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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May 30, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; A general view of Oriole Park at Camden Yards during the fifth inning between the Baltimore Orioles and the Tampa Bay Rays. Tampa Bay Rays defeated Baltimore Orioles 3-0. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
May 30, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; A general view of Oriole Park at Camden Yards during the fifth inning between the Baltimore Orioles and the Tampa Bay Rays. Tampa Bay Rays defeated Baltimore Orioles 3-0. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /

6. Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Oriole Park at Camden Yards—generally shortened to Camden Yards—was really the genesis of the modern stadium. Its existential idea was to go back into history and recover some of what had been lost in the 60s and 70s revolution of two-dimensional, cookie-cutter multiple-sport facilities.

When the park’s head architectural consultant Janet Marie Smith was hired to design Baltimore’s new baseball stadium, she had the idea to do two things: 1) Maintain an urban environment, which so many ballparks at the time lacked and 2) Delve back into the past.

Along with the Orioles’ head of the project, Larry Luchino, Smith decided to build the new stadium with the 19th century brick warehouse as a backdrop for fans behind home plate looking out at right field. Doing so gave the new ballpark an aura of old-time urbanity completely lost on a generation of baseball fans.

With Wrigley Field and Fenway Park as a model, she aimed to bring lush greenery and urban hardness together within a downtown area. Though now 23-years-old, Camden Yards still maintains a youth and child-like enthusiasm. To say that about a structure may seem odd, but again baseball stadiums become their own kind of living organism.

Most famously, Camden Yards has seen Cal Ripken tie and overtake Lou Gehrig for most consecutive games played in Major League Baseball history, as well as Eddie Murray’s 3,000th hit.

In recent years, it’s hosted a number of playoff games and this season, sadly, was also—because of where it rests in the city—a center point and hazard for the riots which took place in April.

Baseball and its ballparks are not generally assumed to be landmarks of great American history, but then again, try explaining American history without baseball. It cannot be done. Smith succeeded in bringing the past and present together to create one of the most dynamic stadiums in baseball.

And by extension she sparked a model that many future parks would emulate.

Next: This one's been redone with same name multiple times

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