Thursday, September 9, 2010

PETCO Park

PETCO Park Home of the San Diego Padres 
100 Park Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92101
Monday, May 4, 2009 7:05PM
Colorado Rockies defeat San Diego Padres 9-6
Built in 2004
Seating Capacity 42,445

Stadium Location
The location of PETCO Park is awesome! It's built right in the city with downtown buildings all around it. It's very easy to get to with convenient parking all around, we parked under the convention center and walked over on Tony Gwynn Way, (apparently he was kind of a big deal). Plus, the Gaslight Quarter is right around the corner from the ballpark with bar and restaurants for pre/post game action!



Overall Look and Feel
The Padres website says PETCO Park is spectacular in every way, combining the best sight lines in baseball with breathtaking views of San Diego. Architecturally magnificent, it celebrates the sea, the sky, the natural beauty, cultural diversity and unique spirit of our region. Innovative design features evoke the timeless traditions of baseball in an intimate setting, with state-of-the-art fan amenities to suit every taste and budget.

From the outside, and also inside, the stadium looks like it was built into buildings that were previously there. The historic Western Metal Supply Company Building has been renovated and incorporated into the Ballpark. The main concourse is spacious, open and airy with views of the field all around. Once inside it seems like you entered into another town. In fact, Tim thought we left the stadium as we were walking around!  The stadium felt modern but also had historic charm. Condos, office buildings, hotels, and even a gym surround the stadium and can see into the park. The outfield area was done very well. There is a grassy hill you can lay a picnic blanket out on to relax and watch the game. A video screen even faced the outfield so you didn't miss any of the scoreboard antics. There was an awesome mini baseball diamond and a large grass area where kids and their dads were playing catch and wiffle ball. Great views all around and a nice added touch was mini scoreboards in each section. 
 



Food
Funny story... I ordered a pretzel with cheese (as I do at a lot of the games we go to) and the concession man gave me a strange look. He asked me what I was going to do with the cheese. I told him it's for dipping the pretzel. He seemed very confused and brought me a huge cup of cheese with my pretzel. He said that he has never heard of a soft pretzel with cheese before!

Garlic fries were recommended at this park but we couldn't do it. They just smelled so bad when we walked by. The hot dog was on the list of things to avoid, however we decided we had to try a hot dog at every stadium from here on out. We should have stayed away. It was wrinkly and just not good. I think the bun might have even been soggy. Thank goodness for the giant cup of cheese we had to dip it in!



WOW Factor
The outfield in general was very cool. We spent most of the game sitting on the grass hill watching the game. The way the Western Metal Supply Company building was built into the stadium was very neat. We also loved the way the city seemed to be built around the ballpark. Very urban! The park overall was very impressive!
 


Scoreboard and Entertainment
The video screen was not overly impressive in size but was clear and bright. The black and white screen above the video screen showed the live scores, box score and other player statistics. Tim says classic, I say dull.


Overall Experience
Rating 4.5
While buying our shot glass for this stadium we realized how silly San Diego's mascot is. Padre is Spanish for Father and that's exactly what their mascot is, a priest/monk. We had a great time at this park and thought it was pretty impressive overall! The stadium was family friendly and had lots of details that made it unique from the other parks. As a side note, we were able to make this trip due to the SparkPeople convention hosted in San Diego. We stayed a few days after for a mini-vacation and to go to the game!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

AT&T Park

AT&T Park Home of the San Francisco Giants
24 Willie Mays Plaza
San Francisco, California 94107

June 14, 2008
Oakland Athletics defeat San Francisco Giants: 4-0
Built in 2000
Seating Capacity 41,503

Stadium Location
AT&T Park is located right on the bay. It's so close that home runs can be hit into McCovey Cove. The upper levels of the park have a great view of the bay and the Bay Bridge. The stadium is kind of out of the way, not really in the city. We drove to the game and parking was kind of expensive and a little shady (the garage man parks your car and keeps the keys), however, public transportation was available.  Be prepared for it to be very breezy with a chill in the air!



Overall Look and Feel
The Giants web site describes AT&T Park as a classic urban ballpark with an old-time feel and all the amenities of modern ball parks. Inspired by Wrigley Field and Fenway Park and modeled after Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Jacobs Field and Coors Field.

The Front main entrance has a neat look and feel to it with the iron gates and tall brick columns.Very traditional. The main concourse was standard with vendors on the outside and the open viewing area to the field before the lower sections. The outfield was a bit rowdy with it being a game against the city across the bay. The giant coke playground area was very kid friendly and very impressive. In the outfield there was also a concession area that had traditional San Francisco foods. We sat out in the bleachers for a bit and barley noticed the plaque for Barry Bonds' home run *accomplishment. It was so small!



Food
Reviews recommend staying away from the garlic fried... and one sniff was enough for us to realize why!
Pretty good beer selection. Ghirardelli had a hot chocolate stand that was very yummy and clutch with the cool weather. We waited in a decent line for it!




WOW Factor
The huge Coca Cola bottle and glove were really impressive. We also thought the location of the stadium bring right on the bay was very cool.


Scoreboard and Entertainment
We sat in the bleachers for the first couple of innings so we couldn't really see the scoreboard. The video screen was up to date and large with a wide screen. Next to the giant Coke bottle it was the main focal point of the stadium. The AT&T Park logo and the analog clock were a very cool touch. The light towers on both sides of the scoreboard gave it a historic feel.



Overall Experience -
Rating 3.5
AT&T Park is a great place to watch a game. We Really enjoyed the park and all the details put into it. There was a promotion give away that day, we got a Giants hankie. I tied it on my purse... it was so cute! A man saw that we were shivering (and by we I mean me) and gave us his tickets to the club level. It gave us a chance to get out of the chilly air and warm up. The club level was awesome. There were nicer concession options, like roast beef, and we were able to watch the game from behind a glass viewing wall. There was also bar seating all along the glass wall. There were figurines of Snoopy and the peanuts gang all round the level. I love snoopy! A big thanks to that man for the tickets. Without them we would have missed a great part of the ballpark.  

Monday, September 6, 2010

Goals of MLB Balpark Tour

We decided a few years ago that as husband and wife we wanted to visit every Major League Baseball stadium.That's a total of 30 ballparks - 14 American League and 16 in the National League. There is no set time table of when this will be accomplished, so we have a lifetime to get to all of them. We will plan some vacations around a visit, make some special trips just for the stadium visit, and will also try to see our Cincinnati Reds while they are the visiting team.

We created a few guidelines for us to follow to be sure we inspect each stadium the same.

Stadium Inspection Guide:

  •      Walk all the way around the stadium on the outside
  •      Check out the main concourse all the way around.
  •      Make it up the second viewing level
  •      Get a hot dog
  •      Try authentic food in the stadium if applicable and in the mood (Finding the Hits, Avoiding the Errors)
  •      Pictures of the scoreboard and any other unique features including food
  •      Buy shot glass
  •      Take a picture behind home plate
  •      Stay for multiple innings for in game entertainment and home team experience
  •      Sit in a seat in the lower sections

For each stadium we have a series of categories that we will be evaluating. We also have a rating system based on 1-5 stars for our overall experience of the stadium.

Rating Criteria:

  •      Stadium location
  •      Overall look and feel
  •      Food
  •      Wow factor
  •      Scoreboard and in game entertainment
  •      Over all experience – Rating 1-5 stars

This blog will be used to document our memories of each ballpark and also for your enjoyment! We hope to see you at your home town stadium soon! Feel free to buy us a beer if we run into you!

Rooting for the home team (if they aren't playing the reds),

T&K