Ideal Out-of-town scoreboard location

[pmoehrin]

Outfield wall.

Where is the most ideal location for lights though? That's the elephant in the room that no one is acknowledging.

I don't think there really is one.

My three personal favorites are Fenway, Shea and Wrigley and all three are in different locations.

I guess if you put a gun to my head and I had to pick I'd probably agree with the outfield wall. But I would definitely not want every team in baseball to only have their out of town scoreboard in that location.

[dfwabel]

Because when I go to a Dodgers' game I care about the outcome of the Tigers and Indians, right.

If I do care about other scores (i.e. in September during a playoff race) I'll check my phone because it's usually more up to date than the stadium one.

You may not care, but some of the other 50k people might. Out of town scoreboards are a part of baseball history and tradition. You go to a ballpark and somewhere in the outfield, either above the wall somewhere or the wall itself, you see one. I think it would look odd if they were anywhere else or not there at all. Still, don't know why we have a topic discussing the ideal location for them. Above or on the wall. Not many other options.

I answered the OPs question, as poor as the threads he starts, honestly. A person's phone/tablet is the best place for the out-of-town scores.

People spend more time looking at their devices and texting more than the outfield wall, unless a ball is hit there. MLB and their teams have been too slow to embrace wireless technology. Fans spend more per month on their data plan than the average cost of a ticket; they want to be connected and will go to places which allow them to be connected specifically for fantasy baseball. They appear to now take wireless and new media more serious.

The MLB "At Bat" app is a start, but if your stadiums don't have access, it loses it's impact dramatically.

The NBA has looked into it as a league, as well as owners personally (Mark Cuban) for the "game experience".

[oddball]

First of all, I don't want to have to look at my phone when I'm at a game. I go to a game to get away from everything else, including technology, and when I want to see out of town scores, it's nice to have a scoreboard where I can glance at the scores. And it's also nice to show highlights of other games. The best thing is being at a game during batting practice and watching an out of town game on the scoreboard.

[waltere]

The out of town scoreboard definitely adds something.

I'll never forget being at Shea the same night as the Rangers scored 30 in Baltimore a few years back, the reactions of disbelief from everyone around me just watching it go higher & higher were amazing.

[BBTV]

When your team is in a pennant race and the people in the stadium are just as glued to the score of your rival's game as the game you're watching, and the place erupts into random cheers when the number changes, you appreciate the out of town scoreboard.

There is no ideal location. It totally depends on the park. From my season tix at CBP I can see the out of town scoreboard perfectly, but my back is turned to the main scoreboard / jumbotron thing. There are others who have a perfect view of that but not the out of town scores.

[rainmaker17]

When your team is in a pennant race and the people in the stadium are just as glued to the score of your rival's game as the game you're watching, and the place erupts into random cheers when the number changes, you appreciate the out of town scoreboard.

Exactly.

[njmeadowlanders]

Yep. But we can all agree (except Tank of course) that the one at Citi Field blows. All the way at the top of the stadium where it's an afterthought.

This was perfect though:

It was all right there on the main scoreboard, with enough room for every game simultaneously (not a full slate of games the night this was taken) which a lot of parks now don't have (they rotate say, 2 or 3 at a time). No, it didn't have base runners, but so what?

[BBTV]

I like ours because it gives you the outs and position of baserunners (it's not real time obviously, but it must be hooked into some automated system because it's pretty close.) Just sucks if you're sitting on the side above it.

[slapshot]

I'm surprised there's not much love for this one:

I only saw one comment about it, but this is one of my favorite scoreboards.

I've never been to Wrigley, but how legible is this from seats around the park? Are there any other electronic boards in the stadium like the one on the bottom?

[Ted Cunningham]

I like ours because it gives you the outs and position of baserunners (it's not real time obviously, but it must be hooked into some automated system because it's pretty close.) Just sucks if you're sitting on the side above it.

PNC's is about the same way. It's a part of the Clemente Wall in right and all of the scores have the diamonds indicating baserunners.

If nothing else, the out of town scoreboards are part of the experience.

Now that it's been gone for a few years, Busch Memorial Stadium is that girl that's either ugly for a hot girl or cute for an ugly girl. It's all in the lighting and angles.

It was probably the best looking of the cookie cutter era stadiums. Think it mainly had to do with the arches in the roof which was a nice touch. At least it gave it some unique feature that none of the other cookie cutter stadiums could say they had.

Also the skyline was pretty distinctive and they seemed to do a pretty good job of maintaining the park as well at least compared to the other cookie cutter stadiums.

Another thing that helped old Busch was that the grass was grass and not AstroTurf like in Houston or at Three Rivers or Riverfront. That greatly improved the aesthetic.