Ballpark Name Trends (1990-2013)

Every couple of years, new parks sprout of the ground. Others fall to the ground. The names of the parks change. There was a day when no park was named after a corporation. But then more and more came out of the ground being named after orange juice and gas companies. Some of the companies went bankrupt and the names were taken off. Others still remain today. But the generation of ballparks with naming rights deals looks to be in the past, as baseball purists support has made it so less parks are named something like... U.S. Cellular Field.

Let's start in the year 1990. This was the last year there was no stadium without a naming rights deal.  There were four stadiums named after their respective teams: Dodger Stadium, Yankee Stadium I, Tiger Stadium, and the eighth wonder of the world: The Astrodome.
There were 22 teams without either naming rights deals, or named after their team. Here are the stadiums and the reason behind their naming.
Kingdome- named for and operated by King County, Washington.
Candlestick Park- stadium situated at Candlestick Point, San Francisco.
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum- operated by Alameda County.
Anaheim Stadium- Named after city of Anaheim.
Jack Murphy Stadium- Named for sportswriter (Brother of Mets announcer, Bob Murphy) who was an integral part in bringing both the Chargers and Padres to San Diego.
Arlington Stadium- named for city of Arlington.
Kauffman Stadium- named after Royals founding owner Ewing Kauffman.
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome- named in honor of Minnesota politician Hubert H. Humphrey.
Milwaukee County Stadium- owned and funded by Milwaukee County.
Wrigley Field- does not have a naming rights deal with Wrigley Gum Company, but was named after the owner of the company and the Cubs, William Wrigley, Jr. Name has stuck since 1926.
Comiskey Park- named after 30-year owner Charles Comiskey.
Busch Stadium II- named after Busch Family, owners of Cardinals until 1996. They did own the beer company, but this was not an advertisement of it.
Riverfront Stadium- located on Ohio River.
Three Rivers Stadium- in Pittsburgh, home to the three rivers (Allegheny, Monongohela, forms into Ohio)
Cleveland Stadium- for city of Cleveland.
Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium- Operated by City of Atlanta and Fulton County, Georgia.
Memorial Stadium- named for lives lost in WWI and WWII.
Veterans Stadium- named in honor of war veterans.
Shea Stadium- Named after William A. Shea who brought National League Baseball back to NY.
Fenway Park- came from its location in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston, which was partially created late in the nineteenth century by filling in marshland or "fens", to create the Back Bay Fens urban park.
Olympic Stadium- Hosted 1976 Olympics
Skydome- won in “name the stadium contest.” Reference to skyscraper CN Tower.

As you can see this was before commercialism took over baseball. You wouldn't see the fences and scoreboards littered with advertisements like they used to. Ballpark's names usually had a reason they were named that, and it wasn't neccesarily linked to the team either. But 17 stadiums on this list were also shared with another team at one time, whether it's NFL, CFL (Toronto), or any other reason.

Only a decade later in 2000, drastic changes in the way ballparks were named was in sight. This was where commercialism in baseball was taking over. With the Astros moving out of the Astrodome (which ironically now has a sponsor, Reliant,) and into retractable roofed Enron Field (Now called Minute Maid Park,) there was one less stadium with a park named for it's team. Another subtraction from the list was Tiger Stadium, a historic stadium painfully taken away from the people of Detroit (It wasn't until 7 years after the Tigers left that it was torn down.) But only a year after 1990, the Orioles moved into Oriole Park at Camden Yards (more commonly referred to as Camden Yards) so one team was added to the list.

The Kingdome was replaced by Safeco Field. The Giants moved from Candlestick Park, moving into Pacific Bell Stadium (later bought out by AT&T.) Anaheim Stadium hopped on the bandwagon and got a sponsorship deal with Edison International, as did Jack Murphy Stadium with Qualcomm, and the New Comiskey Park with U.S. Cellular. The Diamondbacks, Rockies, Marlins and Devil Rays came into the league and all got stadiums with naming rights deals (BankOne Ballpark, Coors Field, Pro Player Stadium, and Tropicana Field.) Oakland Coliseum simply changed it's name to Network Associates Coliseum. Yes, Network Associates Coliseum does take an hour to type. The Braves and Indians got new stadiums, but both would stay in the same section, with Turner Field and Jacobs Field.

2000
Parks named after teams: Dodger Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Parks with naming rights deals: 12
Safeco Field, Pacific Bell Park, Network Associates Coliseum, Edison International Field of Anaheim, Qualcomm Stadium, BankOne Ballpark, Coors Field, Enron Field, Comerica Park, Cinergy Field, Tropicana Field, Pro Player Stadium
Parks with other name, reason: 15
The Ballpark In Arlington- Had no sponsor yet and was a plain name.
Kauffman Stadium- named after Royals founding owner Ewing Kauffman.
Milwaukee County Stadium- owned and funded by Milwaukee County.
Wrigley Field- does not have a naming rights deal with Wrigley Gum Company, but was named after the owner of the company and the Cubs, William Wrigley, Jr. Name has stuck since 1926.
Comiskey Park- named after 30-year owner Charles Comiskey.
Jacobs Field- after team owners Richard and David Jacobs
Turner Field- named for owner Ted Turner.
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome- named in honor of Minnesota politician Hubert H. Humphrey.
Three Rivers Stadium- in Pittsburgh, home to the three rivers (Allegheny, Monongohela, forms into Ohio)
SkyDome- won in “name the stadium contest.” Reference to skyscraper CN Tower
Fenway Park- came from its location in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston, which was partially created late in the nineteenth century by filling in marshland or "fens", to create the Back Bay Fens urban park.
Olympic Stadium- hosted 1976 Olympics
Shea Stadium- Named after William A. Shea who brought National League Baseball back to NY.
Veterans Stadium- named in honor of war veterans.
Busch Stadium II- named after Busch Family, owners of Cardinals until 1996.

Now, in 2013 the tides have turned. Though there are now more stadiums with sponsorships, there are three more stadiums with parks named after their teams in Nationals Park, Marlins Park, and the Angels dropped their sponsor and have returned the name of their park to Angel Stadium in Anaheim (the "...in Anaheim" is due to a deal with the city that the team must have the word Anaheim in both their team and park name. Halos' owner Arte Moreno would much rather just ignore the city he's in and say they're in Los Angeles.)


The reason the "other" category has dropped so dramatically can be attributed to the fact that less teams play in stadiums that are shared with other teams. This is because, if the stadiums were shared, the NFL Team wouldn't want to play in a stadium named after an MLB Team. But here is your moder-day, Ballpark Name Breakdown:


Parks named after teams: 7
Dodger Stadium, Yankee Stadium 2, Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Angel Stadium of Aneheim, Nationals Park, Marlins ParkParks with naming rights deals: 20
Coors Field, Rogers Centre, Chase Field, Safeco Field, Busch Stadium III, Citizens Bank Park, Progressive Field, Petco Park, Great American Ball Park, Citi Field, AT&T Park, Miller Park, Comerica Park, Minute Maid Park, U.S. Cellular Field, Target Field, PNC Park, Tropicana Field. O.co Coliseum
Parks with other name, reason: 3
Kauffman Stadium- named after Royals founding owner Ewing Kauffman.
Fenway Park- came from its location in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston, which was partially created late in the nineteenth century by filling in marshland or "fens", to create the Back Bay Fens urban park. Owner also owned Fenway Realty Company.
Turner Field- After owner Ted Turner (Not after Turner Broadcasting)
A lot shorter, right?

I hope you enjoyed this article, and that you have more insight into why the parks you visit have their name. The next article will breakdown prospective leagues. Comments, Questions, Suggestions for articles will be accepted below! Thank you.

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Wrigley Field Renovations

The hiatus is over. Ballpark Guide is back. Be warned, readers: this is not your usual post, that is informative and unopinionated, and caters to those seeking information about the MLB's top stadiums. This post covers breaking news that, when I heard about it, I almost jumped out of my seat in the need to express my anger. This blog, Ballpark Guide, is where I will express my anger. (There is also a good mix of approval, too.)

And if you haven't heard, the anger I'm expressing is over a park that I've never visited, but is near and dear to many fans across the league. This ballpark is Wrigley Field. Wrigley Field is the jewel ballpark of the Major Leagues, one that each team strives to have. The focus is on baseball, and baseball only. Win or lose, Cubs fans swarm the gates, as tickets at Wrigley are hard to come by. Wrigley's outfield walls are graced with Ivy, the only stadium to have it, and it's been there since 1937 since famous owner Bill Veeck planted it.

Today at CubsFest, owner Tom Ricketts revealed his plan to renovate Wrigley Field. The renovation will cost $300 million dollars, and will take 5 offseasons to finish. Above shows the trademark entrance to Wrigley. Nothing special, except the famous red sign that's been there since the start reading "Wrigley Field Home of the Chicago Cubs". This rendering below shows Rickett's plan on the Cubs front entrance.

I have only small issues with this. The integrity of the entrance has remained the same, which I commend Ricketts for, but the proposed restaurant lining the top entrance is unique, but a little odd. It could work very well, but whenever you add restaurants to a place like Wrigley in interferes with the integrity of it, because Wrigley's focus has always been watching baseball, and that's why it's so well attended. Whenever I'm at a game, I would never miss part of it to eat at a restaurant. Maybe it's just me, but I think Cubs fans won't bite either. I don't believe the restaurant faces the game, but I could be wrong. And if it does, than I give in A+ to Ricketts in this category, because eating in the comfort of a restaurant while watching a game detracts nothing from the experience.. An interesting feature is completely opening up the concourse to the front entrance, and the skyline of downtown Chicago, which could definitely work, but I never realized Wrigley was that small. Maybe it can be a before/after game hangout like McFadden's at Citi Field.

BEFORE

Another feature the Cubs are improving is the concourses, which have been known to be cramped and dingy. The Cubs are classy-ing up the look by painting the exposed pillars and bleacher supports an Ivy-Green, and inlaying brick to the concourses, surrounded by stripes of cement, which looks great in the rendering. The rendering also shows small LED's along the pillars, which remind me of pixels lit up on a scoreboard. They also add TV's which detracts nothing from the game as it lets people watch while in the councourse, walking to the restroom or concession stands. Ricketts once again gets an A+ in his improvement of the team's concourses.

AFTER

The next rendering is what gets me most angry, and covers a lot of ground in the Wrigley Field renovations. Wrigley Field already has some very bad seats, with pole supports lining the lower bowl and extending into the upper deck. My main point of focus is how they have somehow managed to make the seats even worse. They did nothing about the pole obstructions and committed a crime that has been done in baseball stadiums of recent all across America: sacrificing the middle-class fans’ view of the game for expanded high-rollers’ suites. Usually this is done by adding a club level with suites and in therefore, pushes back the seats for fans sitting in the upper deck . But because pushing back the upper deck is constructually unfeasible, they added/expanded suites under the upper deck. And from what I can tell, doing this would definitely create the worst seats in baseball, out of what could have already been the worst seats in baseball. They offer no sight above the head, as ticketholders would literally be looking at the back of high rollers suites, and even better, there are windows in the hallway leasing to the suites, so you can see who is ruining your view. They are already in the back of the section, offering the worst view on the level, and to top it all off, the poles that have obstructed Cubs fans view of the game for nearly a century, , still remain. The only good things that this rendering shows are the improved concourses and team stores for fans, along with an expanded dugout and new batting tunnels for the players. The biggest improvement for players is the new home clubhouse under the stands, improving from what was previously the smallest clubhouse in the league. And players never like to be bumper-to-bumper to eachother while changing, and the gymnophobics have stated their displeasure for the cramped quarters before. Ricketts gets a D- in this area, because he made some good improvements. That's the only thing that saved him from failing, because he broke the golden rule: he put the players and rich suite-owners before the average fan. This will ruin his grade point average.

Besides this, the interior of the park has improvements. When I first heard they were adding more LED scoreboards I was less than estatic. Ricketts has asked for easing of some landmark restrictions from famous Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel which require Wrigley Field, which is designated on the National Register of Historic Places, to stay as it is. And at first I thought Emmanuel shouldn't agree to anything. My thoughts were "Wrigley shouldn't have a Jumbotron, It's Wrigley! How are the rooftops going to be able to see, and how are the fans going to see the backdrop of Chicago skyscrapers?" But after seeing the renderings I have changed my mind. The LED scoreboards are small and streamlined, fitting under the bleachers and above the Ivy. It even took me a little bit long to find them. Another great thing shown in this picture is standing room, which will help with overflow crowds once Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo lead their team to the playoffs, maybe. A closer look at the LF standing room can be seen in the rendering below. He has also requested that he is able to put more ads in the outfield, which I still disagree with. Wrigley Field needs to stay a baseball museum, not an older version of Citi Field. Ricketts gets an B+ because he added standing room and scoreboards without affecting Wrigley Field's great history. But there is no way he's going to get away with putting those ads up in the outfield. Not If Rahm Emmanuel wants to get reelected. I alreasy believe the Toyota sign is enough visual polllution, though signs like those are the best kind of advertisements, because It's not just put on the outfield fence. It's a structural part of the park.

In it's statement, Wrigley Field stated that they would be adding more restrooms. The restrooms at Wrigley are famous for long lines and there trough-syle urinals, which give some people bad views in their peripheral vision, but keep the lines ever-so-slightly shorter. Luckily, Wrigley added more non-trough urinals last offseason, and since they're adding more restrooms, the new ones probably won't have the bad views. Here are the pictures of the old one's, and last season's renovations.

My final thoughts are, and I want to make this clear, is don't buy into the fact that the Cubs are calling this a restoration. This is not a restoration by any means. An example of a restoration is when they take an old historic house, and return it to it's original form. I'm pretty sure in 1916 Wrigley Field didn't have LED scoreboards, Suites, restaurants, or even standing room. It's a renovation, not a restoration.