There was some big news on the ballpark front in 2001. But which story
was the biggest?
BIGGEST BALLPARK STORIES OF 2001
By Joe Mock
BASEBALLPARKS.COM, my Web site devoted to the facilities in which
pro baseball is played, conducted a poll recently. It asked visitors to the
site to select the biggest ballpark news story of 2001. I provided nine choices,
ranging from the opening of new parks to the closing of all parks for a week
following the September 11 tragedies. There was also the option for visitors
to "write in" another story, although none did.
Two of the options ran neck-and-neck throughout the polling period: the possible
vacating of two Major League parks due to "contraction" (it finished with
26% of all respondents voting for this option) and the opening of PNC Park
in Pittsburgh (25%).
The visitors to my site must have been very impressed with the Pirates' new
home, much more than the other Major League stadium which debuted in 2001,
Milwaukee's Miller Park. The opening of the Brewers' new home attracted only
12%.
The aftermath of the events of September 11 made an impact on a number of
our voters, as 19% of them voted for the closing of all pro ballparks for
the seven days after the attack.
Here are the full results:
1. The possible vacating of two Major League parks due to "contraction" -
26%
2. The opening of PNC Park in Pittsburgh - 25%
3. The closing of all ballparks following the tragedies of Sept. 11 - 19%
4. The opening of Miller Park in Milwaukee - 12%
5. The arrival of the World Series to Bank One Ballpark in only its fourth
year - 6%
6. The failure to firm up plans for new/renovated park for the Red Sox -
4%
7. (tie) Announcement of new park for the Cardinals - 2%
7. (tie) The stalling of construction of the Padres' new park - 2%
9. The announcement of firm plans for a new park for the Phillies - 0%
By no means is this a perfectly scientific cross sampling of all baseball
fans (in fact, I would place the error rate of this survey at plus-or-minus
100%!), but it does give you an indication of which ballpark stores are
considered most important by fans. Fans could only vote for one story, and
they were not allowed to vote more than once (so no "stuffing of the ballot
box" could occur). I also need to point out that the poll had already started
before the announcement on December 28th regarding new stadiums for the Mets
and Yankees. Undoubtedly, that would have pulled in some votes had it been
included.
I've launched a new poll on
BASEBALLPARKS.COM asking visitors to select the "ballpark event"
they are most looking forward to in 2002. Why not visit the site and cast
your vote?!
