Visit Date: September 3, 2023

Opened in 2003, Great American Ball Park is a 43,500-seat stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio along the banks of the Ohio River.  Admittedly, the Reds are one of my least favorite teams in Major League Baseball.  However, I wasn’t going to let this get in the way of a fair, impartial assessment of the place they call home.  When looking at other stadium rankings, I have seen this ballpark hover around the 15-20 range frequently.  As I saw recently on MLB Network, there’s even the occasional person who’ll put it in their top ten.  So I set out to see if it was worth the hype.

Along with three of our friends, Martha and I made the 4.5 hour trip from Pittsburgh on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend.  With a first pitch set for noon, we made it into the stadium around 11:30.  I was impressed with the greenspace and statues of Reds legends near the home plate entrance.  I liked that the team store was in its own separate building, framing the entrance to this grass area and making it feel more inviting.  The exterior of the ballpark features white steel supports and is wrapped with glass, two elements that have been uncommon to see in other cities.

Our first stop was to the team store.  As I cross off each of the thirty stadiums, I like to get a hat to commemorate my visit.  But it can’t just be any hat.  If you know me, you’ll know that I’m a man of many opinions and idiosyncrasies.  So I set out each time to get a New Era 39THIRTY stretch-fit hat in the style of the team’s primary uniform.  No throwbacks or City Connect.  And it has to be size “large-extra large” for my big head.  I like that they come with curved brims yet don’t need to be adjusted.  Maybe it’s too much to ask for, but I’ll comb the entire stadium if I have to.  And sure, if I have to settle for a slightly different style or a “medium-large”, I will.  Overall, when I reflect on my experience, I take into consideration how easy it is to find one of these 39THIRTY hats even if it may seem trivial to the average person.

I tell you all of this because it was impossible to locate a Reds hat in both the style and appearance I was looking for.  If it was the plain red-colored, white-logoed hat that I wanted, it was some combination of flat-brimmed, high crowned, or adjustable.  But if it was the 39THIRTY hat, they were only throwbacks, City Connect, or some other alternate style.  I searched high and low.  I was flustered when it wasn’t in the team store outside the stadium, but then I couldn’t find it in the team store in left field nor at any kiosks either.  On top of all this, the two large stores were some of the most crammed, uncomfortable places I’ve ever shopped.  Perhaps my judgment was clouded by my disappointment that I couldn’t find my hat.  I know it’s a small thing, but it’s a special way for me to remember my trip.  In the end, I settled on an adjustable one.  

Another thing that (unfairly) worked against Great American Ball Park was the heat.  Cincinnati saw a high of 92℉ that day.  We did have the benefit of water fountains to refill our bottles, but the uncomfortable weather definitely impacted our moods and therefore our overall experience.  The lack of overhang in the upper deck made shade very difficult to come by.  The outfield, particularly in right field, did provide some respite from the sun.  But our seats in the first couple rows of section 435 along the first base line did not have that same luxury.  It also didn’t help that the game, a 15-7 win in favor of the Chicago Cubs, was over three hours and fifteen minutes long.  The Cubs scored seven runs in the 8th and three more in the final frame during the hottest part of the day.  It truly felt like the game would never end.  Watching Elly De La Cruz strike out four times helped to ease the pain.

In terms of pros, Great American offers great sightlines all around the ballpark.  The areas around the lower deck keep you close to the action on the field, and as is typical for stadiums built in that era, there are good views of the game from the main concourse.  Even the upper deck concourse had a decent number of areas where you could still see the field.  There is plenty of seating in the outfield as well, which is a prime place to be for what’s known as one of the most hitter-friendly parks in baseball.  I took a few minutes to watch the game from the smokestacks and riverboat out in center field, two features that definitely help to make this stadium stand out.  I also thought the food selections around the ballpark were strong.  And another interesting spot that you don’t see everywhere was a play area near our section for children with sensory needs who could use a break from all the noise.

Beyond that, I didn’t find a ton to like.  What should be one of Great American Ball Park’s biggest strengths is instead its biggest missed opportunity.  That’s none other than the Ohio River beyond its right field.  PNC Park in Pittsburgh and Oracle Park in San Francisco are widely considered top-5 stadiums in baseball.  A defining feature of both is how they naturally integrate these fields with the beautiful waterways that surround them.  And it’s a huge deal when batters can make a splash into the water (especially on the fly).  The Allegheny River and McCovey Cove are far enough from home plate where it’s an awesome feat to witness, but also close enough where it isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

Cincinnati isn’t like this.  Sure, there are some nice walkways within the stadium that border the river and offer nice views.  But only one player as of the 2024 season has ever hit a ball that ended up in the Ohio.  Does that make it all the more impressive?  Yes, but isn’t it boring that no one truly has a chance?  It couldn’t even be done in the Home Run Derby!  In these other cities, you’ll see people sitting out in their kayaks on game day hoping for a rare homer to splash down.  But what’s cool about that is the ballpark experience extends beyond the walls of the stadium and is seamlessly interwoven with the city itself.  And you don’t even get an amazing view beyond the outfield walls like you do in Pittsburgh.  Instead, you get to stare into Kentucky all game.

Lastly, there are some design elements of this stadium that I simply don’t like.  While I think the steamboat out in center looks tacky, it’s the batter’s eye directly below it that has always irked me about Great American Ball Park.  For those that don’t know, the batter’s eye is the area out in straight-away center field that is left intentionally blank (usually with a wall or greenspace) so the batter can see the ball coming out of the pitcher’s hand.  In Cincinnati, this space looks hideous to me.  It makes a strange angle in relation to the field, has half a dozen cameras sticking out of one side, and features odd panels along the bottom.  One additional design that I don’t care for, and this is true at any stadium, is the large gap between sections in the upper deck between home plate and third base.  It’s there to offer a different vantage point and allow some views of downtown, but I don’t think it’s a ballpark element that ever works no matter what city you find yourself in. 

This certainly isn’t the worst stadium in Major League Baseball.  If the Reds were my home team, I think I would find it perfectly acceptable.  Again, there are definitely things to like about the place.  But when I compare it to stadiums that are of a similar mold, I think it’s a step or two behind.  At best, it’s an average venue.  So while I see some MLB analysts ranking Great American Ball Park in the upper echelon in baseball, I can’t help but think of it as the most overrated American ballpark.

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Thank you for visiting Small World Travel Blog!  We hope you enjoyed this second review in our MLB Stadium Tour series.  You can check out our other stops here. Please consider subscribing for more content like this!  In the comments, let us know your thoughts on Great American Ball Park.  Is this too harsh of an assessment?