Publication Date

Spring 2004

Degree Type

Master's Project

Degree Name

Master of Urban Planning (MUP)

Department

Urban and Regional Planning

First Advisor

Dayana Salazar

Abstract

The baseball experience is what a fan sees and feels before, during and after the game. It is about taking the train (be it a streetcar or subway) to the park, eating lunch at your favorite deli, admiring signs with the team’s logo in businesses and homes in the neighborhood that has supported the ballpark through thick and thin, during on- and off-season. On game days the neighborhood experiences an increase in pedestrian and vehicular traffic, but most folks don’t seem to mind. The exhilaration creates an inviting atmosphere, one that unites people towards a common goal—to win! As fans and tourist walk towards the park they spend money at the mom and pop shops and restaurants that dot the neighborhood. The area is economically supported throughout the year, as during the off-season there are still plenty of shops and restaurants to attract locals and tourist.

Unfortunately, not all baseball fans have had the opportunity to experience baseball this way, because not all parks can offer this. This is an old tradition that has its roots in the late Nineteenth Century in the East Coast where baseball first started. Cities such as Manhattan, Brooklyn and Boston boasted baseball parks that were woven into the urban fabric of their metropolitan regions. Mixed-use development organically surrounded the ballparks creating consistency and continuity within the neighborhood that hosted the park. As cities in the Midwest grew into metropolises, new baseball teams were formed or transplanted from one major city to another. Cities welcomed baseball teams, as having one was considered a status symbol, signifying that they were no longer a small town and had achieved economic prosperity, similarly to having a streetcar system or a grand hotel as a focal point of the city. Teams became part of the community as they embodied and enhanced the city’s identity.

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