No offense to Philly being such an historical city, it is not the best looking or smelling city, and it’s baseball team is the worst in the MLB, but there is at least one shining spot besides the Liberty Bell. Citizens Bank Park, home of the Phillies, is one of the most underrated baseball venues in the game today. Since Camden Yards opened up in 1992, modernized parks with extra dinning, clubs, etc inside the gates have taken the baseball world by storm. Since, so many other teams have followed in the Orioles’ footsteps, but the hard part is to try and not to go too modern, drawing attention away from America’s past time. The MLB still cares deeply about fans coming to the game for the game, not so much the other activities inside of the stadium.
Citizens Bank Park is the perfect combination of the old-fashioned style and the modern version. Take Petco Park (Padres) and Dodger Stadium for example; Petco Park is more on the modern side, lots of extra food courts, stadium clubs, etc, where as Dodger Stadium has just a concourse around the infield plus some concessions under the outfield bleachers.
In the Phillies Stadium, there is a full concourse around the whole field just like AT&T, but a lot wider. It doesn’t have any extra stands around corners or any kind of maze with nukes and crannies like Petco Park. Everything is out in the open. There are concessions along, against the walls and then about 100+ portable food carts right in front of seating all around the stadium.
One of the main entrances is in center field. That is where there are also a few restaurants that over look the field unlike some stadiums where the clubs/bars/restaurants are tucked away somewhere. The great thing about center field being one of the main entrances to the stadium is that the home for Phillies memorabilia is mostly out there. The plagues of former Philly legends are in right-center field, where fans have the ability to walk down a ramp and admire the plagues.
The great thing about the memorabilia is that it is spread out, so that the fans can remember how much of an historical franchise the Phillies are. They have statues of Richie Ashburn, Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Robin Roberts, and announcer Harry Kalas, spread all over the stadium along with other plagues of important moments in history. The simplicity of the stadium concourse, the good quality of food, the reemergence of the olden days, the cleanliness of the park, and the great seating from just about anywhere, makes Citizens Bank Park a must visit. The only negative about it would be the lack of popular food concession businesses, but since most of it’s original Philly food, it could also be taken as a positive. This great wide-open park makes Phillies’ fans forget about the slump their team is going to be in for a few years. Overall Citizens Bank Park gets a grade of an A-.
