Baseball parks have always served as a unique reflection of their unique city. And that is exactly what makes them such a poor concept. These areas contain team-owned entertainment zones just outside the ballpark that try to imitate the urban nature of early parks without recreating it. The most recent evolution of the baseball park is the emergence of ballpark-entertainment complexes, such as The Battery Atlanta. The parks that followed incorporated these lessons with varying success. Baltimore’s Camden Yards proved that baseball could successfully return to the city while respecting the game and its architectural heritage. Goldberger concludes with the Camden Yards’ “retro revolution” and future ballpark trends. “Concrete donuts,” which arose in the 1960s and 1970s in response to changing economic and popularity factors, were intended to serve the needs of football and baseball teams, but ultimately served both sports poorly.Īccording to Paul Goldberger, an award-winning architecture critic, the magic of the ballpark is deeply tied to baseball’s urban nature. Most of the golden age parks were torn down and replaced with stadiums that had seas of parking spaces and unremarkable architecture.
But among these iconic parks, only Fenway Park and Wrigley Field remain in use today.īallpark also discusses baseball’s move from the city to the suburbs immediately following World War II. These stadiums blended well into their urban fabric, created intimate experiences, were aesthetically pleasing and functional and respected the game’s quirks. The sport’s growth and legitimization in the first decade of the 20th century led to the construction of legendary parks like Ebbets Field, Tiger Stadium, Fenway Park and Wrigley Field to keep up with demand and adapt to the times. In Ballpark: Baseball in the American City, Goldberger expertly examines baseball’s urban roots and how the architecture of ballparks reflects the way Americans have viewed cities and the game over time.īaseball’s first venues were usually simple wooden grandstands, which gradually gave way to the “golden age” of ballpark architecture. Ballpark: Baseball in the American City by Paul GoldbergerĪccording to Paul Goldberger, an award-winning architecture critic, the magic of the ballpark comes from all those things and is also deeply tied to baseball’s urban nature.
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