London, England

London Stadium, also known as Olympic Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, is a multipurpose, outdoor stadium in the Stratford district of London. It was original constructed for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games and is now home to West Ham United.

Originally, the Olympic Game organizers wanted to build a stadium that could be dismantled after the event. This ideas was eventually rejected and the stadium opened to mixed reviews. It was build on an island surounded by the River Lea and Old Pudding Mill River. After the games, there was some legal wrangling over who would be able to take over the stadium. Eventually, a lease was granted to West Ham United soccer team.

A variety of sporting events from Cricket to Rugby have been played. As part of MLB's money grab... I mean expansion of international marketing games, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees played a series here in May of 2019. The Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals were supposed to play a series in 2020, but that was cancelled due to COVID-19.

Evidently, finding a venue for these games was difficult, since most stadiums in the London area are soccer fields, which don't have the correct dimensions. Since this stadium was built for the Olympics, it was the right size. MLB wanted to make this look like a ballpark, because if you go to a game in London, you want it to seem like you're at the game in your neighborhood, and installed a baseball overlay over the existing running track and soccer field. The surface was made out of FieldTurf and clay sourced from Pennsylvania.

© 2021 Paul Healey. Bottom two pictures were provided by Hammersfan. Top picture is in the public domain. I have not been to this park.