Yesterday Brady and I left at 6 am to head out to Seattle and complete our mission of attending a baseball game at all 30 MLB Stadiums. We will do so later this evening when we visit the Mariners’ Stadium to catch them play our Orioles. Last night we visited Lumen Field to catch the Seahawks-Vikings pre-season opening game. (Because we usually go in August, we can attend an NFL pre-season game also.)
It is fitting that we end our baseball stadium mission watching the O’s play since we started out watching them at Memorial Stadium (above) many many years ago.
In between those visits however, thru the years we have had to make some re-visits to old and new stadiums in Atlanta, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Detroit, Philadelphia, Arlington (Texas) and both stadiums in New York because they keep building new stadiums. Now with Vegas building a new one for the A’s, and Tampa talking about a new one for the Rays, hope that I am around long enough to visit those two when completed. (Another “You-know-you-are-old-reminder” is when Stadiums that were built during your time such as Atlanta’s, Minnesota’s Metrotome and the Rangers’ ballparks are then deemed to be antiquated and replaced with newer ones. For instance, Atlanta’s former stadium Turner Field was built for the 1996 Olympics (think Richard Jewel) and was replaced in 2017 with the new Truist Stadium.
That brings up another another stadium trend to watch – what companies can afford to have the stadiums named after themselves. At one time it was the telecom folks who ponied up huge sums of money to have their names placed on the stadiums. The joke used to be “If you have stock in a company that has named a stadium/arena, sell it quick because that company is going down (click here for related article.) Two good examples of this dynamic are near us with the Ravens’ M&T Stadium formerly named PSINET and the Verizon Center originally named MCI Center.) As for those stadiums that still have their original names (click here.) Be interesting to see how many of them will continue to hold out on selling their naming rights. I’m betting that only a couple won’t do so; and no, the Orioles are not one of the ones I am willing to bet on that they won’t sell their rights.
Music-wise, it seems that Seattle has dumped their playing of “Louie Louie” during the seventh inning stretch in favor of this tune from Mackemore. Shit canning “Louie Louie”?! Is nothing scared anymore?
As for how “Louie Louie” became their go-to song initially click here.