How do you Grade a Stadium?

Over the coming weeks, in preparation for my pilgrimage, I plan on rating the baseball stadiums that I have already attended in my lifetime. I have in mind a few ways in which I would like to measure the greatness of the stadiums that I'm going to attend. Here is the rubric that I've compiled so far...

• The Look (Is it aesthetically pleasing?)


• The Smell (Does it smell like a baseball game, or like something else?)


• The Field (Well-kept? Or fake-looking?)


• The Surroundings (What is the neighborhood like? Are the surrounding fans "family-friendly?")
  
  
• The Side-Show Options (Any cool restaurants or attractions?)


• The Hotdog Test (Is the Fenway Frank really the best?)


• The Miscellaneous Amenities (Is there anything else that stands out?)


• The Price (What is the bottom line? And is it worth it?)

Am I missing anything? How do YOU judge the greatness of a stadium?

How do you plan on doing this exactly?

Alright! I've decided on the major ballparks I want to visit. The list, in order of planned chronological visit, is as follows:

Camden Yards -- Home of the Baltimore Orioles
Citizens Bank Park - Home of the Philadelphia Phillies
Fenway Park -- Home of the Boston Red Sox
Yankee Stadium -- Home of the NY Yankees
Shea Stadium -- Home of the NY Mets
Jacobs Field -- Home of the Cleveland Indians
Wrigley Field -- Home of the Chicago Cubs
Busch Stadium -- Home of the St. Louis Cardinals

It isn't as important to me to catch a fantastic game as it is to visit these monuments to America's Pastime. But I would like to visit these ballparks DURING a ballgame -- not just a drive-by. So here's the tentative schedule:







I also hope to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame on my trip through New York, because what would any kind of baseball pilgrimage be without a trip to the Hall of Fame?

I've tentatively organized the trip so that I will only miss one Sunday morning away from my home congregation. I would likely miss the PM worship service on June 1st as I travel toward Baltimore. And I would miss both worship services on the 8th. I haven't missed a Sunday morning worship service since September of 2006, so I think I'll be able to sell that to my church. ;)

I have friends in the D.C., Greater Chicago, and New England areas. I hope to be able to stay over for one or two nights to help off-set the cost of this adventure. I also hope that I might be able to meet folks who would host me in the other towns between now & then.

I've also built in buffer time into the first week of the trip so that I can site-see. I've never been north of North Carolina in my life, nor west of Abilene, TX. I'd like to explore our nation's capital, historic Philadelphia & New England, and the critically-acclaimed Big Apple. If you folks have any recommendations for (preferably CHEAP) site-seeing targets or restaurant-type joints, I'm open to them.

I currently plan on taking this journey myself. Alone. However, if there are any eager baseball fans who would like to join me on all or part of this adventure, you are welcome to be the anonymous jogger person to my Forrest Gump. (G)

Those are the tentative details of this quest. Suggestions are welcome.

What is The Pilgrimage?

The Pilgrimage is one baseball fan's quest to visit notable or landmark ballparks in the Northeast & Midwestern regions of the United States in the summer of 2008. I hope to chronicle this Pilgrimage here.

Stay tuned!