Baltimore is still baseball's home park

Greensboro, NC -- After attending absolutely zero ballparks this season, I made up for my park absence in haste last week. Starting with my hometown's beautiful edifice in downtown Greensboro, I stood in left field watching the Grasshoppers take on the Hickory Crawdads in a long, three and half hour marathon. On top of that, I was completely boxed out by Sean in our only attempt to pluck a game ball; a towering home run that splattered into the damp, muddy hill. A trip down I-85 on the following Sunday led me to the home of the Kannapolis Intimidators (nicknamed for hometown hero Dale "The Intimidator" Earnhardt). The park was a bit quirky with the press box and "luxury" suites residing on the first base (right) side of the park. A tasty bbq platter at nearby Porky's capped a fun day (and weekend) in the sun.

After an hour and a half trip westward down I-40 in the middle of the week, we encountered some good luck in Hickory. At about 6:30 p.m., heavy rains dominated the forecast, which forced us into grabbing a meal and beverage at the Ol' Hickory Tap Room. By the conclusion of our meal, the rain had cleared, the stadium was empty, and we soaked up the wet seats lining the visiting team's dugout in earnest. Out of all the minor league towns that I've been to, Hickory may be the smallest.

After heading back to Maryland this past weekend to return Sean to his domicile, I checked the schedule this weekend and noticed that the Braves were playing the Orioles at "The Yard." Going back to Camden Yards was thrilling. It's a comfortable place, whereby it was a place that I visited frequently growing up as a kid in the hot summers. After touring through numerous minor league parks and major league parks, there's no better ballpark in America. It's cozy, it has the best urban backround, the brick meshes with the city, the green painted steel matches the lush grass on the field. There's no other park that can match up to this asymmetrical field. If there is, I'd bet Camden is better.