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I checked out a baseball match at Shea Stadium (Queens/Flushing). Home of the Mets, the stadium is due for demolition next year when they move to the Citi field being built next door. It was a good occasion although I know next to nothing about baseball!
The tickets we brought were $39, and it wasn’t a bad view. There are $25 tickets much further back in the stands.
Soak up the atmosphere before a Cubs game at historic Wrigley Field with brunch at Uncommon Ground, a continental style cafe-bistro on a tree-lined avenue. Renowned as much for its contemporary local art and live music, as for the fantastic food (do try the omlettes) all made with local, organic ingredients.
3800 N. Clark Street, Chicago,
Nearest CTA station, Addison (Red-line).
Staten Island Yankees are a minor-league baseball affiliate of the New York Yankees.
Admittedly, the standard of baseball is not as high as the NY Yankees or NY Mets, but they have a super ballpark.
Take the free Staten Island ferry from lower Manhattan, giving you a perfect view of the Statue of Liberty. 30 minutes later you arrive at Staten Island, right beside the ballpark. From your seat in the ballpark there are fantastic views to Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty.
The most expensive ticket is $13, while a draught beer is $5. A community atmosphere IS New York City.
Richmond County Ballpark, Staten Island. www.siyanks.com
Forget the mega cash cow that is the Yankees (Manyoo of baseball) as a Mets game helps you get under the skin of US culture and out into New York proper where the locals live and play.
Don't expect a footy crowd atmosphere but do soak up the family-orientated game that combines Mexican waves with drinking overpriced Bud and eating as much saturated fat as you can in three hours. Over 50k in Shea Stadium and even then it didn't seem full. What a great experience!
Get your cap and t-shirt, along with your tickets from the club shop on 42nd St near 6th Ave. Paid about 30 quid for two tickets but they start from only $9 (yes, $9!) depending on where you want to sit.
Brand new stadium being built next door opening in the next couple of years so you better be quick to get a sense of the history of Shea.
Take the 7 subway all the way from either Times Sq/42nd or Grand Central. The express misses out some of the local stops. The return is very simple as they run lots of trains so there's not much jostling to get a train.
Interesting alternative would be the ferry from South Street Seaport. Think it's only about $20 return.
Shea Stadium, Queens.
Take the '7' subway line from Manhattan
Watching a Red Sox baseball game is the ultimate Boston experience. The team is central to the lives of most Bostonians and a game at Fenway Park, the oldest (and smallest) Major league ball park, is a New England right of passage.
Fenway might not be corporately sponsored or have perfect sightlines but it’s close to the city centre, with great transport links and like the team that plays there has bags of character and personality.
Games mostly sell out, but try the ticket office for returns or tickets released on the day.
There are 81 home games per year, so visit between April and October and there is a chance there will be a game.
Boston Red Sox
4 Yawkey Way
Boston MA 02215-3496
www.redsox.com
617 482-4SOX
If in Chicago during the summer an afternoon at "the ball game" is hard to beat and is a fraction of the price you'd pay to watch football in the UK.
Chicago even offers you two teams. On the north side are the world's greatest under-achievers; the Cubs. The fact that they haven't won anything for approaching a hundred years only seems to fuel the fanaticism of their supporters. On the south side are the traditionally working-class White Sox, world series winners in 2005. Strangely, a baseball game is the nearest thing in the US to the atmosphere of a football match in Britain. Both are within easy reach of the Loop via the red line subway.
Tickets can be booked online well in advance on each team's website. One word of warning though, beer prices inside both grounds are extortionate. So enjoy the build up in the pubs near the stadiums, particularly at Wrigley Field.
Cubs at Wrigley Field. Clark and Addison.
Subway:Addison.
Sox at US Cellular Field. 35th St. Subway: Sox/35th St.
If you’re a sports fan with a few hours to kill go and watch the Blue Jays baseball team. Tickets start at £4.50, it’s a great day out with a great family atmosphere.
The Rogers Centre is next door to the CN Tower
In the summer, watch the world go by at Frontier Field. Tickets are inexpensive, and you can sit pretty much wherever you like. Even if you aren't interested in baseball (the Red Wings) or soccer (the Rhinos), this is a great place for people watching, and one of the few places where you can sit outside, soak up the sun, and drink beer all at the same time. After the game, cross State Street and head over to the High Falls.
1 Morrie Silver Way; tel: 585 423 9464; www.redwingsbaseball.com
OK, yeah, you go to London and want to catch a football game and choose, hmmm, Leyton Orient? But hey, why not? The Brooklyn Cyclones, a Class A (think, maybe Conference South) baseball team that is part of the New York Mets organisation plays in this great little stadium on the Boardwalk (and Atlantic Ocean beach) at Coney Island.
Cheap and fun and you can eat hot dogs at Nathan's Famous (at Surf and Stillwell) and splash in the sea on the way. Call 718 449 8497, or email info@brooklyncyclones.com for tickets - put "tourist tickets" in the email subject line.
1904 Surf Avenue, Coney Island, Brooklyn - D,F,Q to Coney Island/Stillwell Avenue, walk west to the stadium.
San Franciscans (I am one) have many passions, and the Giants are among the most important.
This elegant baseball park was built in 2000, funded entirely by the club - a rarity in the American sporting world, where clubs often hold cash-strapped city governments for ransom. It's located on the southern end of the South of Market district, and the views from between the foul lines frame the entire San Francisco Bay Area, from the Bay Bridge and Yerba Buena Island to the Oakland ports, Mount Diablo and even down to the San Mateo bridge, a good thirty miles away.
For value, sit in the bleachers in left (where Bonds hobbles around, feeling the effects of twenty years of baseball on two ravaged knees) and center field, where the hoi polloi sit, or even buy a standing room ticket and stand on the right field arcade - the closest thing you'll find to a terrace. For views, sit in the upper deck down the right field line.
But be sure to come soon, as Barry Bonds nears retirement. It may be your last chance to see the most controversial and most talented American athlete of this, or perhaps any other, generation.
24 Willie Mays Place
www.sfgiants.com
Mission Bay line - Third and King Sts.
Do you need to go to Stamford Bridge to watch football in London? No, and you don't need to go to Yankee Stadium, packed with rude suburbanites, to see baseball in New York.
Shea Stadium is out in Flushing, Queens and is the home of the New York Mets. It’s also witnessed two World Series, the birth of Joe Namath as an American football star, papal masses and the Beatles’ most famous concert.
It's cheaper than Yankee Stadium, much more family oriented, and has an interesting feature - jets taking off from LaGuardia airport fly directly over the stadium. Don't expect to hear much except for the loudest yells.
In Flushing Meadow Park on the Number 7 train (from Times Square and Grand Central Station), the station is Willet's Point/Shea Stadium
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