Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia

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Originally uploaded by Butch Wynegar.

It's hard not to respect a stadium that features Greg Luzinski, a beefy slugger from the 1980s, offering free autographs on the outfield concourse next to his eponymous barbecue stand. Citizens Bank Park -- seen here immediately after we entered, about an hour and a half before game time -- is a terrific venue, despite being located in the middle of an asphalt wasteland well south of charming downtown Philadelphia. (We drove through several blocks of the city that were quaint and beautiful, but closer to the stadium the landscape slowly changed until it seemed our trip had taken an unexpected turn to an abandoned airfield in El Paso.)

The outfield concourse features a walking-mall experience like most new stadiums, packed with the typical fare: Luzinksi's bbq, stores of Phillies apparel, a wall of memorable moments in the team's history, and a statue of Richie Ashburn. But it's wider than similar areas of stadiums like those in Baltimore and Arlington, which makes it a more pleasant stroll. The outfield seats, as you can see here, are all actual seats, rather than bleachers, and there are a nice variety of heights and angles out there.

I mentioned at one point that the corporate name of the stadium could be made more appealing by just eliminating the middle word and making it Citizens Park. JF countered that the new name would bring to mind an athletic facility in North Korea -- something like The Citizens' Democratic Park of the People. JF further clarifies: "My general rule is that the more a state insists in its official name that it is democratic, the less it will actually be so in practice."

Overall grade from me: B+, though it might look like an A++ after tonight's experience at RFK, decaying former home of the Redskins and currently host to the Nationals while their new digs are being built. JW