Kingdome Strikes Out

Seattle’s Kingdome rates as the least desirable ballpark in the major leagues, according to a poll conducted by the Ball parks & Ballplayers, a bi-monthly newsletter published in Clinton, N.J.

The survey shows that baseball fans favor classic stadiums, with 85-year-old Fenway Park in Boston reigning as the park fans would most like to visit.

Chicago’s Wrigley Field, which opened two years after Fenway Park in 1914, finished second. Voting reflected a preference for older ballparks or new ones built to look that way and a disdain for domed stadiums.

Either Fenway Park and Wrigley Field was the top choice on 60 percent of the ballots cast. Detroit’s Tiger Stadium, the only other remaining ballpark built before 1920, finished fourth in the balloting. Baltimore’s Oriole Park at Camden Yards and Cleveland’s Jacobs Field, recently built stadiums designed to resemble the old ballparks, placed third and fifth.

The Kingdome finished behind the Hubert H. Humphrey Dome in Minneapolis. The highest-rated dome, the Astrodome in Houston, placed 20th.

Barring a court ruling, the Mariners will be out of the Kingdome for the 1999 season when they begin play in a new outdoor venue.