Toke Me Out To The Ball Game: HIGH TIMES’ Guide To Lighting Up at MLB Parks

Baseball is back in full swing for another glorious season here in 2017, and pairs perfectly with pot—the game’s played on grass, is it not? Or how about baseball’s opening month being the same as cannabis’ crowning holiday of April 20? Also, the leisurely pace of the game is ideally suited for the drifting, dreamy effects of good weed. 

With baseball, you can space out between pitches or during a boring interval, not like other high-octane sports demanding your constant attention. And what better substance than cannabis to get out there with the game, just as former major league hurler Bill “Spaceman” Lee used to do.

Of course, using pot doesn’t necessarily go hand-in-hand with the whole family-friendly baseball scene, so discretion is often imperative. It’s not like partying at a concert, where artists often encourage—if not outright demand—their audience light up.

Being high at the ballpark often requires stealth smoking, usually conducted in the outfield bleachers or in the upper reaches.

Let’s face it, when you’re watching a game on TV, you don’t generally see too many people passing joints in the box seats behind home plate. So it’s generally a known factor which sections the stoner fans are going to seek out. Invariably, some ballparks are better than others for smoking for a variety of reasons, including the visual aesthetics unique to a given stadium—some timeless, some tacky, but all worthy of being taken in with weed!  

For this compilation, we made sure all six major league divisions are represented, to cover a sizable cross-section of the nation—including big-league teams located in fully legal states. Just for the record, Major League Baseball prohibits any use of pot at their parks, as stated—but when did that ever stop a stoner seeking to make the national pastime a high time?!

So buy me some peanuts and Jack Herer, because as long as we’re stoned at the ol’ ballgame, we don’t care if we ever get back!

DIVISION: National League West
TEAM: San Francisco Giants
HOME: AT&T Park, San Francisco, California
STATE STATUS: Medicinal and recreational legalized, retail shops not open until 2018.
WHY SMOKE THERE: The first inning of this HIGH TIMES tour of the best bud-friendly ballparks has to kick off with the Giants and AT&T. The pot-smoking at this stadium is so prevalent—especially in the right field bleachers—it actually got play during the 2010 World Series, the first ever won by the Giants after moving to San Francisco. As noted by the NY Post, Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton confirmed he “could smell weed in the outfield.” But it wasn’t just the fans—the star pitcher for those 2010 champs was Tim Lincecum, the long haired pot smoking hurler who inspired a reefer rallying cry from the fans of, “Let Tim Smoke!”

DIVISION: American League East
TEAM: New York Yankees
HOME: Yankee Stadium (opened 2009), Bronx, New York
STATE STATUS: Medical legal, dispensaries open.
WHY SMOKE THERE: Pot at the park has been part of baseball in the Bronx since the mid-1960’s when the Yankees went into decline and getting baked at cavernous old Yankee Stadium made Mickey Mantle’s retirement palatable. Even in today’s more corporate, antiseptic experience at the ballpark, there are documented reports of people toking up at the new Yankee Stadium, such as during the 2013 Subway Series between the Yanks and crosstown rivals, the Mets. That same year the Post did a story on stealth smoking of weed via vaporizer throughout the Big Apple, including at Yankee Stadium.  

DIVISION: National League Central
TEAM: Chicago Cubs
HOME: Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois
STATE STATUS: Medical legal, dispensaries open.
WHY SMOKE THERE: Before the Cubs won it all, they were bottom-feeders for many years, and the “bleacher bums” rose above the mediocrity by being stoned. Even today in the crowded confines of the trendy sunbathers in the bleachers, people still party with pot there. Less known but more discreet are the grandstands in the upper decks, shrouded in shadows, as noted by Chiblogo—and you can use those annoying posts that obstruct your view of the field to sneak-a-toke!

DIVISION: American League West
TEAM: Seattle Mariners
HOME: Safeco Field, Seattle, Washington
STATE STATUS: Medical and recreational legal, dispensaries and retail pot shops operating.
WHY SMOKE THERE: What’s not to like in this scenario? A great looking park in the middle of a legal city. Even though the Mariners’ stadium has a fairly clean-cut image, let there be no doubt regarding the use of pot at Safeco, as a 2014 Seattle Times editorial complained. A Reddit thread even provided a picture of someone burning a joint in Safeco’s nosebleed section.

DIVISION: National League West
TEAM: Colorado Rockies
HOME: Coors Field, Denver, Colorado
STATE STATUS: Medical and recreational legal, dispensaries and retail pot shops operating.
WHY SMOKE THERE: The Rockies’ park might be named for a beer brand, but pot also has its presence, as the dank is such a part of Denver culture you can bet your sweet bud that it’s also seeped into watching live sports! A 2014 New York Times article noted pregame sports tailgating in the Mile High City incorporates weed. Cannabis at Coors was so ubiquitous it forced the team to put a sign prohibiting pot around April 20, 2014, as noted by Deadspin.

DIVISION: American League East
TEAM: Boston Red Sox
HOME: Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
STATE STATUS: Medicinal and recreational legalized, only 10 medical dispensaries in operation, retail shops in limbo.
WHY SMOKE THERE: Gotta light up a jay at Fenway. The home of the fabled “Green Monster”‚the 37 foot-high left-field wall—just begs to be paid tribute with a puff or two of some green ganja. And now that Massachusetts has joined the ranks of legal states, the quality and availability of weed are eventually going to rise at the classic ball field. The Lead Sports ran a piece authored by a Red Sox fan who sneaked bathroom bowl hits that kept him ripped throughout the Bosox’ classic Game 4 triumph over the aforementioned Yankees in the classic 2004 American League Championship Series.

DIVISION: National League East
TEAM: Philadelphia Phillies
HOME: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
STATE STATUS: Medicinal legalized, only oils and liquids, no flowers, no dispensaries yet.
WHY SMOKE THERE: Phillies’ fans have a rep for being some of the edgiest in baseball, and you can bet that includes smoking weed at the ballpark. An anonymous Phillies fan we interviewed advised where to best get stoned at Citizens Bank: “Terrace level, the higher the better, literally. Section 420 is actually a decent spot… Lol…For real.” On Opening Day 2015, Philly pot activist Richard Tamaccio staged a pro-medical marijuana protest outside the stadium, as reported by My City Paper.

DIVISION: American League Central
TEAM: Detroit Tigers
HOME: Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan
STATE STATUS: Medical legalized, dispensaries in operation.
WHY SMOKE THERE: At old dilapidated Tigers Stadium, smoking weed was de rigueur in the stands, and in their new glorious park, fans still get stoned with Detroit dank in the farthest upper reaches, apparently impervious to security, as detailed on Yelp.

DIVISION: National League East
TEAM: Miami Marlins
HOME: Marlins Park, Miami, Florida
STATE STATUS:  Medical legalized, dispensaries in operation.
WHY SMOKE THERE: Miami’s marijuana scene isn’t as (in)famous as its cocaine reputation, but being such an international, coastal city, there’s plenty of bud flowing through South Beach. At the stadium, you probably want to toke up in the upper stands to get a stoner eye’s view of the wild home run sculpture, as profiled by Deadspin. Preferably smoke a strong sensory-enhancing citrus sativa strain to take in all the Park’s bright pastel colors, then try the homemade Cuban ice cream for your sweet-tooth munchies.

DIVISION: American League West
TEAM: Oakland A’s
HOME: Oakland-Alameda Coliseum, Oakland, California
STATE STATUS: Medicinal and recreational legalized, retail shops not open until 2018.
WHY SMOKE THERE: For our 10th and “extra inning” of smoking stadiums, we begin where we started, in Northern California, this time on the east side of the Bay in the now antiquated multi-purpose stadium that hosts the A’s. What better place to smoke some Green Crack and/or Cali Gold strains than at the home of the “Green & Gold,” the nickname for the team’s colorful uniforms? These days, the right-field bleachers are filled with fans blowing air horns, beating war drums and burning plenty of superior NorCal cannabis, as delineated by Deadspin.

RELATED: The HIGH TIMES Guide to Flying with Marijuana
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