Fansided

Ranking the 10 best ballparks in Major League Baseball

By Will Osgood

May 23, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; General view from the press box as the Pittsburgh Pirates take batting practice before hosting the New York Mets at PNC Park. The Pirates won 8-2. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
May 23, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; General view from the press box as the Pittsburgh Pirates take batting practice before hosting the New York Mets at PNC Park. The Pirates won 8-2. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jun 3, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; General view of Coors Field following a weather delay game between the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Colorado Rockies. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 3, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; General view of Coors Field following a weather delay game between the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Colorado Rockies. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /

8. Coors Field

Coors Field is known as a hitter’s park—as, for so many years, it was the place where pitchers’ ERAs went to die and home runs were aplenty. It is not a stretch to say that the reputation brings some mystique to downtown Denver’s ballpark. So too does the steely urban architecture with the outside brickwork making it hardly stand out—aside from its girth—from the rest of the city’s downtown area.

Back inside the stadium, designers of the park also made Coors reflect its city and the surrounding area. Denver is an urban center within the most wonderfully beautiful nature I have ever seen. Riding into town from the west, driving through Utah into Colorado, the Rocky Mountains in the summertime are lush with greenery and beautiful streams of clear, crisp water.

Coors Field captures the essence of Colorado in general—providing a link between the city and its surrounding nature. In the right field bullpen area are beautiful pine trees, not unlike the ones seen on the city’s western outskirts.

But Coors continues the rustic look too. It is harder to capture than in many parks, because true beauty is better seen than explained. Pictures are worth a thousand words. And reall, pictures of Colorado and Coors Field do far more justice than I ever could in writing about it.

One oddity about the park which can be written about is the mile marker in the third deck of right field. A strip of purple extends straight across one row of seats where paying customers are literally “a mile high.” A few home runs have been hit up there in the park’s history, meaning a few batters have actually hit the ball “a mile high.”

Even more than viewing a photo of Coors or the landscape of the Rocky Mountains, one should, if at all possible, take a trek to this area to experience it. In it, one cannot help but lose him or herself in the majesty.

One of my favorite authors says of the Grand Canyon, “You don’t go to the Grand Canyon and think about your problems or think about how great you are. You think about its beauty and you get lost in it.”

Next: The wonders of the Pacific Northwest

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