I went there many times to see the Reds and the Bengals. I saw Tom Browning's perfect game. I saw the 1988 AFC championship game there, I saw the two Red's world series games there in 1990 and many other Bengals games with season tickets from 1987 to the mid 90's. It was an amazing place that I loved and still love fondly. I also saw every Game Denver played there for decades. Great times. I don't care what it looks like. It was the place of many great memories that I will hold dear forever. You had to be there Ginger.
I was at this "awful cookie cutter" stadium many times and I loved it. So did many, many other people. I saw great moments in Reds history, like Game 3 of the 1975 World Series, the last season of both Pete Rose and Tony Perez playing, and the 1990 division win celebration. Just sweet times. I have nothing but respect for the Reds teams I saw, plus the Pirates and Steelers teams of the '70s.
Growing up in Cincinnati, Riverfront was a great place to watch a baseball game. Parking was easy. Plenty of restrooms and concessions. Loved that place.
I'm a Reds fan and have seen a lot of games at Riverfront. I, too, miss it but what I think I miss more is the success achieved on that field than the stadium itself. I'm not sure this is true but I was told that the appearances of these multi-purpose stadiums reflected the space-age culture existing at the time when these were built. Apollo was huge in the late 60's/early 70's and stadiums like Riverfront looked like flying saucers (I remember thinking that the first time I saw Riverfront in 1970). Even the name "astroturf" has a NASA sound to it.
WELL LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, YOU CAN RUN YOUR MOUTH ALL YOU WANT , BUT I GREW UP IN NEWARK. OHIO AND FROM 1972 TO 1979 MY FAMILY AND I WENT TO 3 REDS GAMES A YEAR , AND I LOVED RIVERFRONT STADIUM, IT HOLDS SO MANY SPECIAL MEMORIES FOR ME . I WAS ABLE TO GET A PIECE OF THE TURF AND I DID GET 3 FOUL BALLS AND AUTOGRAPHS FROM -ROSE, FORSTER, GRIFFEY , CUBS BILL MADLOCK. so to me Riverfront stadium will always put a smile on my face.
If you had seats in Riverfront behind home plate between the ends of the dugouts, it was a very good view. Very close to the action. Behind the backstop, home plate was closer than most other stadiums, with the exception of Fenway. The new park is terrific, though.
I was there many, many times. I also saw Tom Browning's perfect game. I saw Ickey Woods break the rushing record for a rookie. I was there when Brett Favre played his first game with the Packers. I was also in attendance at the game when Sam Wyche grabbed the mic and yelled at the idiots throwing snowballs at the other team "We're not in Cleveland". So many great memories.
Worst of the cookie-cutters was the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodump with hockey boards as the left field wall and hefty bags beyond the right field fence. The ultimate in tacky. Second was the Seattle Kingdump. Cincy-Pittsburgh-Philly were practically identical and I watched games in all of them. Monuments to concrete.
Wrong. First, this video leaves out the experience of parking in Covington, KY, walking across the suspension bridge and enjoying the views it gave, and then conveniently ending up right at Riverfront Stadium. Second, the name is one of the best ever. More importantly, being inside for a ballgame was exciting, fun and memorable. Always Most importantly, it kept the Reds in Cincinnati. There was talk of the franchise moving to San Diego, among other possibilities. No Riverfront Stadium = no Big Red Machine. I laugh when people call stadiums of that era "concrete donuts". The video repeatedly uses adjectives like "horrible". Give me a break. If it was horrible nobody would have gone there. No matter how good or bad the Reds or Bengals were, big crowds turned out at Riverfront Stadium. If Stadiums like Riverfront were horrible then they would be called things like "landfills". Calling them something that makes a person laugh tells me that they were simply an idea that was tried, not anything bad. It was a good idea at first, I'm sure. The design wasn't why they went out of style anyway. Their lack of luxury suites and skyboxes was why they went out of style. The average fan was not what either the cookie cutters or their replacements were designed for, so videos like this miss the point.
I miss Riverfront! The parking was allot easier to park in compared to the new one! The new stadium parking is a cluster F**k trying to navigate the whole area now!
Riverfront was superior to Great American Ballpark (GABP). They tucked GABP into a too small footprint. There's not enough room in the outfield to hit triples and balls that might drop in shallow or in the gaps are usually caught. GABP is a homer friendly ballpark.
@@michaeladams5636 GABP is lacking in amenities for fans and the concourse lacks space. The stadium was built to accommodate The Banks, which was conceived as the big money maker. GABP is at the lower end of modern-day ballparks, in terms of amenities. The Reds Hall of Fame museum however is a fine part of the whole setup.
@@RM-ed1if Okay but it also has that boat which is awesome.. what do you mean it lacks amenities? I’m just not sure what that means. But look a lot of people say PNC Park is the nicest stadium in baseball and I loved PNC Park however.. I thought Great American Ballpark which I drove to from Canada years ago was far far nicer than PNC Park.
I went to games here from 1970 till the end. Riverfront was not a bad place. I liked going to games there. For the time it was state of the art. STOP THE HATE.
Jeez Dude I would take Riverfront over any of these new stadiums any day It was clean easy parking in/out access Great sightlines During the 70s & 1990 the place was packed & historic games played here
knock it all you want, but riverfront stadium was a great home for some great reds baseball. three rivers also was a great home for great pirates and steelers teams. memories matter, and both stadiums housed many great memories.
Patrick, why don't you like these "cookie cutter" stadiums? Is it because you are young, and they seem outdated to you? I was 11 years old when I attended the first game at Riverfront Stadium in 1970. I will never forget how HUGE it looked! I thought I was in baseball heaven. I loved the symmetrical aspect of these stadiums, Pittsburgh and Philly too. The dimensions of all three stadiums were nearly identical, and more or less equal distances down the right and left field foul lines. No "short porch" for writers to criticize Babe Ruth and Mel Ott. Artificial turf all around, including the infield. A nice, clean look and no "bad hops". National League was FAST back then, and Joe Morgan could fly on that surface! And why is multi-purpose a bad thing? Saves the taxpayers a ton of money and keeps the stadiums from sitting vacant for months on end during the off season. I don't like Great American Ball Park. It reminds me of a AAA stadium, kind of the Pilot Field (Sahlen) in Buffalo. When Riverfront was packed, which it was frequently during the Big Red Machine era, you would not believe the VOLUME the crowd could generate! It was intimidating for opponents and flat out cool! I saw Hank Aaron drop a can of corn in right field because of that noise. I know I'm an old "Boomer" and no young people will agree with me, but you just don't realize all that your generation has missed. When was the last time you saw a player run full-speed, head-first into the catcher to win an exhibition game? Man, I miss 1970 AND Riverfront Stadium. Enjoy your content, Patrick, even if I disagree with your assessment. Keep up the good work!
I too, don't understand the criticism that those stadiums get. I grew up in the 70's and turf and the base cut-outs were always cool to me. The national league, in general just seemed so modern while the American had old teams with boring uniforms playing in old stadiums. I like all the multi-purpose stadiums from that era.
Same here with Riverfront! I went to my first game there as a kid with my papaw and many more! The new stadium is nice but the walkways and seating really sucks! The parking sucks too and is confusing to navigate when crowded! The parking at the old stadium was much better! Park your car and get in the elevator and bam your there!
I'm a child of the 80s and grew up in the DC area. By that time, there was no baseball team, and the thought that RFK could be configured for baseball seemed a laughable myth. Sometime in the late 80s, there was a push for baseball expansion and they held a spring training game at RFK. They forced the old girl back into her baseball configuration and I went to the game just to see it and I was amazed how different it looked. I grew up an Orioles fan and the cookie cutter baseball teams were all in the NL, so I loved watching the occasional NL game just to see those NFL stadiums I watched made to play baseball. It wasn't until the Nationals came to DC that I found out how they were able to reconfigure the stadiums. I wish this era would come back, but it never will. Cities will still build separate stadiums with their NFL one used for only 8-10 games a year. Seems such a waste.
I've been to all the so called cookie cutter stadiums at one time or another in the 80s and 90s. With the exception of RFK in DC, I actually didn't mind these stadiums at all As a child of the 70s and 80s, these were the types of ballparks I grew up with. And while they can't compare to modern parks, they do have a special place in baseball history and reflective of the era they were built in.
In the 70s, 80s and into the 90s, fans didnt mind these stadiums. When the new retro-baseball parks started coming out, people started getting spoiled. Not really the fans, but the owners who wanted a shiny new house paid for by the fans.
Since they were designed by the same architectural firm, they were probably the two stadiums that really favored each other. The main difference was the AFCS didn't have movable seating which ruined the football configuration.
@@darryljorden9177 It was actually the cheapest of the cookie-cutters ($18 million), because the football conversion was very easy and efficient: just take down the fence and unfold the sideline seats. Also, like Oakland, it was designed so that it needed only one broadcast booth for both baseball and football. Unfortunately, the sidelines themselves were 50 yards away from the seats! It also had a terrible grass field with no real ground crew. It was tended by the city parks and recreation department, until Braves GM Bobby Cox hired real groundskeepers.
In its first 10 years, Riverfront hosted as many World Series as Crosley Field did in 58 years. Yet, it could not dislodge Crosley Field in the hearts of the Cincinnati fans.
This longtime baseball fan has visited all the "cookie cutter" stadiums, except Fulton County. Each one wasn't a thing of beauty. One was as bad as the others.
The 1981 AFC Championship Game did not sell out at Riverfront when their Bengals beat San Diego? Why didn't that game make The Top 5 in Riverfront Attendance? I'm surprised that The 1988 Championship Game also did not make The Top 5 when the Cincinnati Bengals also beat Buffalo for another chance at the 49ers in the Super Bowl.
Loved the red seats in Riverfront. 5 dollars to sit behind home plate. Watched the Reds in nearly all positions of the stadium. Red Green and Blue seats. Watched the cubs play the reds when slamming Sammy Sosa was in the running with Mark Maguire, Great memories and fun place to see a game. The only negative was the turf on the field. Reminded me of the plastic fake grass.
Perspective: Crosley Field was a DUMP. We loved our shiny new Riverfront. It was symbol of power & prestige where our small market city finally had a big league ballpark. It was beautiful esp compared to old Crosley. Add to that we had powerhouse teams in the Reds with the Great Eight and the Bengals with Kenny Anderson at QB. Cookie cutters went out of style? So what. All these "retro" parks will go out of style in the next couple decades and will be torn down and replaced by whatever new style comes along. Your critique misses the perspective of time, style & place.
I had been to probably 3 dozen Reds games and 1 Bengals game at Riverfront. The stadium wasn't particularly special but it was a clean, functional venue. There was a sectional in the centerfield yellow seats that wasn't completed. The Reds had wanted to put a restaurant and a club there for fans to congregate, but the Bengals wouldn't approve it. Any stadium changes or improvements needed the approval of both teams and the ownership of both the Reds and Bengals rarely saw eye to eye. As a result, for many years, that centerfield section was basically left unfinished. They would put folding "card table" chairs there during overflow baseball games or football games.
Three Rivers in Pittsburgh was worse. And three California entries: 1) Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, Oakland Coliseum, and Candlestick Park(after a remodel), San Francisco
All 3 California stadiums well 4 with Anaheim were perfect without the remodel. Saving grace is Anaheim renovation back to baseball only was done right
The cookie cutter stadia got a bad rap. There was never any special architecural feature but they were clean and usually comfortable with decent sightlines. RFK and the Vet were dumps because they were not maintained. Memorial Stadium and Cleveland Stadium were far worse.
That's arguable with the 2nd Bush Stadium. When it was astroturf, the big bowl made summer day games a sweltering nightmare. The conversion to real grass lessened some of the effect, but the stadium would still trap in heat and humidity. It didn't really resemble a ballpark until the Rams moved out and they made renovations
I was curious seeing the pics from the last year and there was natural grass at Riverfront. I figured maybe they switched over in the early 90's, but no they only had natural grass for the final season 2001-2002. Seems like a big money project for just one season, why not leave the ASTRO turf for one more year.
This happened mainly because the Reds had acquired Ken Griffey, Jr., who occasionally had leg injuries and had problems playing on AstroTurf. It didn't help much, since he still had injuries playing on grass.
Of the 5 highest attendance games the Bengals lost 4. The Bengals were so bad that you couldn't watch the games on local TV because of blackout rules. The Bengals have had some really good seasons and still struggled to put fans in the seats and the games would be blacked out locally. They've had trouble keeping a fanbase charged and part of that is Mike Brown's past cheapness. I hope the Joe Burrow era lands Cincy a Lombardi because the long standing fans have suffered long enough.
Did you ever go to a game at Riverfront Stadium? If so, are you even old enough to remember it? I take it you are just basing your criticisms on 2nd-hand knowledge. While the cookie-cutters were never great for baseball, or football for that matter, they did serve their purpose. But Riverfront was definitely not the worst of them. Like others said, Veterans and Fulton County were worse. 3 Rivers in Pittsburgh was about the same as Riverfront. Sure, by the end of its 30 years, it had outlived itself and needed to go. Hence Paul Brown Stadium was built and opened in 2000 and Great American Ball Park a few years later.
Perhaps it was the worst but they had one of the best names. Riverfront Stadium was a great name and perfectly descriptive of the stadium .Three Rivers Stadium was a good name too. With the move to sell naming rights there arent good stadium names anymore.
That may be your opinion, but me personally I think the multipurpose stains are cool and the fact that you can move seats around the house football as well. I know you don’t like this idea but I’m a traditionalist. I grab watching the big red machine in that stadium and the 1990s world champion reds.
the stadiums today are about anything but the game not to mention its soft gen zers and millenials with their heads buried in their phones most of the game tweeting out pics of whatever crappy craft beer their drinking 🤣
For some reason, I don’t like it. I wish it was build the opposite direction. Instead of facing the Ohio River in the Outfield, the Outfield would be facing between the skyline and the River. That’s why I love Busch Stadium in St. Louis so much.
I lived in Chicago and love Wrigley Field, but PNC Park in Pittsburgh is one of the best if not best of the newer ballparks built during the past 30 years.
I always thought Busch Stadium II was fantastic as a cookie cutter multi purpose stadium with the arch's going all around. Open in 1966 all others attempted to be like Busch and failed.
When they took out the outfield seats it looked somewhat like Shea which was supposed to be another enclosed cookie cutter but there wasnt enough funding
Fulton County and RFK were worse. Riverfront was state of the art for it’s time. Camden Yards and Jacobs Filed opening in the 90’s made all those multipurpose parks obsolete quickly.
Dude, you are wrong. Riverfront Stadium was a great and legendary stadium with plenty of good history. It had a great appearance. You also have a hard time pronouncing words. It's not Bangals with a bay. It's Bengals with a bee. There is no A after the B.
@@TheEdog37 what do you mean it’s bland and has no character? It had the Heinz ketchup bottles on the scoreboard (before they changed the stadium name which is the dumbest thing and the dumbest name and removing them)
I know you are depressed and I hate to put more depression on you. But the Bangles were an all female pop music group. They never played football anywhere let alone in Cincinnati. It would have been a bit confusing because Cincinnati already had an NFL team there named the Bengles.I would've probably like seeing the Bangles play football. I hope I haven't caused further depression. Don't take it too hard, Ginger. Don't go an take a swan dive from the highest point of Mount Davis in Oakland. Don't hang yourself from the catwalk at Tropicana field in St. Pete. And please for god sakes, Ginger don't go to Minute Maid park in Houston and lay on the tracks. It's just a bit of confusion over a pop music football team and.... ah, hell now I'm depressed. Move over Astro fans. Make room on the Minute Maid Express tracks for me.
Look at an aerial shot of Fulton County for football and it's laughable... baseball was better but not by much. The field level seats at Riverfront had a decent system and were at least reasonable. It might have been a classic cookie cutter turd, but it was at least more polished than Fulton.
Construction site or not, it was much better when they tore out the outfield seats. Actually felt like an actual baseball stadium rather than watching a game in a concrete canyon in the original configuration.
You are absolutely right. Veterans Stadium was the worst, period! How many careers were ended because of the exposed seams on their horrible artificial turf?!?!?!?
I went there many times to see the Reds and the Bengals. I saw Tom Browning's perfect game. I saw the 1988 AFC championship game there, I saw the two Red's world series games there in 1990 and many other Bengals games with season tickets from 1987 to the mid 90's. It was an amazing place that I loved and still love fondly. I also saw every Game Denver played there for decades. Great times. I don't care what it looks like. It was the place of many great memories that I will hold dear forever. You had to be there Ginger.
Dittos!
Who's Ginger?
@@mjp96 The name of this channel is "depressed ginger"
I was at this "awful cookie cutter" stadium many times and I loved it. So did many, many other people. I saw great moments in Reds history, like Game 3 of the 1975 World Series, the last season of both Pete Rose and Tony Perez playing, and the 1990 division win celebration. Just sweet times. I have nothing but respect for the Reds teams I saw, plus the Pirates and Steelers teams of the '70s.
People who say that Riverfront is the worst of the cookie cutters haven't been to the Oakland Coliseum
Agreed, especially after Mt. Davis was put in. RFK was pretty horrendous too.
I remember the first hr. Hit at Riverfront was by Reds Second Baseman Tommy Helms
Growing up in Cincinnati, Riverfront was a great place to watch a baseball game. Parking was easy. Plenty of restrooms and concessions. Loved that place.
I'm a Reds fan and have seen a lot of games at Riverfront. I, too, miss it but what I think I miss more is the success achieved on that field than the stadium itself.
I'm not sure this is true but I was told that the appearances of these multi-purpose stadiums reflected the space-age culture existing at the time when these were built. Apollo was huge in the late 60's/early 70's and stadiums like Riverfront looked like flying saucers (I remember thinking that the first time I saw Riverfront in 1970). Even the name "astroturf" has a NASA sound to it.
Personally, I liked Riverfront more than both current stadiums in Cincinnati combined.
WELL LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, YOU CAN RUN YOUR MOUTH ALL YOU WANT , BUT I GREW UP IN NEWARK. OHIO AND FROM 1972 TO 1979 MY FAMILY AND I WENT TO 3 REDS GAMES A YEAR , AND I LOVED RIVERFRONT STADIUM, IT HOLDS SO MANY SPECIAL MEMORIES FOR ME . I WAS ABLE TO GET A PIECE OF THE TURF AND I DID GET 3 FOUL BALLS AND AUTOGRAPHS FROM -ROSE, FORSTER, GRIFFEY , CUBS BILL MADLOCK. so to me Riverfront stadium will always put a smile on my face.
Thank you for EMPHASIZING in caps so I can now forget everything you wrote. Let it be a lesson
If you had seats in Riverfront behind home plate between the ends of the dugouts, it was a very good view. Very close to the action. Behind the backstop, home plate was closer than most other stadiums, with the exception of Fenway. The new park is terrific, though.
I'm at WKRP in Cincinnati!
During its last couple years, when they removed the section of seats behind the outfield, it reminded me of Shea stadium
Riverfront Stadium was actually not the worst. Atlanta Fulton County Stadium was far worse. The absolute, rock-bottom PITS was Veteran's Stadium.
Definitely agree with this. Riverfront was more efficient and didn’t have that bad of sight lines
They all sucked
I was there many, many times. I also saw Tom Browning's perfect game. I saw Ickey Woods break the rushing record for a rookie. I was there when Brett Favre played his first game with the Packers. I was also in attendance at the game when Sam Wyche grabbed the mic and yelled at the idiots
throwing snowballs at the other team "We're not in Cleveland". So many great memories.
Riverfront was a great stadium. Great American BP has grown on me but liked Riverfront much more for the longest time.
Worst of the cookie-cutters was the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodump with hockey boards as the left field wall and hefty bags beyond the right field fence. The ultimate in tacky. Second was the Seattle Kingdump. Cincy-Pittsburgh-Philly were practically identical and I watched games in all of them. Monuments to concrete.
Wrong.
First, this video leaves out the experience of parking in Covington, KY, walking across the suspension bridge and enjoying the views it gave, and then conveniently ending up right at Riverfront Stadium.
Second, the name is one of the best ever.
More importantly, being inside for a ballgame was exciting, fun and memorable. Always
Most importantly, it kept the Reds in Cincinnati. There was talk of the franchise moving to San Diego, among other possibilities. No Riverfront Stadium = no Big Red Machine.
I laugh when people call stadiums of that era "concrete donuts". The video repeatedly uses adjectives like "horrible". Give me a break. If it was horrible nobody would have gone there. No matter how good or bad the Reds or Bengals were, big crowds turned out at Riverfront Stadium. If Stadiums like Riverfront were horrible then they would be called things like "landfills". Calling them something that makes a person laugh tells me that they were simply an idea that was tried, not anything bad.
It was a good idea at first, I'm sure.
The design wasn't why they went out of style anyway. Their lack of luxury suites and skyboxes was why they went out of style. The average fan was not what either the cookie cutters or their replacements were designed for, so videos like this miss the point.
Everyone entitled to opinion, but enjoyed many great games and event at Riverfront....club level rocked.
I miss Riverfront! The parking was allot easier to park in compared to the new one! The new stadium parking is a cluster F**k trying to navigate the whole area now!
Riverfront was superior to Great American Ballpark (GABP). They tucked GABP into a too small footprint. There's not enough room in the outfield to hit triples and balls that might drop in shallow or in the gaps are usually caught. GABP is a homer friendly ballpark.
Great American Ballpark is possibly the greatest stadium ever built are you nuts? It’s right on the river with amazing views..
@@michaeladams5636 GABP is lacking in amenities for fans and the concourse lacks space. The stadium was built to accommodate The Banks, which was conceived as the big money maker. GABP is at the lower end of modern-day ballparks, in terms of amenities. The Reds Hall of Fame museum however is a fine part of the whole setup.
@@RM-ed1if Okay but it also has that boat which is awesome.. what do you mean it lacks amenities? I’m just not sure what that means. But look a lot of people say PNC Park is the nicest stadium in baseball and I loved PNC Park however.. I thought Great American Ballpark which I drove to from Canada years ago was far far nicer than PNC Park.
@@RM-ed1if Have you ever heard anyone rave about GABP like me before?
I went to games here from 1970 till the end.
Riverfront was not a bad place. I liked going to games there. For the time it was state of the art.
STOP THE HATE.
Jeez Dude I would take Riverfront over any of these new stadiums any day It was clean easy parking in/out access Great sightlines During the 70s & 1990 the place was packed & historic games played here
I think that building the stadium on top of the parking garage was genius
Veterans Stadium was worse, rat infested
And it’s in Philadelphia
knock it all you want, but riverfront stadium was a great home for some great reds baseball. three rivers also was a great home for great pirates and steelers teams. memories matter, and both stadiums housed many great memories.
Patrick, why don't you like these "cookie cutter" stadiums? Is it because you are young, and they seem outdated to you? I was 11 years old when I attended the first game at Riverfront Stadium in 1970. I will never forget how HUGE it looked! I thought I was in baseball heaven. I loved the symmetrical aspect of these stadiums, Pittsburgh and Philly too. The dimensions of all three stadiums were nearly identical, and more or less equal distances down the right and left field foul lines. No "short porch" for writers to criticize Babe Ruth and Mel Ott. Artificial turf all around, including the infield. A nice, clean look and no "bad hops". National League was FAST back then, and Joe Morgan could fly on that surface! And why is multi-purpose a bad thing? Saves the taxpayers a ton of money and keeps the stadiums from sitting vacant for months on end during the off season. I don't like Great American Ball Park. It reminds me of a AAA stadium, kind of the Pilot Field (Sahlen) in Buffalo. When Riverfront was packed, which it was frequently during the Big Red Machine era, you would not believe the VOLUME the crowd could generate! It was intimidating for opponents and flat out cool! I saw Hank Aaron drop a can of corn in right field because of that noise. I know I'm an old "Boomer" and no young people will agree with me, but you just don't realize all that your generation has missed. When was the last time you saw a player run full-speed, head-first into the catcher to win an exhibition game? Man, I miss 1970 AND Riverfront Stadium. Enjoy your content, Patrick, even if I disagree with your assessment. Keep up the good work!
I too, don't understand the criticism that those stadiums get. I grew up in the 70's and turf and the base cut-outs were always cool to me. The national league, in general just seemed so modern while the American had old teams with boring uniforms playing in old stadiums. I like all the multi-purpose stadiums from that era.
@@davidnovak707 Back in the 70s, the best uniforms were the Twins, A's, Red Sox and Royals.
Same here with Riverfront! I went to my first game there as a kid with my papaw and many more! The new stadium is nice but the walkways and seating really sucks! The parking sucks too and is confusing to navigate when crowded! The parking at the old stadium was much better! Park your car and get in the elevator and bam your there!
I'm a child of the 80s and grew up in the DC area. By that time, there was no baseball team, and the thought that RFK could be configured for baseball seemed a laughable myth. Sometime in the late 80s, there was a push for baseball expansion and they held a spring training game at RFK. They forced the old girl back into her baseball configuration and I went to the game just to see it and I was amazed how different it looked. I grew up an Orioles fan and the cookie cutter baseball teams were all in the NL, so I loved watching the occasional NL game just to see those NFL stadiums I watched made to play baseball. It wasn't until the Nationals came to DC that I found out how they were able to reconfigure the stadiums. I wish this era would come back, but it never will. Cities will still build separate stadiums with their NFL one used for only 8-10 games a year. Seems such a waste.
I've been to all the so called cookie cutter stadiums at one time or another in the 80s and 90s. With the exception of RFK in DC, I actually didn't mind these stadiums at all As a child of the 70s and 80s, these were the types of ballparks I grew up with. And while they can't compare to modern parks, they do have a special place in baseball history and reflective of the era they were built in.
In the 70s, 80s and into the 90s, fans didnt mind these stadiums. When the new retro-baseball parks started coming out, people started getting spoiled. Not really the fans, but the owners who wanted a shiny new house paid for by the fans.
I would argue Atlanta Fulton County Stadium was just as bad. The seating configuration for football was atrocious.
Since they were designed by the same architectural firm, they were probably the two stadiums that really favored each other. The main difference was the AFCS didn't have movable seating which ruined the football configuration.
@@darryljorden9177 It was actually the cheapest of the cookie-cutters ($18 million), because the football conversion was very easy and efficient: just take down the fence and unfold the sideline seats. Also, like Oakland, it was designed so that it needed only one broadcast booth for both baseball and football. Unfortunately, the sidelines themselves were 50 yards away from the seats! It also had a terrible grass field with no real ground crew. It was tended by the city parks and recreation department, until Braves GM Bobby Cox hired real groundskeepers.
The worst was Veteran's Stadium in Philly because it had far and away the worst astroturf.
With that planned renovation, was going to be just like Shea stadium
In its first 10 years, Riverfront hosted as many World Series as Crosley Field did in 58 years. Yet, it could not dislodge Crosley Field in the hearts of the Cincinnati fans.
The worst? I wouldn't say that, genius.
This longtime baseball fan has visited all the "cookie cutter" stadiums, except Fulton County. Each one wasn't a thing of beauty. One was as bad as the others.
I plan on naming my first begotten son Mt. Davis.
The 1981 AFC Championship Game did not sell out at Riverfront when their Bengals beat San Diego? Why didn't that game make The Top 5 in Riverfront Attendance? I'm surprised that The 1988 Championship Game also did not make The Top 5 when the Cincinnati Bengals also beat Buffalo for another chance at the 49ers in the Super Bowl.
Loved the red seats in Riverfront. 5 dollars to sit behind home plate. Watched the Reds in nearly all positions of the stadium. Red Green and Blue seats. Watched the cubs play the reds when slamming Sammy Sosa was in the running with Mark Maguire, Great memories and fun place to see a game. The only negative was the turf on the field. Reminded me of the plastic fake grass.
Perspective: Crosley Field was a DUMP. We loved our shiny new Riverfront. It was symbol of power & prestige where our small market city finally had a big league ballpark. It was beautiful esp compared to old Crosley. Add to that we had powerhouse teams in the Reds with the Great Eight and the Bengals with Kenny Anderson at QB. Cookie cutters went out of style? So what. All these "retro" parks will go out of style in the next couple decades and will be torn down and replaced by whatever new style comes along. Your critique misses the perspective of time, style & place.
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I had been to probably 3 dozen Reds games and 1 Bengals game at Riverfront. The stadium wasn't particularly special but it was a clean, functional venue. There was a sectional in the centerfield yellow seats that wasn't completed. The Reds had wanted to put a restaurant and a club there for fans to congregate, but the Bengals wouldn't approve it. Any stadium changes or improvements needed the approval of both teams and the ownership of both the Reds and Bengals rarely saw eye to eye. As a result, for many years, that centerfield section was basically left unfinished. They would put folding "card table" chairs there during overflow baseball games or football games.
Riverfront was a descent multi purpose grew up there yes it was a beautiful sight like they are now. but there were quite a few of these around
Three Rivers in Pittsburgh was worse. And three California entries: 1) Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, Oakland Coliseum, and Candlestick Park(after a remodel), San Francisco
All 3 California stadiums well 4 with Anaheim were perfect without the remodel. Saving grace is Anaheim renovation back to baseball only was done right
The cookie cutter stadia got a bad rap. There was never any special architecural feature but they were clean and usually comfortable with decent sightlines.
RFK and the Vet were dumps because they were not maintained.
Memorial Stadium and Cleveland Stadium were far worse.
Still can't believe the Bengals did not even have writing in the endzone. Talk about cheap, lol
walks will haunt
The late 60s early 70s were the dark ages for sport stadiums construction thank God they are gone
That's arguable with the 2nd Bush Stadium. When it was astroturf, the big bowl made summer day games a sweltering nightmare. The conversion to real grass lessened some of the effect, but the stadium would still trap in heat and humidity. It didn't really resemble a ballpark until the Rams moved out and they made renovations
I was curious seeing the pics from the last year and there was natural grass at Riverfront. I figured maybe they switched over in the early 90's, but no they only had natural grass for the final season 2001-2002. Seems like a big money project for just one season, why not leave the ASTRO turf for one more year.
This happened mainly because the Reds had acquired Ken Griffey, Jr., who occasionally had leg injuries and had problems playing on AstroTurf. It didn't help much, since he still had injuries playing on grass.
Home of The Bangles?
I don't think so ... Susannah Hoffs was only eleven years old when the stadium opened. 😉
Of the 5 highest attendance games the Bengals lost 4. The Bengals were so bad that you couldn't watch the games on local TV because of blackout rules. The Bengals have had some really good seasons and still struggled to put fans in the seats and the games would be blacked out locally. They've had trouble keeping a fanbase charged and part of that is Mike Brown's past cheapness. I hope the Joe Burrow era lands Cincy a Lombardi because the long standing fans have suffered long enough.
Did you ever go to a game at Riverfront Stadium? If so, are you even old enough to remember it? I take it you are just basing your criticisms on 2nd-hand knowledge. While the cookie-cutters were never great for baseball, or football for that matter, they did serve their purpose. But Riverfront was definitely not the worst of them. Like others said, Veterans and Fulton County were worse. 3 Rivers in Pittsburgh was about the same as Riverfront. Sure, by the end of its 30 years, it had outlived itself and needed to go. Hence Paul Brown Stadium was built and opened in 2000 and Great American Ball Park a few years later.
"Sheadiums" 🤣
Funny part about that is hienz field is the same as the frowns and the titains stadium
If you think Riverfront and 3 Rivers looked the same, you'd better schedule an eye exam!
2002 was a rough year for Griffey jr. Maybe he didn’t like the construction.
Perhaps it was the worst but they had one of the best names. Riverfront Stadium was a great name and perfectly descriptive of the stadium .Three Rivers Stadium was a good name too. With the move to sell naming rights there arent good stadium names anymore.
Riverfront. You cant see the River and cant tell where is the stadium's Front.
"Bangles". decent band
You obviously were never there.
Hard to say that one was worse than the other..they were all horrible
That may be your opinion, but me personally I think the multipurpose stains are cool and the fact that you can move seats around the house football as well. I know you don’t like this idea but I’m a traditionalist. I grab watching the big red machine in that stadium and the 1990s world champion reds.
the stadiums today are about anything but the game not to mention its soft gen zers and millenials with their heads buried in their phones most of the game tweeting out pics of whatever crappy craft beer their drinking 🤣
Great American Ballpark turned out so good it’s easily a top 5 stadium in the entire MLB.
For some reason, I don’t like it. I wish it was build the opposite direction. Instead of facing the Ohio River in the Outfield, the Outfield would be facing between the skyline and the River. That’s why I love Busch Stadium in St. Louis so much.
I lived in Chicago and love Wrigley Field, but PNC Park in Pittsburgh is one of the best if not best of the newer ballparks built during the past 30 years.
@@728huey Don’t forget San Diego.
@@boogitybear2283 Busch is very good. GABP is a dump.
It’s mid
I always thought Busch Stadium II was fantastic as a cookie cutter multi purpose stadium
with the arch's going all around. Open in 1966 all others attempted to be like Busch and failed.
Man idk
I kimda like the circle design xd
When they took out the outfield seats it looked somewhat like Shea which was supposed to be another enclosed cookie cutter but there wasnt enough funding
Fulton County and RFK were worse. Riverfront was state of the art for it’s time. Camden Yards and Jacobs Filed opening in the 90’s made all those multipurpose parks obsolete quickly.
Do three rivers stadium next or Fulton County stadium ?
Dude, you are wrong. Riverfront Stadium was a great and legendary stadium with plenty of good history. It had a great appearance. You also have a hard time pronouncing words. It's not Bangals with a bay. It's Bengals with a bee. There is no A after the B.
As a big reds fan even though i like great american ballpark better it dosent deserve all of the hate
It's a joke how small it is, and it's poorly maintained. It's a dump.
when digibyte pump ser? i sold my 401k years ago for it...
Three Rivers was great for football. Still miss it since Heinz Field is such a dump.
How dare you Heinz Field is not a dump
It’s a dump. Especially if you ever went to a game at Three Rivers
@@TheEdog37 how the hell is Heinz Field a dump! It ain’t a multi use stadium
@@Edward_Nebioloit has no character. It’s bland. It was built on the cheap.
@@TheEdog37 what do you mean it’s bland and has no character? It had the Heinz ketchup bottles on the scoreboard (before they changed the stadium name which is the dumbest thing and the dumbest name and removing them)
I know you are depressed and I hate to put more depression on you. But the Bangles were an all female pop music group. They never played football anywhere let alone in Cincinnati. It would have been a bit confusing because Cincinnati already had an NFL team there named the Bengles.I would've probably like seeing the Bangles play football. I hope I haven't caused further depression. Don't take it too hard, Ginger. Don't go an take a swan dive from the highest point of Mount Davis in Oakland. Don't hang yourself from the catwalk at Tropicana field in St. Pete. And please for god sakes, Ginger don't go to Minute Maid park in Houston and lay on the tracks. It's just a bit of confusion over a pop music football team and.... ah, hell now I'm depressed. Move over Astro fans. Make room on the Minute Maid Express tracks for me.
#HeyCoolYo!
Look at an aerial shot of Fulton County for football and it's laughable... baseball was better but not by much. The field level seats at Riverfront had a decent system and were at least reasonable. It might have been a classic cookie cutter turd, but it was at least more polished than Fulton.
Home of the crush
Fulton County stadium was the worse by far, Riverfront, Veterans stadium and Three Rivers were pretty much equal
Construction site or not, it was much better when they tore out the outfield seats. Actually felt like an actual baseball stadium rather than watching a game in a concrete canyon in the original configuration.
Huge Reds fan here, but I totally agree that even though they had some great teams back in the day it was a big eye sore
How do you pump out so many videos? Love the grind my man
Bro, Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia is the worst stadium in history, let alone cookie cutter stadium.
You are absolutely right. Veterans Stadium was the worst, period! How many careers were ended because of the exposed seams on their horrible artificial turf?!?!?!?