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beb30
04-18-2006, 08:35 AM
My Review of the new Busch Stadium:

Positives:
St. Louis fans live up to being "the best baseball fans" everyone was nice I didnt have anyone yelling at me or my g/f for wearing Cincinnati shirts.

Ballpark is truly amazing, I look at it with some of the others such as PNC and Citizens and i just wish Cincinnati would of went with the brick design, was perfect for this place.

Ill post a picture later but being able to look out and see the arch in the St. Louis is skyline is awesome.

The last picture is an aerial view from the gateway arch.

Managed to get autographs from the following reds:
Ryan Freel
Brandon Claussen
Edwin Encarnacion
Brandon Phillips
Javier Valentin
Todd Coffey
Rick White
David Ross

The inside

Negatives:
1st base side too many fences and the highway runs within feet of it.

indyred
04-18-2006, 09:12 AM
I have heard about a highway being real close to the stadium......wonder if noise from that may be a problem........nice pics

beb30
04-18-2006, 09:14 AM
No the noise didn't seem to be a problem, its just the high way runs way to close, and with that being on the first base side along with all the fences for parking and player parking it just looks really ugly, but the rest is amazing.

BuckeyeRedleg
04-18-2006, 09:57 AM
I agree and mentioned in another thread that GABP would look nicer if the trim (steel) were painted green, instead of white. That goes for the light towers as well.

They also need to lay some brick around the stadium where there is exposed concrete. There appears to be brick everywhere at the new St. Louis park.
I noticed in the background up in the stands that the walls were covered in brick. No exposed (white) concrete whatsoever.

I also wish GABP would have at least had the seats turn around the foul pole down the RF line with an upper deck. It would have made the place feel a bit more cozy. It's not like they needed to close it in completely, just have the right field line and upper deck extend a little behind the bull pen and HR fence so that we could have a nice background for some of Dunn and Jr.'s rips down the line. I know they wanted to pay tribute to Crosley with the moon deck and I like it, but just wish they could have "turned the corner" so to speak with the seats and closed in the stadium a bit. It just appears that GABP was not quite finished. It just has little character in the OF. It almost looks like a glorified minor league stadium.

One thing is for sure, GABP still needs some work. They could at least cover some of the concrete with brick.

beb30
04-18-2006, 10:16 AM
It almost looks like a glorified minor league stadium.

One thing is for sure, GABP still needs some work.

They could at least cover some of the concrete with brick.

My thoughts exactly

westofyou
04-18-2006, 10:49 AM
I have heard about a highway being real close to the stadium......wonder if noise from that may be a problem........nice pics
No but exhaust residue will be heavy and black... I used to live by a busy highway and the dirt it threw one block way was amazing.

traderumor
04-18-2006, 12:03 PM
I like the white shell of GAB, including the light towers. Busch looks way too much like Philly's park. With the brick backstop and grassy area/batter's eye in center field, it was really hard to tell that you were not in GAB. Closing in around the foul pole would eliminate quite a bit of the view of the river, which is another asset of GAB. I still think PNC tops anything out of the new rust belt parks. The worst is Miller Park.

One thing that is really funny to me is that the same cities with the cookie cutter multipurpose stadiums now have cookie cutter single purpose stadiums. From Veterans/Three Rivers/Riverfront/Busch to Citizens Bank/PNC/GAB/Busch. The more things change...

beb30
04-18-2006, 12:12 PM
it was really hard to tell that you were not in GAB.

You must have missed the 630ft Gateway arch and the St. Louis skyline then. :)

GABP looks nothing like Busch, PNC, or Citizens Bank. While I still rank PNC as the best new park the new busch and citizens bank were done exceptionally well unlike our place and our cheezy statues

traderumor
04-18-2006, 12:21 PM
You must have missed the 630ft Gateway arch and the St. Louis skyline then. GABP looks nothing like Busch, PNC, or Citizens Bank. While I still rank PNC as the best new park the new busch and citizens bank were done exceptionally well unlike our place and our cheezy statuesThe center field camera doesn't pick up the arch much. Inside, GAB looks very much like Busch, esp. on TV. I really don't see the need to crap all over our park, it is very nice and and is a great place to watch a ballgame with its own unique views, like wonderful views of the river , which are far more pleasing to my eye than skyscrapers. I can drive 45 minutes to Columbus if I want to see those hideous monstrosoties. But to each his own.

beb30
04-18-2006, 12:54 PM
I'm not crapping on it, its just no where near as nice as the other new ones. What are the unique views? And while its nice having a view of the river, its the ohio, which isnt that great especially with nothing on the other side of it.

BuckeyeRedleg
04-18-2006, 12:56 PM
The center field camera doesn't pick up the arch much. Inside, GAB looks very much like Busch, esp. on TV. I really don't see the need to crap all over our park, it is very nice and and is a great place to watch a ballgame with its own unique views, like wonderful views of the river , which are far more pleasing to my eye than skyscrapers. I can drive 45 minutes to Columbus if I want to see those hideous monstrosoties. But to each his own.



Personally, I like the GABP, but feel it could have been done a little better and there is still potential with a little work.

foxfire123
04-18-2006, 03:43 PM
You got lucky. I've more than once had beer dumped down my back "accidentally" <when someone is sniggling I don't consider it an "accident"> or had rude remarks made when we went to games at Busch wearing Reds gear. I know some EXCELLENT Cardinals fans, but trust me, I've met more than a few of those "fans" who were more like male donkeys than good fans. I will also fully admit most of the bad ones have shown up more recently since a lot of "fair weather fans" have jumped on the winning team bandwagon. True baseball fans are far more tolerant and fun.

foxfire123

foxfire123
04-18-2006, 03:46 PM
I have heard about a highway being real close to the stadium......wonder if noise from that may be a problem........nice pics


Yup--Hwy 40/61/64 is just a few hundred yards away.

Main reason why they didn't implode the old Busch. :)

Foxfire123

RBA
04-18-2006, 03:55 PM
I like GABP. Good views of the game, refreshment stands nearby, etc. Granted, there is always room for improvement. I guess they could of put it in Kentucky and have a view of the river and the city. I just don't understand the need to be able to see the Cincinnati skyline from your seat.

beb30
04-18-2006, 04:00 PM
I just don't understand the need to be able to see the Cincinnati skyline from your seat.


Have you ever been to a park that had that kind of view? For instance many people consider PNC to be the best park in MLB and you get to view both the river and pittsburgh skyline......

RBA
04-18-2006, 04:04 PM
Okay, start by blowing up the Newport Travelodge (I'll push the plunger) and move the ballpark adjacent to the Newport Aquarium. ;)

BuckeyeRedleg
04-18-2006, 04:05 PM
I like GABP. Good views of the game, refreshment stands nearby, etc. Granted, there is always room for improvement. I guess they could of put it in Kentucky and have a view of the river and the city. I just don't understand the need to be able to see the Cincinnati skyline from your seat.

Agree. I just think the decision to have the whole OF opened up, just so we can see the river and northern Kentucky may have been taken to an extreme. An upper deck in RF would have been nice and we'd still have that view of the river in the middle. I think they assumed that view of the river would be something more special than it turned out to be. It would be one thing if the river came into play, but the road between the stadium and the river kind of removes the whole SBC-Pac Bell vibe.

The place just looks incomplete. Now don't get me wrong, none of that changes the fact that I love watching a baseball game there.

traderumor
04-18-2006, 04:09 PM
Have you ever been to a park that had that kind of view? For instance many people consider PNC to be the best park in MLB and you get to view both the river and pittsburgh skyline......but not everybody is impressed by big buildings. I like PNC because of the park design and the yellow bridge in the background. Hopefully, I'll make it there this year. Looks like it will be the typical sit anywhere you want whenever you want.

dsmith421
04-18-2006, 04:53 PM
My biggest problem with the GABP is the Batter's Eye(sore). That building is just butt ugly, and I refuse to believe that they couldn't have come up with some other architectural strategy besides putting a big ugly black shed in center field. They should nuke it and have a larger lawn, or raise the fence.

TeamBoone
04-18-2006, 07:28 PM
You must have missed the 630ft Gateway arch and the St. Louis skyline then. :)

GABP looks nothing like Busch, PNC, or Citizens Bank. While I still rank PNC as the best new park the new busch and citizens bank were done exceptionally well unlike our place and our cheezy statues

What cheezy statues? I see beautiful statues... no cheese!

And you must remember that home plate positioning is determined by MLB (and the rule book, I think).

I love seeing the river, the Purple People Bridge, and the Suspension Bridge. Often the river boats and barages are going by. It's very serene.

And TR is right... on TV, Busch center field looks just like CF in the GAB... to a tee.

I love our ball park. It's a great place to watch a game.