Citizens Bank Ballpark: A Vegetarian's Paradise

Next up in our Stadium 411 series is Citizens Bank Ballpark, home of the World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies. This will be our second Citizens Bank Ballpark critique. The first one was given by Jon a couple of months ago.

This critique was given by a 32-year-old man who has more St. Louis Cardinal paraphernalia than any eight-year-old boy living in Missouri—Tom Spirakis.

It’s disturbing, I know.

Citizens Bank Park Critique

This past July the family and I drove down from NYC to Philadelphia to catch a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the defending world champion Phillies. The drive wasn’t bad and roundtrip from NYC can be done in the same day.

The stadium is right off the highway and there is plenty of parking around the stadium.  All the major Philly teams are housed in the same area.

Pros

The stadium was real nice and reminded me of Nationals Park and Citi Field. I was pleasantly surprised that the Phillies fan did not live up to their reputation as the meanest fans in sports.

I proudly wore a Cardinals tee with not so much as a dirty look. The concession stands offered an array of choices. PETA lists Citizen Bank Ballpark as the most vegetarian-friendly stadium in the majors. I enjoyed a veggie burger and a veggie dog.

Much to my surprise, I was not annoyed by the Philly Fanatic. I actually thought he was pretty entertaining.

Cons

The stadium was having a Christmas in July promotion. Alright, I can handle that. What I couldn’t handle was the non-stop Christmas carols all day long.

It was relentless, sitting in the blistering sun listening to Winter Wonderland. Another thing that annoys me is throwing back a home run ball hit by a visiting player.

I think this is one of the dumbest traditions in baseball.

Up until a couple of years ago, I thought this was reserved for the Wrigley faithful, but now it seems everyone is doing it. I just missed catching a Rick Ankiel home run and it pained me to see it thrown back onto the field.

Overall Game Day Experience

Overall game day experience was 8 out of 10. From NYC, it’s worth a drive down to catch a game.