Countdown to the Final Death of the "Circle Stadium"

"I stand at the plate in the Vet and I don't honestly know whether I'm in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis or Philly. They all look alike." -Richie Hebner

They're rarely missed when they go, and the awareness of their final demise will likely escape even the most diehard baseball fans, but believe it or not, the end of the 2007 baseball season will see the last pitch thrown in a circle stadium (see also: "concrete donut," "cookie cutter stadium," "multipurpose sporting venue").

The Atlanta Braves bolted from Fulton County Stadium after the 1997 season, and since then--mostly in the last six years--Three Rivers, Riverfront, Busch, Jack Murphy, and Veterans Stadiums have all been abandoned (and only "The Murph" has so far evaded demolition).

This just leaves Washington, DC's RFK Stadium. At the end of this season, the Nationals will move into another overpriced corporate-named HOK-designed "retro" park (or "field." Has anyone else noticed that every single new park built in the last decade is either "CORPORATE Park" or "CORPORATE Field?" Is "Stadium" a dirty word? If you can name a baseball facility after a beer or a mortgage company or delicious fresh-squeezed Florida orange juice, you should still be able to use the word stadium) and the era of the cookie cutter stadiums will officially end.

Fifteen years ago, Astroturf and massive concrete stadiums were everywhere. I was fascinated by them. I was a happy kid knowing I got to follow the old hometown team at a place like Fenway, but still...stadiums that hold TWICE as many people as Fenway Park? When you're 12 years old, Fenway is enormous. Twice that size is unfathomable.

And now I won't be able to take my future kids to a game at any such stadium. No big deal, really. I'm not losing sight of the fact that the real tragedy occurred in the '60s and '70s when these big coliseums replaced the classic stadiums like Forbes Field, Crosley Field, and Shibe Park/Connie Mack Stadium.

But still. Like the San Francisco Crab, "rainbow guts" uniforms, and the 1986 Mets, the circle stadiums are a somewhat ugly part of baseball lore entrenched awkwardly alongside Doubleday Field, the Green Monster, and Jackie Robinson.

So while you can, for what it's worth, get out and enjoy RFK, and take in the unique ambiance of watching baseball in a big donut. Because this is your last shot at it. And someday, when you're sitting in the stands at beautiful McNike Field, enjoying the ballgame, the extra-wide seats, and the setting sun over the city skyline, you can tell your little tyke what it was like back in the old days.

"I stand at the plate in Citizens Bank Park and I don't honestly know whether I'm in Comerica Park, Pacific Bell Park SBC Park AT&T Park, Safeco Field, Bank One Ball Park Chase Field, PETCO Park, or Enron Field Minute Maid Park. They all look alike." -Not Richie Hebner