50 Fun Facts About MLB Stadiums

Which MLB ballpark, the oldest still in use, opened in April 1912 just days after the Titanic sank?

Fenway Park hosted its first game on April 20, 1912, but the sinking five days earlier pushed the opening out of the newspaper headlines.

What plant has covered the brick outfield walls of the Chicago Cubs' home ballpark since a 1937 renovation?

Ivy was planted there by a young Bill Veeck, and a batted ball that sticks in the vines is ruled a ground-rule double.

What nickname do fans give the 37-foot-tall left-field wall at the Boston Red Sox's home ballpark?

The Green Monster was covered in advertisements until 1947, when it was first painted green, and for decades fans simply called it The Wall.

Which stadium, billed as the Eighth Wonder of the World, became baseball's first domed home in 1965?

The Astrodome's grass died for lack of sunlight after roof panes were painted to cut glare, so in 1966 it got a synthetic surface soon known as AstroTurf.

Which MLB ballpark has a single row of purple seats marking exactly one mile above sea level?

Coors Field's thin, dry air makes batted balls fly farther, so since 2002 the game balls have been stored in a humidor.

In which state did MLB build a ballpark in the cornfields beside the Field of Dreams movie set?

Iowa's first game there, in 2021, began with the White Sox and Yankees walking out of the corn and ended on a walk-off home run for a 9–8 Chicago win.

What unusual feature sits beyond the right-center-field fence at the Arizona Diamondbacks' Chase Field?

A swimming pool has been there since the park opened in 1998, rented out as a group suite, and Mark Grace was the first player to homer into it.

Which San Francisco stadium began shaking minutes before Game 3 of the 1989 World Series as an earthquake struck?

Candlestick Park lost power when the magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta quake hit, and the Series did not resume there for ten days.

Tropicana Field, the domed ballpark of the Tampa Bay Rays, actually stands in which Florida city?

St. Petersburg's dome opened in 1990 with no team to play in it and waited until 1998 for the expansion Devil Rays' first game.

Which slugger hit the first home run at the original Yankee Stadium on its opening day in 1923?

Babe Ruth's three-run shot beat his former team, the Red Sox, 4–1, and a sportswriter dubbed the new park The House That Ruth Built.

Which ballpark was the last in MLB to install lights, hosting its first night game in August 1988?

Wrigley Field had staged 5,687 straight day games; the first try under lights, on August 8, 1988, was rained out, so the first official night game came a day later.

Which Neil Diamond song have Boston Red Sox home crowds sung in the middle of the eighth inning since 2002?

Sweet Caroline had been played at the park since at least 1997, and Neil Diamond sang it there in person on opening night in 2010.

Which European capital hosted the first MLB games ever played in Europe, a 2019 Yankees–Red Sox series?

London's games were played on a diamond laid over a stadium's running track and pitch, and the Yankees won the wild opener 17–13.

Which city's stadium, nicknamed the Big O, was home to MLB's Expos from 1977 until the team left in 2004?

Montreal took 30 years to pay off the stadium's construction bill, which earned the building a second nickname: The Big Owe.

Yankee Stadium, like the original ballpark it replaced in 2009, stands in which New York City borough?

The Bronx kept its team when the new park rose one block north of the old site, on what had been Macombs Dam Park.

Which nickname belongs to the stretch of bay where home runs splash down beyond right field at Oracle Park?

McCovey Cove fills with fans in boats holding fishing nets on game days, and Barry Bonds hit the first splash hit into it on May 1, 2000.

At which ballpark did Jackie Robinson make his major-league debut for the Dodgers on April 15, 1947?

Ebbets Field was hailed in 1913 as a park that could last 200 years, but it was torn down in 1960 and apartments now stand on the site.

Which ballpark, opened beside the 1964 New York World's Fair, hosted the Beatles a year later before 55,600 fans?

Shea Stadium was so loud that night that none of the Beatles could hear what they were playing, yet the show proved that stadium concerts could pay.

Which racing president famously failed to win a single Presidents Race at Nationals home games for almost seven seasons?

Teddy Roosevelt finally broke the losing streak on October 3, 2012, the last day of the regular season in which the Nationals first reached the playoffs.

Which broadcaster made singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" a seventh-inning ritual at Chicago Cubs home games?

Harry Caray began the habit across town with the White Sox in 1976, after owner Bill Veeck secretly switched on a microphone in his booth.

Turner Field, the Atlanta Braves' home from 1997 to 2016, was originally built as the main stadium for which event?

The 1996 Summer Olympics used it as an 85,000-seat arena, after which much of the north end was torn out to leave a 49,000-seat ballpark.

Which MLB team's home games feature a mid-game race between costumed sausages, including a bratwurst and a chorizo?

The Brewers' race began as a scoreboard cartoon in the early 1990s, and in 2003 a visiting player was suspended for swatting one of the runners with his bat.

What runs along 800 feet of track atop the wall beyond left field whenever a Houston Astros player homers at home?

A train suits the site, because the park's largest entrance is Houston's old Union Station, and the replica locomotive is actually pulled along by a cable.

Which MLB team's ballpark has a giant Home Run Apple that rises beyond center field after its batters homer?

The Mets added the prop in 1980 as a play on New York City's Big Apple nickname, and the original, which often got stuck, now greets fans at the home plate entrance.

Which ballpark, with an old railroad warehouse looming beyond right field, launched the 1990s wave of retro parks?

Camden Yards kept the long B&O Warehouse instead of demolishing it, and Ken Griffey Jr. is the only player to hit it on the fly, in the 1993 Home Run Derby.

What is the name of the open-air museum of plaques and retired numbers beyond center field at Yankee Stadium?

Monument Park traces back to three stone monuments that once stood in play in deep center field, until a 1970s renovation moved the fence in and enclosed them.

Which ballpark, opened in 1989 as SkyDome, was the first stadium with a fully retractable motorized roof?

Rogers Centre also has a 348-room hotel built into it, with 70 rooms that look straight out over the field.

Under which corporate name did the Houston Astros' downtown ballpark open in 2000, shortly before its sponsor collapsed?

Enron Field lost its name in 2002 after the energy trader's bankruptcy scandal, only two seasons into a 30-year, $100 million naming deal.

Which razed Los Angeles neighborhood became the site of Dodger Stadium and remains a popular nickname for the ballpark?

Chavez Ravine residents fought eviction for ten years, and the Angels, who shared the park from 1962 to 1965, used that name instead of their landlord's.

Which ballpark is known for the 322-foot Water Spectacular fountains flowing behind its right-field fence?

Kauffman Stadium's display is the largest privately funded fountain in the world, and the park opened in 1973 under the plainer name Royals Stadium.

Which ballpark's right-field wall stands 21 feet high as a tribute to Roberto Clemente's uniform number?

PNC Park also looks out on the Roberto Clemente Bridge, a span Pittsburgh renamed for him after fans failed to get the whole ballpark named in his honor.

At which ballpark did Willie Mays make The Catch, an over-the-shoulder grab in the 1954 World Series?

The Polo Grounds had a center field marked at 483 feet, the deepest in the league, which gave Mays room to run down a drive of about 420 feet.

Which Chicago ballpark hosted the first MLB All-Star Game in 1933 and the Disco Demolition Night riot of 1979?

Comiskey Park's field was so torn up after fans stormed it that the White Sox had to forfeit the second game of that night's doubleheader.

Which former home of the Twins had an inflated fabric roof that collapsed under heavy snow in December 2010?

The Metrodome is the only venue to have hosted a World Series, a Super Bowl, an MLB All-Star Game and a college basketball Final Four.

A lone red seat in the right-field bleachers of the Boston Red Sox's ballpark marks a 502-foot home run by whom?

Ted Williams hit it on June 9, 1946, and the ball came down on a fan in the bleachers, punching through his large straw hat.

Which stadium was the last in the United States shared by MLB and NFL teams, until the Raiders left after 2019?

Oakland Coliseum gained a towering upper deck in the mid-1990s to bring the Raiders back, and baseball fans who lost their view of the hills named it Mount Davis.

The Miami Marlins' ballpark in Little Havana was built on the site of which demolished college football stadium?

The Orange Bowl was torn down in 2008 after the Miami Hurricanes moved out, and artworks at the new park commemorate the old stadium.

Which ballpark hosted every game of the 2020 World Series as a neutral site during the pandemic?

Globe Life Field had hosted its first Rangers game only three months earlier, and this was the first World Series ever played at a neutral site.

What nickname does Angel Stadium share with a 230-foot halo-topped sign that once held up its scoreboard?

The Big A sign was later moved 1,300 feet to the edge of the parking lot, where its halo would blink after dark whenever the Angels won.

Which ballpark sold out a then-record 455 straight games from 1995 to 2001, a number the Indians later retired?

Jacobs Field was also the scene of the 2007 Bug Game, when swarms of lake midges rattled a Yankees reliever during a playoff game.

Which ballpark hosted Ten Cent Beer Night in 1974, a promotion that ended with a mob on the field and a forfeit?

Cleveland Stadium drew 25,134 that night, twice the number expected, with beer at 10 cents a cup and no limit on how many times a fan could come back.

Which stadium gave the Dodgers a left-field fence only 251 feet from home plate from 1958 through 1961?

The LA Coliseum needed a 42-foot screen in left to stop pop flies becoming home runs, yet it drew 93,103 for a 1959 exhibition, then a record baseball crowd.

Which city hosted the first MLB games ever played in Mexico, a Padres series opened by pitcher Fernando Valenzuela?

Monterrey's three-game series opened with the Mexican-born Valenzuela on the mound for San Diego, which won the game.

Which Cincinnati ballpark staged the majors' first night game in 1935, its lights switched on from the White House?

Crosley Field drew 20,422 that night to watch a last-place team in the Great Depression, under 632 lamps mounted on eight towers.

Which ballpark hosted every game of the 1944 World Series because the Cardinals and Browns both called it home?

Sportsman's Park made the all-St. Louis matchup the Streetcar Series, and it was only the third World Series in which both teams shared a home field.

Which Alabama ballpark, the oldest pro park still standing in America, hosted MLB's 2024 Negro Leagues tribute?

Rickwood Field was built in 1910, and Willie Mays, who grew up nearby, played there as a 17-year-old with the Birmingham Black Barons in 1948.

Which Philadelphia ballpark, opened in 1909 for the Athletics, was baseball's first built of steel and concrete?

Shibe Park's owners put up a tall "spite fence" in 1935 to block the view of neighbors who had been selling seats on their rooftops.

In which Caribbean capital did the Expos play part of their home schedule in 2003 and 2004, at Hiram Bithorn Stadium?

San Juan's field was set to the same dimensions as the Expos' usual home in Canada, and Puerto Rico tried to keep the franchise for good before it moved to Washington.

At which Pittsburgh ballpark did Bill Mazeroski hit the walk-off home run that ended the 1960 World Series?

Forbes Field never saw a no-hitter in more than 4,700 games, and fans still gather at the site each year on the anniversary of the home run.

Which Red Sox infielder gave his name to the right-field foul pole, just 302 feet from home, at Boston's ballpark?

Johnny Pesky was a contact hitter with only 17 career home runs, and he never actually hit the pole that carries his name.