While Dodger Stadium is at #6 on the rankings, it isn't a bad ballpark. When I last visted Dodger Stadium, it was before Frank McCourt took over as owner and the Stadium was in need of renovation. I revisited the Stadium this month when the Arizona Diamondbacks were playing the Dodgers and it was like going to a brand new stadium. The seats were new, they had installed an LCD ribbon marquee along the loge level seats, the other marquees were made into LCD screens, new seats were added into the foul ground, and there was new signage everywhere.
Los Angeles fans are sometimes mocked in the national sports media for "arriving in the 5th and leaving in the 7th". Based on the D-Backs/Dodgers game this month, that is a total myth. The fans on both sides were energized and yelling and screaming for their teams throughout the game. Dodger Stadium is also the birthplace to the legendary fan event - the Wave.
Dodger Stadium has a lot of nostalgia about it and even for me, someone who had not seen moments like Kirk Gibson's home run or Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale pitching in person, there's nostalgia there even for me. My dad taking my sister and I to the Stadium during the era of Mike Piazza, Hideo Nomo, and Delino DeShields in the early 90's. Of course, it was in the long decline of the late 90's and early 00's and the rise of the Arizona Diamondbacks that I switched affections. But it was the early 90's Dodgers and the trips to the Stadium with my dad that introduced my sister and I to a love of the game. And even though I root for a team besides the Dodgers, there is none better in the bigs than Vin Scully when it comes to broadcasting games.
So even though Dodger Stadium is #6 in the rankings, it is my hometown stadium and a baseball gem. It is through Dodger Stadium that my dad showed me a love of baseball that has stayed with me since. The recent changes to Dodger Stadium have made it a great place to go again. Tomorrow, another SoCal gem is up.
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