May 6, 2026
·Cameron Papp
Welcome to SeatGeek Front Row, where SeatGeek employees share their best tips for getting the most out of live events. For this edition, instead of offering tips for just one ballpark, we have Cameron Papp offering his takes on 20 different ones. Cam is a senior communications manager on the marketing team, and he certainly loves checking out new ballparks any chance he can get.
Visiting all 30 MLB ballparks has always been a bucket-list goal for me, and every stop has taught me something different about what makes a great day at the ballpark. I’ve been to 20 of 30 so far, and here are some of the top highlights for what certain ballparks do best.
The best MLB ballparks for every kind of fan experience
No two ballparks deliver the same game-day experience, and that's exactly what makes visiting them so fun. I'll break down some of the standout strengths of the ballparks I've visited so far, from ballpark food to pre-game traditions.
Best venue history: Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox)
This was a tough call between Fenway and Wrigley, but Fenway edges it out for one reason: everywhere you look, the history is physically built into the place. The Green Monster, a 37-foot left-field wall originally built to block free views from outside the park, now hosts premium seating and remains one of the most recognizable landmarks in sports.
There are a lot of smaller touches too. The lone red seat in the right-field bleachers marks where Ted Williams hit a 502-foot home run in 1946, the longest ever hit at Fenway. The green ladder running up the side of the Green Monster was originally used by grounds crew members to retrieve home run balls, but when seats replaced the netting, the ladder became obsolete. It is still there even though nobody uses it anymore, and the Red Sox have never removed it because Fenway does not erase things.
Opened in 1912, Fenway is the oldest active ballpark in Major League Baseball, and walking around it feels like going back in time.
Best surrounding neighborhood: Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs)
There are neighborhoods built around ballparks, and there are ballparks built in neighborhoods. Wrigley is the latter—a real, lived-in Chicago neighborhood, not some manufactured entertainment district invented by a real estate developer. The famous Murphy's Bleachers bar is right there, as is the Cubby Bear.
In Wrigleyville, people spill out onto the streets before Cubs games. You'll see those big party bikes rolling past with people holding beers. It's just a wonderful outside experience, even before you step foot inside. When I think about the full day experience in a neighborhood, Wrigley wins this category going away.
Friendliest fans: Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles)
I went to what was, by all accounts, a meaningless late-summer game. You would have thought it was Opening Day based on how the fans around us treated us. They were genuinely warm, enthusiastic and just happy to have you there. Maybe because Baltimore sometimes gets overlooked on the East Coast tourist circuit, locals go out of their way to make sure visiting fans have a great time at Orioles games. There's also a Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum not far from the park, which is worth an hour of your time before the first pitch. Camden Yards is already one of the most beautiful stadiums in baseball and the fan energy makes it one of the most welcoming too.
Best for families: Progressive Field (Cleveland Guardians)
Every ballpark has upped its game with playgrounds and kids' areas in recent years. Progressive Field takes it to another level. Not only do they have outdoor activities for kids, they have a massive 2-floor indoor play area. And the best part is you can still watch the Guardians game while your toddler is running loose. At plenty of other stadiums the play area is behind the stands, completely cut off from the action. At Progressive Field, you're still in it. For parents of young kids, that's the difference between enjoying a game and just enduring one.
Best value seats: PNC Park (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Every baseball fan should go to a Pirates game at least once and the good news is it usually doesn’t cost you too much to find out why. Tickets at PNC Park are among the most affordable in the league, but the secret is that the park itself rewards you for exploring it regardless of where you sit. There are barstool-style perches in the outfield where you can just walk up to mid-game, watch a few innings standing up, chat with your group, then wander back to your seat. That kind of flexibility is something only baseball really allows. And then there's the view. PNC Park sits along the Allegheny River with a direct sightline to the Pittsburgh skyline which is one of the most beautiful backdrops in the sport.
Best views beyond the outfield: Oracle Park (San Francisco Giants)
I'm not breaking any new ground here. Everyone who follows baseball knows Oracle Park sits right on the San Francisco Bay, and that the views at Giants games are genuinely extraordinary. McCovey Cove sits just beyond the right-field wall, where kayakers gather hoping to scoop up home run balls that splash in.Just watch out for the seagulls towards the end of the game, though. I'll also give a shoutout to the Staten Island FerryHawks for a minor league ballpark view that's criminally slept on. Watching a game with the Manhattan skyline across the water is one of the great hidden gems in all of sports.
Best ballpark food: Citi Field (New York Mets)
This was a close call between Citi Field and Oracle Park in San Francisco, but SF gets a little too precious about it, as I'm not sure I need raw bar seafood at a ballgame, as wonderful as that is in the right context.
Citi Field takes Queens' "World's Borough" nickname seriously, with a rotating lineup of local restaurants and chef-driven concepts throughout the stadium. You've got Fuku, the fried chicken spot from David Chang's Momofuku group. Dole Whip has its own stand in the Taste of the City area. And for something more substantial, the Mets rotate local Queens businesses onto the right field patio throughout the season. It will have everything from Korean fried chicken to jerk meatballs to arepas from a family-run spot in Ozone Park.
Friendliest staff: Nationals Park (Washington Nationals)
I took the Amtrak down from New York with an infant in tow on a hot summer day (not exactly my most relaxed ballpark visit). The Nationals staff made it one of my most memorable ones. They went out of their way to get me situated: offered to let me park the stroller outside the aisle, and proactively found me a shaded spot so we weren't baking in the sun. What made it even more meaningful is that I was wearing Reds colors the entire time. Even with away team gear, a baby and the heat, the staff couldn't have been more accommodating.
Best in-game tradition: Yankee Stadium (New York Yankees)
Full disclosure: my favorite in-game tradition in all of baseball is the Braves' "Beat the Freeze" — a pro sprinter in disguise who gives fans a massive head start and still catches them. I haven't made it to Truist Park yet, so I can't write about it firsthand. This one will have to do, but honestly, it earns it.
Every time the grounds crew comes out to drag the infield during the fifth inning, YMCA blares over the speakers and the whole stadium sings along. The tradition started in 1996 when a couple of grounds crew members pitched the idea at the Yankees' spring training facility in Tampaand it's been a staple ever since. Is it cheesy? Absolutely. Is it also delightful? Also yes. My kids love it and so does everyone around us. For a franchise not always known for warm and fuzzies, watching 50,000 New Yorkers do the arm movements in unison without irony just gets me every time.
Best local beer selection: Great American Ball Park (Cincinnati Reds)
Full disclosure: I'm from Cincinnati and grew up going to Reds games. But I'm also being honest. Go to most ballparks and the experience is wall-to-wall Budweiser with maybe one or two local craft options tacked on as an afterthought.
Great American Ball Park's Reds Brewery District is a beer stand with 60 taps of local and craft beer favorites. You've got options from Rhinegeist, MadTree, Braxton, Moerlein, all of which are actual Cincinnati institutions. Pair a local draft with a Skyline Chili cheese coney and you're having an authentically Cincinnati afternoon. The rest of the country doesn't know what they're missing.
Best pre-game tailgate scene: American Family Field (Milwaukee Brewers)
RIP to Oakland Coliseum tailgating, which was a one-of-a-kind baseball experience and deserved better than what happened to it. With that off the board, Milwaukee takes this category and it's not particularly close. Tailgating in Wisconsin is a tradition unto itself, and even for midweek games it's not uncommon to see Brewers fans in the American Family Field parking lots firing up the grill an hour and a half before first pitch. Brats, lawn chairs and cornhole all provide the full Wisconsin experience. Tailgating at baseball games isn't really a thing at most parks. Milwaukee didn't get the memo and that's a beautiful thing.
Best bus service to a game: Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia Phillies)
I haven't done a ton of pre-game shuttle experiences, but the Chickie's & Pete's setup in Philly is just really smart. The "Taxi Crab" is a free shuttle run by Chickie's and Pete's, carrying passengers from their Packer Avenue location to Citizens Bank Park. It also comes back after Phillies games, so you're not stuck in parking lot traffic.You park at C&P's, have a proper pre-game meal with their legendary crab fries and get dropped off steps from the stadium. No hunting for parking in that sprawling lot, no post-game traffic stress. More stadiums should make this kind of arrangement easier. Philadelphia figured it out.
Cam has 10 more MLB stadiums left on his list, with KC’s Kauffman Stadium on deck this June. Besides looking for opportunities to go to more ballparks, he’ll be cheering on his Cincinnati Reds all season long.