Nasty 9: Best/Worst MLB Fans
Every fan in any sport likes to flaunt the fact that their team has the best fans. This includes knowledgeability, loyalty, and even loudness. Then there’s the other side, where those same fans love to say their rivals are the worst. Well, the latest edition of the Nasty 9 takes a look at the best fans, as well as the worst, in a little bit of a twist. The following list includes nine cities; 1-4 are the best, number 5 is stuck in the middle, and 6-9 are the worst fans. I hope you enjoy this list and let me know how much you disagree with it, because I’m sure most people will.
9) Philadelphia – It’s almost as if they just want something to boo. I was at a game there in 2006, and they mercifully booed 3B David Bell – in the THIRD game of the season!
8 ) New York (Mets and Yankees) – The two New York teams are combined due to my anti-NY bias. Yes, they are the most knowledgeable fans of every sport, BUT that is completely different from being the BEST. You can know everything about every player on the team, but if you choose to boo him after one bad at bat, then you are a terrible fan. NY fans are overrated.
7) Florida – Two WS championships in only 17 years in existence, and yet only 10,000 people go to the games, spoiled much?
6) Los Angeles (Dodgers) – Front runners, at least in the last 20 years. They show up to the games late, and they leave games early. If it wasn’t for Manny Ramirez, they’d still be praying that the Lakers were around 12 months a year. They truly are Hollywood’s team.
5) San Francisco – Anyone who would support Barry Bonds is stupid, but has to be a dedicated baseball fan.
4) Atlanta – The current generation of Braves fans may have come from the days of TBS coverage, but their loyalty paid off in many good seasons. Despite only one championship in the last 20 years, they made the playoffs every year since 1992 up until 2006.
3) Chicago (Cubs) – Every game is an event in Chicago, as you can see by the fans showing up early and staying the whole game. Even the roof tops on Waveland Avenue always sell out, despite so many day games. Most of all, they have been able to put up without winning for over 100 years. That’s dedication.
2) Seattle – Ever since the days of Griffey, Edgar, Buhner, and Johnson brought upon a genuine love for the sport, despite the record of the team. They never give up on the team and they appreciate good players and teams when they have the opportunity. Doesn’t hurt to have a homecoming either.
1) St. Louis – I’ve never been to St. Louis for a baseball game, but I’ve seen enough to know that they are the best there is. They will give a standing ovation for a great play, regardless of the team. Almost any baseball player would say that their favorite place to play is/was St. Louis because of the passion the fans show for the game.
I disagree with NY fans being the most knowledgeable. I think it just appears that way because with the two NY teams combined they have more fans than anyone is baseball so a handful of people better know some stuff but percentage-wise about 5% of NY fans have baseball knowledge.
St. Louis? SERIOUSLY!
umm Boston?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! are you kidding? at least top 3. check their sellout streak and get back to me.
well it’s not as bad as I thought..I would agree that St Louis fans are right up there. And Seattle really benefits from it’s Asian population. But Atlanta? It seems pretty empty there.
In defense of NY fans, yes there are many people who wear Yankees hats who know nothing about the team. But you can also have great baseball conversations everywhere you go in NY. I can talk with the doorman, or my husband’s boss, my Japanese friends, my Dad’s friends (old Dodgers fans) so many levels of NY-ers are into the Yankees.
Its true when you go to see them play you get a ton of tourists and people who just don’t care but you also get some die hards. More than 5%.
I can say also that I hate booing, especially when you see effort but sometimes it just takes on a life of it’s own. And people seem to feel like they have the right to boo.
And seriously, what’s better a ballpark packed with fans booing or an empty ballpark??
so 2 questions..
where do you rank Red Sox fans??
and why do you have to group Mets and Yankees fans together?? we don’t like that-haha
Yeah Chris, explain? How are Boston fans not number one? You haven’t even been to a Cardinals game live yet! You can’t put them #1 that’s so wack! Haha. For real Boston is probably #1. It’s so intense there.
I watch a lot of baseball and this list is from my combined viewing of baseball since I was 9. Yes, Boston fans sell out games, but that doesn’t make them the best fans. They are actually very tempermental, like New York and Philly fans. I would actually put them closer to the middle than in any other direction.
I stand by my picks.
Granted sellouts don’t make you a good fan but at one point those fans waited almost as long as the Cubs fans and granted they are similar to NY fans but so are Cubs fans. But then again, it is your opinion.
I sense some favoritism towards Cardinals fans, hmmm could it be the writer of this article is a Cardinals fan himself? I think so lol. Now every man is entitled to their opinion, and I as a Yankee fan am not going to argue that we are the best, if best means passionate then we are right up there with other big market teams, but def not the nicest for sure. If I had to pick based on loyal and kind, I would almost have to guess that it would be a small market team or a midwest team because of the culture, no big market team could possibly be the overall best.
PS.-Philly fans are the worst in every sport known to man.
I have to say something positive about the Phillies phans, at least. Every game is sold out this year, and the support for the team is immense. As big as it can get. That’s what fans are supposed to do for their team and the Phillies phans are doing it this season. They don’t get a lot of winners in Philly, in ANY sport, and they are for the most part regular down to earth normal people and they deserve to win. They don’t deserve bad reputations due to a few idiots here and there through the years. I think every city has idiots.
As far as Florida, circumstances are to blame. There really isn’t a lot of interest in baseball in South Florida, as compared with the 3 other major sports. It came late I suppose. The stadium is not in a good location for Palm Beach County residents at all and it’s a football stadium and terrible for baseball. The games are rained out and delayed SO OFTEN. People are just not bothering to deal with it. Once you get rained out, you learn that that is NO FUN AT ALL. There’s NOWHERE to go to avoid the rain unless you’re in the $40+ club seats. These club seats used to be $21 but then all the ticket prices DOUBLED and parking also doubled. It’s $20 now. That’s crazy. Food and drinks are priced like that also. It would cost hundreds of $$ to take a family of 4 to Landshark Stadium and have decent seats. The cheap seats, the Fishbowl seats, are awful. Hot, with no protection, and up high. You only get AC in the club area. It is really humid and hot and uncomfortable in Florida from June through October and it’s hard to sit at a ballpark baking for 3 hours here. Also after the first World Series win, the OWNER SOLD OFF THE WHOLE TEAM. RIGHT AFTER THE WORLD SERIES T-SHIRTS WERE PRINTED AND SELLING LIKE HOTCAKES IN THE MAKESHIFT CHAMPIONS STORES. It was heartbreaking. It was like a CRIME. The stadium and the location and the ownership are to blame, not the would-be fans. If they played farther north there would be a bigger fan base available. Sadly the new stadium is even farther away and harder to get to. We can’t win down here. Also the stadium employees are lackluster and unenthusiastic. It’s just not a fun place to go to or to watch a ballgame at.
so since it looks like the Yankees are going to lose and the Red Sox and Mets might win-yuck- I’ll list my personal observations of all the fans at games I’ve actually been to:
Rays-the least knowledgeable. They have to be told in advance on the giant scoreboard when to ring their cowbells (when there are 2 strikes…). The fans around us were also pretty racist but that could happy anywhere.
White Sox-the drunkest and the most anti-NY. Barely made it out alive except it was a walk off HR against Rivera so the fans were in a good mood.
Boston-nice in the expensive seats. Not so nice outside of Fenway, especially pre 2004.
Toronto-the funniest. started chanting “bring back hockey” when the Jays were losing and just overall great hecklers.
Mets-just annoying..also big drinkers.
I just realized besides Shea (still haven’t been to Citi) I’ve never been to any NL parks..I’ll have to do something about that.
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