In hindsight, the good news is that the truly bad stadia are on the way out, and have been replaced with at worst functional (Philadelphia) and at best, really nice (San Francisco) places to see a ballgame.

My criteria? In no particular order - Ease of access, setting (ability to see out of the stadium), sightlines, cloesness to field, ability to see the sky (roof = evil), food, and the always-popular "feel" of the place.

The Good:
1) Wrigley - you just gotta go. A good day at Wrigley is better than a great day anywhere else.

2) Pac Bell / SBC (tied) - a very close second to Wrigley. Spectacular setting and fabulous amenities. Great food, and of course, the bay.

2) Fenway (tied) - experience can be terrible (cramped seats pointed at right-center field? April nights in New England?) but the atmosphere is unparalleled, and the fans are epic.

4) Camden Yards - started the new/retro trend. Just exceptionally well-executed in all regards. Great sightlines, great access, great food ...

5) PNC Park - spectacular setting. Crummy team.

6) Dodger Stadium - should be lower for the horrible traffic, parking, and 3-inning fans, but the setting is classic and it is a great place to watch a game. Food is quite nice.

7) Kauffman Stadium - wildly underrated stadium with a hideous team. Stop at Arthur Bryant's BBQ before the game for a quintessentially American experience. Stuck in the middle of a parking lot. Gotta love the scoreboard and fountains.

8) Comerica Park - yet another nice stadium with a crummy team. Neighborhood is not quite at "turn-around" stage yet. Boxes with the free-standing wooden chairs are a nice touch.

9) Turner Field - nice "village" feel with restaurant and shops beyond right field. Good sightlines and amenities. Too close to the interstate / too far from downtown for my taste.

10) Coors Field - you can see the mountains. 'Nuff said.

11) Citizen's Bank Park - nice views of downtown. So much better than the old place it isn't even funny. And those Philly fans ...

The Bad:
12) Bank One Ballpark - about as good of a place as I can imagine, considering the whole roof thing. Very convenient - if you don't mind the 115 degrees, you can walk from downtown.

13) Yankee Stadium - really overrated. The fact that I hate the Yankees probably doesn't help.

14) Busch Stadium (post-renovation) - about as pleasant as a cookie-cutter stadium can be, which is to say, not all that great.

15) Jack Murphy Stadium (RIP for MLB) - palm trees and good weather. That's about it.

16) Memorial Stadium (Baltimore - RIP) - nice neighborhood setting. Otherwise only marginally functional.

17) Candlestick Park (RIP for MLB) - insanely bad weather. Hillariously bad weather. Cold. Rainy. Great garlic fries. Did I mention the weather?

The Ugly
18) Shea Stadium - The atmosphere (middle of a parking lot between three expressways with 737's and A320's screaming overhead) leaves something to be desired.

19) Busch Stadium (pre-renovation) - cookie cutter to the max. Astroturf. Ugh.

20) Olympic Stadium (RIP for MLB) - empty, loud, ugly, and built on a massive platform of concrete. Not nice.

21) Tropicana Field - empty, quiet, ugly, and built in the middle of a parking lot in St. Petersburg. Not nice.

22) Veterans Stadium (RIP) - if it had a roof, it would have been the worst ever. Fans were battery-throwing lunatics. They were the best thing about it.

23) Kingdome (RIP) - yuck.

The Un-Visited:
All the others