Jacob's Field

This is another park I have only been to once so far. It was during my mini-baseball tour with Marc (The Gue) over Memorial Day weekend in 2006. [For the record, I also drove past the stadium while it was under construction in 1993.] When it was new, Jacob’s Field was one of the back-to-the-future parks done by the same architects who designed Camden Yards. They followed the new trend of having straight outfield walls. By today’s standards this is a typical major league park, but when it opened, this and Camden were the crown jewels. It is still a very nice ballpark to see a game in. The lower seats in right field are closer to field level than the lower seats in left. There is no unique aspect to the park that I noticed. Not a flaw by any means.



The area around the park is pretty sparse as far as non-game activities and night life. [Or at least we didn’t see much.] When we checked into the hotel the night before Marc and I asked the hotel clerks where we could go for dinner – preferably a sports bar. They suggested the Winking Lizard. We looked at each other and said, “What other dining establishments are nearby?” The answer was none, so we went to the Lizard which turned out to be a large, crowded sports bar with good pub food. The next morning we asked about getting breakfast. They suggested the mall up the street as the only option. The mall had a food court with a fine assortment of…mall food but we weren’t really in the mood for Panda Express or Subway for breakfast. The only thing we found was the Ritz Carlton hotel restaurant. Expensive, but tasty.

Under Construction

For the game I attended we sat in the lower level in right field. We initially had field level tickets on the third base side but we traded them at customer service for shaded seats. (The ‘medical condition’ incident.) We had attended a game in Cincinnati the day before and had to move to shaded seats. It was one of those hot/sunny/humid summer days. This was a 1:05pm start with temperature in the low 80’s, 80% humidity, and not a cloud in the sky.

The Indians were mediocre that year despite having CC Sabathia. He had little help with Aaron Boone, Grady Sizemore, and Ronnie Belliard for position players and the rest of the starting rotation consisted of Paul “he’ll only be out 2 weeks” Byrd, Cliff Lee, and Jake Westbrook. They were playing the White Sox who were coming off their World Series win the year before. They would finish this season with a respectable 90-72 record which would qualify them for third place in the AL Central. They had signed Jim Thome in the off season – which drew a mixed reaction from the Cleveland fans. [He would hit two home runs this game]. The Sox had kept Scott Podsednik, Paul Konerko, and Jermaine Dye. They also retained Mark Buehrle, Jose Contreras, and Freddy Garcia. What they lost was the momentum they had in 2005. The game we saw was a blowout win for the visiting White Sox. Javier Vasquez pitched a solid start while Cliff Lee got shelled. Seven of nine starting White Sox (and three of four pinch hitters) had hits including four home runs. Conversely the Indians managed two hits the entire game.

 

Turner Field

I have attended one game at Turner Field so far. I went to opening day in 1999 which was the Braves third year in the park. This was a slight remodeling of the stadium used to host the Olympics in 1996. (And of course the Paralympics later that same year.) This is a nicely designed park. During this time of ballpark construction many fields were designing concession areas that were more open to the field as opposed to having to walk through tunnels to get food. Turner Field may not have been first to do this but they set the bar for future parks. There is a kids play area in the loge section above left field. It’s not really big but you can watch the game while your kid plays. They also have a large open bar area above the seats in right-center – for kids over 21. The park has a large space in front of the park by the main entrance.
I attended the BRBL (fantasy baseball) draft in Charlotte that weekend and stopped in Atlanta for the game on my way back to San Diego. As you would expect, a Braves opening day in the late 1990’s was a full house. I had a ticket in the field level on the first base side. The way the seating is arranged, the field level seats are not contiguous with the lower outfield seats. I was only a few rows up – but in the last seat of the field level. The Braves had run away with the NL East the past year and would win their division again easily this year. They had Chipper Jones, Brian Jordan, and Andruw Jones on offense but their strength was pitching; Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, and John Rocker as the closer. They were playing the Phillies who were pretty good, just not as good as the Braves. They had some great players in Bobby Abreu, Scott Rolen, and Doug Glanville (who would hit .325 with 34 SB’s that year). Their pitching was a little more suspect with Paul Byrd, Curt Schilling, and the rookie Randy Wolf. This opening day went to the visiting Phillies. Schilling had an OK outing, but better than Glavine. The Phillies scored two in the 7th and two in the 9th to win the game. Jeff Brantley got the save. Rolen had a home run and Glanville got a stolen base.
Since I was only at the park for one game, I decided to walk around the stadium about the 5th inning. As I was admiring the view of the field from the concession area behind home plate I swear a foul ball hit my empty seat.

Overall I think this is a very nice park. My only complaint is the naming of the stadium. The level of Ted Turner’s narcissism is amazing. It’s not as though there were any famous Atlanta ballplayers to name the park after like Hank Aaron. Oh wait...

UPDATE September 2016: I decided to visit Turner Field one last time before it closed. I saw two games of the first place Nationals versus the last place Braves. The first night was Max Scherzer against John Gant. Max got the best of this matchup giving up 2 ER over 7 innings. Rookie Trea Turner went 4-5 with a HR, 2 RBI, and 2 SB. The second game was Gio Gonzalez vs Josh Collmenter. The Braves ran away with this game despite Turner going 3-4 with 2 HR and a SB.

There seemed to be mixed feelings about the new ballpark. A lot of the stadium staff didn't think they would work at the new stadium. One of them has been working for the Braves for 16 years but getting to the new park is just too time consuming to make it worth it. There is really nothing wrong with this park. The video scoreboard could use some repair and there are a number of cockroaches running around the concourse. This is about moving to a white neighborhood. Shame on you Braves organization.    

Bank One Ballpark/Chase Field

I grew up mostly in the Phoenix area, however the city didn’t get a home baseball team until after I moved to San Diego. Until then Phoenicians would have to settle for one month a year of baseball during spring training. When it was announced that the Diamondbacks franchise was awarded I called my good friend Gary and made arrangements to visit the city. This happened to coincide with my second BRBL (fantasy baseball) draft. We held the draft in Phoenix opening day weekend – which is not a particularly good time for baseball since the spring training teams have all left to play exhibition games in their home cities and the regular season doesn’t start until Monday. To make matters worse, it rained that weekend. 

 The ballpark, however, was awesome. The stadium was open for the public to walk through and they were still installing seats up until the last day before the first game. I saw the first three games played in the park which included an exhibition game and the first two regular season games. The exhibition game was interesting and we sat really high on the first base side. The real opening game was against the Rockies. The ticket to the game (scalped) cost more that my airfare from San Diego. We sat in the lower level on the third base side. They D-Backs were big on opening ceremonies. They had a number of former all star players, although I’m not exactly sure what their connection was to the D-Backs or Phoenix. One of the really geeky things they did for the opening ceremony was to have the groundskeepers rappel from the roof to the field, in tuxedos, to put the bases on the field. I think this made a lot of sense to the owners since rappelling and tuxedos are often associated with baseball. Not.

The stadium itself is an imposing structure that dominates that section of downtown. From the outside it has a lot of red brick in the lower half with glass and steel on the upper half. They tend to leave the roof open. The inside of the park is well laid out. The unique aspect of this park is the swimming pool in right-center field. That part of the outfield wall is clear and the pool water is flush with field level. In the few games I have attended in person, and many games I have seen on TV, the pool is one of those attractions that brings people to the ballpark that don’t want to watch the game. One of the really cool features of the stadium is the air conditioner (pun intended). During my second and third trips to Phoenix to see a game, the temperature was over 100 degrees. The air conditioners worked so well for the second game (about 102 outside) I could have worn a sweatshirt and been comfortable. Surprisingly parking is not that big of an issue in this area. The park did a great job of re-gentrifying that area. When I lived there it was known as a good place to buy drugs. The America West/US Airways arena is also in that area.


For my first two (regular season) games at the BOB, we saw a Diamondbacks expansion team made up of former good players from other teams; Matt Williams, Devon White, Jay Bell, and Andy Benes. They played the Rockies who were now in their sixth year. Both teams would finish at the bottom of the NL West. The Rockies had Vinny Castilla, Larry Walker, Neifi Perez. This was Pedro Astacio’s first full season with the Rockies after being traded in the middle of the 1997 season. This was also Todd Helton’s first full season after playing in 35 games in 1997. The opening day game was a loss for the D-Backs on a strong Darryl Kile outing. Castilla had two home runs and Helton had two doubles. The second game was another win for the Rockies on a John Thompson shutout (one of his three career shutouts). Castilla had another home run and Helton had another double.

The next time I was in Phoenix for a game was in May 2000. My friend Gary got nice seats in the loge level between home and first base (closer to home). They played the Brewers. Neither team would contend for their division but they were both out of the cellar. The Diamondbacks still had Jay Bell but since my last trip they had added Steve Finley, Luis Gonzalez, and Tony Womack. They also had Randy Johnson in his second year as a D-Back and Curt Schilling in his first. The following year the Diamondbacks would win the World Series. The Brewers had decent offense in Jeromy Burnitz, Marquis Grissom, and Ronnie Belliard. They had terrible starting pitching. Perhaps this was because they decided to only start players whose first name started with ‘J’ (Jason Bere, Jeff D’Amico, Jimmy Haynes, John Snyder, and Jamey Wright). This game was a win for the D-Backs on a fair Armando Reynoso outing. Byung-Hyun Kim got the save. He was still a year away from taking the full-time closer job. Steve Finley and Luis Gonzales had home runs.

UPDATE July 2009: I was in town and caught a game against the Phillies. Since I’m writing this before the end of the season I can’t say how either team will finish this year, however, the Phillies are coming off a World Series championship from last year and are leading their division. The Diamondbacks are not likely to contend for a playoff spot this year and may finish at the bottom of the NL West. We sat behind the plate about 25 rows up. The roof had been open earlier in the day. I knew this since my plane flew directly over the stadium that morning. This was a great game for the D-Backs. On paper the Phillies should have won just on starting pitchers alone. Yusmeiro Petit would combine with three other AZ pitchers for a shutout against J.A. Happ who had been pitching really well until this game. One complaint I have about the stadium for this game were the ushers. This game drew about 23,000 fans. There were plenty of open seats but this fat woman usher kept making people move – including a small family laterally across an aisle. (Sorry junior. You have to sit in the seat behind these tall guys rather than the same row across the aisle where you could actually see the field.) She kept at this the whole game moving people as late as the bottom of the 8th inning. I appreciate people taking their job seriously, but come on. Have another HoHo and lighten up. 

UPDATE April 2014: My roto league came to AZ for the draft and spring training games. Most of us stuck around for opening day against the Giants. [OK...technically not opening day for the DBacks as they opened in Japan earlier.] We saw Madison Bumgarner against Brandon McCarthy. MadBum had an early night after 4 unearned runs through 4. The Giants ended up winning 9-8. Two events lowered my opinion of AZ fans substantially. First, during the game my friend BoCJ was talking...a lot. About the 7th inning this guy at the end of the row goes off on him and tells BoCJ to shut the f**k up. Other people in the section agreed with the angry guy. Granted BoCJ was talking a lot, he was talking about baseball. The other event was on the trolley after the game. An AZ fan starts harassing a Giants fan just for being there. How dare he attend a game in AZ in anything other that approved DBacks gear. The double standard because it is OK to support the DBacks in other stadiums. My favorite quote was, "Why are you tainting my State?" This would have been funny if the asshole hadn't been dead serious.