I don’t get to as many stadiums as I used to but over the years I have hit 21 stadiums. Some are certainly nicer than others and they all come with a little adventure as well. So lets dive in to the 10 worst stadiums I have watched a game at. I am ranking them from 21 (worst) all the way to 1 (best). This week you get the worst 10 and next week you’ll get the best 11.

21. Old Minnesota: The Metro Dome:

When I was wholesaling, I lived in Minnesota. I had never been to the Metro Dome before although I did attempt once to go to a Vikings game but failed due to a snow storm. I told that story in a previous blog. I decided that I should at least check out the stadium since I lived there. I took Danielle and one of my better reps and his wife. We had a good time at the game but baseball inside is dumb. Really most sports indoors are dumb. But baseball is especially bad. The whole ceiling is white and you sort of feel like you are sitting in a big balloon. I crossed it off the list and never went back even though I lived there for almost 3 years.

20. Tampa:

I went with 3 of my buddies and they were playing the Royals. One of my buddies girlfriend’s family had some connection to a hotel chain so we were able to stay at the same hotel as the Royals. We had drinks in the same bar as royal players and then I believe the Red Sox were coming into town next so we saw some of them as well. That was for sure the highlight. The stadium is indoors again and kind of dumpy. I think we went to two games but I can’t remember for sure. We all had a lot to drink on this trip and this created some tension because people say dumb things when they drink too much. The highlights were seeing Frank White, who was a commentator at the time and John Smoltz, who I believe was with the Red Sox at the time. I for sure saw Frank White. There were for sure many other players that we saw but I don’t remember them. This was the trip I decided shots were bad. I literally haven’t had one since on a baseball trip or otherwise. It has kept me from getting in fights with my friends and I remember everything now. So although a dump, thanks for the life lessons, Tampa. (Although the stadium is actually in St. Petersburg.)

19. The Nationals (Old RFK Stadium):

Woof, this stadium was rough. But it edges out the other two because it is at least outdoors. They had some nice things sort of around the stadium but it was run down and pretty bad. But at least you could imagine there were once some good football games played in the stadium, so it had that going for it, which was nice. This was a little baseball tour we did, where we went here and then to Philly and then New York. My buddies came back down and caught a game in Baltimore. But I had to fly home early for work. Stupid responsibilities. I still haven’t made it to Baltimore yet.

18. Toronto:

Toronto is actually a great city. Its big but much cleaner than the big cities I have been to in the United States. The Sky Dome however, is eh. It’s fine. There is nothing wrong with it but it sort of feels like you are watching the game in a big hotel. Overall, this was a good trip but the stadium is so-so. It was an adventure crossing the border. Our buddy Wads, was driving and on the way there it was real late at night as we had just left Detroit after a game. (more on that in a bit). Wads decided to tell the boarder patrol officer that we didn’t have anything illegal in the trunk. Which is about the dumbest thing you can say to a border patrol. They let us go on through which tells me, Canada doesn’t have a lot of concerns with Americans coming into their country. Or more likely, the guy thought there is no way these 4 idiots are going to do anything. Also, we sailed through the boarder on the way into Canada because it was like 2 in the morning. We woke up Sunday morning and assumed it would be the same result at 10 AM. It was not. I missed my flight and had to hang out at the airport even longer trying to get my butt home. Baseball trips with your friends are fun but the smartest decisions are not always made.

17. Chicago White Sox:

I don’t have much to say about the White Sox stadium and that should tell you everything. It’s not in a particular fun place in town. The surrounding area doesn’t have much to offer. The inside of the stadium is fine but nothing real exciting. It’ all so-so. To add to the issues is it is in competition with Wrigley. Wrigley has it’s own issues but it is historic and the area around it is fun. Basically you ride the train to White Sox stadium, go to the game and then immediately get back on the train so you can go some where nice and fun in the rest of the city. It doesn’t help things that I don’t particularly like the White Sox. However, for whatever reason I have visited this stadium multiple times and it ranks 4th on my most visited stadiums in my lifetime. I have been to games there on 3 different occasions. First I went with my dad and brother when we were trying to relive our experience from the year before when we came to Chicago to go to Wrigley and watched Big Mac and Sammy Sosa battle it out. Shockingly to no one, it was not as good. Then on our inaugural buddy baseball trip, we hit the stadium on our way up to Milwaukee. Finally, I drove up to meet some of the same buddies when they were on their way back from going to a game somewhere else. I think Milwaukee again. All the experiences were fun but mostly due to the people, not the stadium. The last trip was especially memorable because instead of getting us two hotel rooms or a hotel room with two beds, my buddy Ben booked the rooms for the wrong weekend. So we settled into a room with just one bed and four dudes. I don’t remember how it all worked out but it wasn’t the most comfortable sleep I have had.

16. Angels stadium:

California, Anaheim, Los Angeles…whatever they are called that year, their stadium was eh. I ended up in their stadium after failing a test for work. When things went bad in my life I used to take drives across the country to clear my head and hopefully get back on track. When you get married and have kids, this strategy doesn’t work as well because your family is like where the hell do you think you are going. I drove from Denver to San Diego and then up to Angels stadium before heading home. The drive to San Diego was beautiful and fun. The drive from San Diego to Angels stadium was rough. Lots of traffic and then you finally end up at this place. The stadium is fine. There are some rocks behind the wall in the outfield for some reason. People were nice for the most part. The place was sort of half full so I could move around a lot which was nice. The drive home was rough because one of my contacts dried out and I didn’t have a replacement on me. So I drove a lot of the way home with one eye closed. It was pretty rough.

15. Dirty Detroit:

Me and the boys flew into Detroit on one of our famous baseball trips. This was prime baseball trip time. Prior to kids and working for a non profit so I had money and time. Those were the days. Anyway, we landed in Detroit and headed over to the stadium. We parked and tried not to get robbed or stabbed on the way in. Then we got into the park and it was actually quite nice. Nice stadium, good seats, good ball park. We were there like 8 years after it opened and so it had that new ball park field. The field looked great and there is a nice scoreboard in leftfield. Center field opens up and you can see buildings in the city that actually look nice and trick you into thinking you are somewhere else besides Detroit. There were lots of fun things to do around the park. It was very nice. Then the game ends and you walk out of the park with a smile on your face until you hit the gate and you are like…oh yeah…I’m in Detroit. Our routine at the time was typically go to the game and then hit a bar and have a few drinks. We looked around, there was one bar that was Red Wings bar and then a lot of sketchy areas. The plan was to spend the night in Detroit and then head to Toronto in the morning. We all looked at each other and without saying much, got in our car and just went ahead and drove to Toronto. That is how bad Detroit is. We chose leaving over drinks and sleep.

14. Old Yankee stadium:

This was a great trip as we hit DC, went up to Philly and then NYC. Jason and Ben had friends for us to stay with in the Big Apple so that was nice. NYC is fine. It’s very busy as you would expect with lots of historical sites. We headed over to the stadium by train or subway. I don’t remember which. The stadium had that historical feel and I am glad I went before they replaced it. I can say I went to a game in the house that Ruth built. Babe Ruth that is, not my sister. She hasn’t built any houses. But I can also see why they wanted to replace it. I haven’t been to the new one but besides the history, there wasn’t much to like about the place. It was old and there were lots of bad seats where you couldn’t see real well especially down the 3rd base line where we were sitting. People weren’t very friendly and for a place that was that old, it had sort of a stuck up feel to it. Like I’m better than you even though I am a dump. Anyway, glad I went but not one to write a book about.

13. Cleveland Indians:

I know they are the Guardians or whatever now but back then they were the Indians. It was the year after we won the World Series. They were on the rise and we were on the decline. Cleveland is basically a nicer Detroit. People aren’t friendly and of course I was repping my Royals gear since they were playing them. Walker and I drove up from Columbus to catch a game. Danielle’s sister and her family live in Columbus. There was a massive rain delay that lasted a couple of hours. They had a bunch of cool kids stuff going on. Walker would have been about 8 at the time and so he thought it was awesome. He was seeing how fast he was, how high he could jump up the wall and a few other things. After the rain delay a ton of people left so we went down to the lower level and and sat a few rows behind the Royals dugout. We lost…by a lot. But when the Cleveland fans were taunting the Royals players, they all pointed to their ring fingers to signal that they had the championship. It was a fun adventure with my son in a pretty nice park. I just don’t like Cleveland or the Indians or the Guardians or whatever they are called now. I got cussed at and called names on our way out. Nothing like winning a game and then saying degrading things to the opposing fan with his kid. Stay classy Cleveland.

12. Milwaukee Brewers:

I probably need to go to this one again. I liked this park and Milwaukee in general. They are my kind of people. Friendly and nice and a fun town. It has a little bit of a Kansas City sort of feel. The surrounding area of the stadium is nice. And it has a retractable dome. Rain was in the forecast and so it was shut during the game we were at. This was also the one and only trip that my friend Kyle went on. It was myself, him and Jason and this was our first baseball trip. It went so well that it was Kyle’s last baseball trip. To be fair, Kyle doesn’t really like sports. The other issue is that Jason and I together are an acquired taste. We sometimes fight like brothers and can be pretty relentless in making fun of others together. We also can be making fun of something and laughing and you think it is you that we are making fun of but it really isn’t. But of course we don’t tell you that it isn’t you and so then you get even more frustrated. Sounds fun…right? Well it is a lot of fun for the two of us. A memorable moment was we were waiting for the elevator at the hotel and it was taking forever so I said I’ll take the stairs. I was all proud of myself for beating them to the lobby and then the elevator doors opened up and they walked out of the elevator with several beautiful girls. I went quickly from very proud to very sad. The actual stadium is nice and has a good feel to it. People were friendly and they were playing the Cardinals so that was sort of fun. I need to get back there to catch a game when the dome is open as I think it would be a better experience. But there was a leak in the roof and it dripped right by the on deck circle. It was fun to watch the annoyed baseball players have to deal with the dripping. We were able to walk up and get seats behind home plate. The Brewers were not good at this time and it was a Sunday and football season. Although this is on the worst list, it really is the beginning of good baseball stadiums I have been to.

Tune in next week for the top 11 stadiums I have been to.