Retro is becoming old in ballpark construction
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Barry Larkin is a big fan of ballparks. Heck, he even named his oldest daughter after a favorite place to play — she’s Brielle D’Shea, as in Shea Stadium.
So what did he think after walking into Citizens Bank Park, the latest in baseball’s ever-growing collection of old-style fields?
“Sure are a lot of them,” the longtime Cincinnati shortstop said Monday.
And how.
Coors Field. PNC Park. Jacobs Field. Plus plenty more, now that Petco Park in San Diego and this new ballyard in south Philadelphia opened.
Brick-and-steel facades. Double- and triple-decked grandstands. Oddly angled outfield walls. Pretty to look at, comfortable to play inside.
Only one problem: There are so many, this retro thing might be getting a bit old.
“Who knows? Maybe these will be the cookie-cutter stadiums of their day,” Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt said.
Fact is, almost half the parks in the majors fit the mold started by Camden Yards. Built a dozen years ago, commissioner Bud Selig called the Baltimore ballpark and the trend it started “one of the most important developments in baseball in the 20th century.”
“It changed it for everybody. As a result of Camden Yards, everybody has done something,” Selig said while the Phillies were losing their opener to the Reds 4-1.
Cute, cozy and far removed from the huge concrete bowls and domes that once sprung up and seemed to be the wave of the future, these new homes have changed the landscape — and language — in the majors.
On hand for the Phillies’ opener, Reds chief operating officer John Allen was asked whether he was excited to see another new stadium.
“Ah, they’re not stadiums,” he said. “They’re parks. I have to correct my people on that sometimes.”
No matter that the public-address announcer for the opening ceremonies at Citizens Bank Park welcomed a U.S. Navy parachute team to “Citizens Bank Stadium.”
Indeed, there has not been a ballpark built for a big league team that contained the word “Stadium” in more than a quarter-century. That was Olympic Stadium and even though the Montreal Expos moved in, the 1976 Summer Games got to use it first.
Compare that to 1980, when 19 of the 26 stadiums actually included the name “Stadium.”
These days, that’s a dirty word. During the ballpark boom that’s taken over — nearly 20 baseball-only fields built in the last 20 years — retro is the only way to go. With or without a retractable roof, too.
Miller Park. Pac Bell Park. The Ballpark in Arlington, the Great American Ball Park.
“Everybody wants to have some old-style ballpark,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt played his entire Phillies career at Veterans Stadium, and a statue at Citizens Bank honors him.
In his era, the Vet, Riverfront Stadium, Three Rivers Stadium and Busch Stadium were the talk of baseball. Multisport bowls erected between 1966-71, they were built to last forever.
“I thought it was state-of-the-art. They thought it was a pretty neat idea,” Schmidt said.
Driving into town Sunday night toward the site where the Vet recently was reduced to rubble by a demolition team, Schmidt had mixed feelings.
“I was thinking it’s going to feel funny with the big flying saucer not really there,” he said. Yet he added, “It’s really hard to get attached to a big concrete circle like that.”
Mostly because those stadiums really did look alike.
“If you had too much to drink, you’d have a hard time knowing where you were,” Selig said.
Selig loves the renaissance of the retro parks and insists they’ll all different. And there some unique touches.
The warehouse beyond the right-field wall in Baltimore. The train whistle at Safeco Field, the mini-train atop the left-field wall in Houston. The rivers in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, the bay in San Francisco.
At San Diego, the Western Metal Supply Co. building, a 95-year-old brick warehouse, helps create the left-field corner. At Philadelphia, there’s a giant Liberty Bell in center field that will light up for Phillies home runs.
Before the Phillies’ opener, Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts wandered around Citizens Bank Park, where he’s also honored with a statue.
Roberts smiled, recalling when the Astrodome and the Vet were undeniably baseball’s best show places. He remembered pitching for the Phillies when they played at Connie Mack Stadium, and made trips to the long-gone, hallowed palaces of Ebbets Field, Forbes Field and the Polo Grounds.
“There was a lot of nostalgia at those stadiums,” he said, “but none of them were any good. Not compared to these.”