, it is a great stadium and it would have been nice to have seen a game in Cleveland's heyday in the 90's. Since then, the fans have stopped coming. It is sad, because even when the Indians have fielded a good team in this decade, fans have stopped coming.

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT PROGRESSIVE FIELD:
1. Interior-looks neat and clean
2. Exterior-Exposed steel is different than the norm and I like that. Shows character
3. Music-played a few of the songs as well as the theme from "Major League." That and they played rock.
4. 7th inning stretch-had two fans sing the anthem and then played "Hey Sloopy" while the crowd sang to it.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE ABOUT PROGRESSIVE FIELD:
1. Fans-14,000 showed up and of those, 9,000 were Mets fans? I'm beginning to think Municipal Stadium wasn't the reason in having fans not coming out. And the Indians fans who did show up, while nice, were just quiet.

Overall, I would say Comerica still ranks second behind Camden Yards but I would put Progressive Field in third on my personal stadium rankings.

So my top 5 are:
1. Oriole Park at Camden Yards
2. Comerica Park
3. Progressive Field
4. Great American Ballpark
5. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington

Bottom 5:
1. Fulton County Stadium
2. Yankee Stadium
3. Metrodome
4. RFK Stadium
5. Shea Stadium

Unless I hit the lottery and/or win a contest for all-expenses paid for trip to another MLB park this year, my Ballpark Chasing for 2010 is finished. I am heading to Chattanooga for a Lookouts game in one month. Next year will be a tricky one for me to get to another MLB ballpark. Wife and I are talking about kid #2 and she wants it by the summer, meaning no summer trip. However, I have convinced her twice about a trip during spring break (both of us are teachers). If that is the case, we're either going to Arizona, Milwaukee, or Seattle.