Petco Park, San Diego California:

Perhaps more than any other major league baseball park, Petco was designed with families in mind.  From the grassy knoll outside of center field which has ample place for blankets (with a view of virtually the entire playing field with the exception of the left field line) a playground and a miniature baseball diamond to a beach area where kids can play in the sand; there are a number of areas for children to play while at Petco Park.  While other parks have attempted to give older kids a place to stretch their legs, San Diego’s Petco Park adds the beach and grass to those standard amenities.

Those additions when combined with the largest concourses in MLB, make Petco Park the jewel among MLB stadiums if you have young children.  Park of the reason for that is simple, San Diego doesn’t have a large corporate base, so the team is dependent on season ticket holders, but additionally the team took public money to help build Petco Park so a section of the outfield also functions as a public playground during non game times. It’s also a lot easier to stomach a trip to Petco based on the $5 standing room tickets that are readily available (bring your blanket, sit on the grass!).

Marlins Park, Miami Florida:

Another new entrant, Marlins Park is the newest MLB park in existence.  There’s two special and unique features that land Marlins Park so high on our list.  First, the team has a special bobblehead museum, one of the few attractions which is likely to hold the attention of toddlers and elementary schoolers at once.  With 700 total bobbleheads which have been meticulously collected over decades from every MLB team, there’s a little something to see for everyone.  Secondly, the park has a few publicly visible ocean fish tanks which give kids in premium seats something to watch while actually sitting in their seat, which is something I greatly appreciate on a number of levels.

Minute Maid Park, Houston Texas:

So every other MLB park features baseball as it’s main attraction for kids, but Minute Maid Park takes a different approach.  Minute Maid features trains as the main kids attraction.  The main train as most of us have already seen on Sportscenter highlights is the 800 long track of the steam engine which rides across the top of the outfield wall whenever the Astros hit a home run, or in between innings when they need something for the kids to do. The idea behind the train theme is pretty simple, Minute Maid Park was built in an old industrial part of Houston that was once literally and figuratively the wrong side of the tracks.  The only space in the city large enough to build a baseball stadium and attached hotels, restaurants and other businesses was a train station, so they decided to pay homage to the site’s history through the kids activities at the park.

Featured images:

•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source

Mark Aselstine is the owner of Uncorked Ventures, recently named one of the best wine clubs in America by Forbes Magazine.  Mark has always had a deep love for baseball, but feels a special connection to it now that his toddler seems to have been affected as well.

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