Jack Murphy Stadium had to be my last entry [excluding new stadia I have not yet visited]. I have attended hundreds of games at this park. For some of the years I was a season ticket holder. I moved to San Diego in October 1989. My second night in San Diego was the World Series game that was cancelled between Oakland and San Francisco. So my first full season in a city with professional baseball was 1990.
I used to consider Jack Murphy to be the best dual-purpose stadium. I still think this is true up until the stadium expansion in 1998. Pre-expansion, the stadium was open at one end [above right field for baseball and one of the end zones for football]. There was an open feeling and a nice view of Mission Valley. It’s hard to beat the weather in San Diego. I think there were less than five rain-outs in the 15 years I lived there. The field was typically in great shape until football season. One of the coolest things the stadium did was to install ‘computer seats’ for two seasons. To give proper credit, they were really for football games, which explains why there were in the loge level at first base and left field [aka the 50 yard line]. In these sections, every other seat had a touch screen computer that allowed the user to see instant replay, live broadcast from all of the camera angles, and some other TV stations like ESPN. This was in 1998 – an era before smart phones when showing the replay of a close call on the JumboTron was just not done. As a hockey fan, having the computer seats allowed us to see Stanley Cup playoff games while at the Padre game. The computer seats were removed after two seasons.
To get to the upper deck seats, there were a few escalators. San Diego fans are pretty laid back and getting in was always easy. There were also these circular ramps. You would alternate between walking down [or up] a section on the outside, then continue on the interior. I went to the playoff games against the Astros in 1998. Following one of the games we were walking down the ramps and the cheering in the interior was probably the loudest noise I have ever heard at a stadium.
The stadium had a big parking lot that surrounded the stadium. I would give mixed reviews on tailgating there. On the plus side, there was a lot of room. They had special concrete cylinders for hot coals. On the down side you were not allowed to use more than your assigned parking spot. Most people would use an adjacent empty spot until the parking lot started to fill up. The police patrolled the lot as well and you were not allowed to throw baseballs or footballs – even Nerf balls. Most people still did and the police would only harass people if they gave them an attitude. A huge addition to the stadium was the extension of the San Diego Trolley line to the parking lot. Prior to this you were pretty much at the mercy of the parking lot to get to the game. The alternatives were some street parking that was not very close to the stadium.
The food was very generic with two notable exceptions. One, Rubio’s Fish Tacos were very popular. There was always a big line there. The other, Randy Jones [former great Padre pitcher] had a barbeque restaurant which was really good. Randy was usually present and friendly with fans.
As I mentioned before, I have attended a lot of games here. I went to the home opener almost every year. It would be impossible to sum all of the great players and events I saw so I’ll give the abbreviated version:
Trevor Hoffman was also amazing to watch. He was acquired from the Marlins. On his first night in San Diego, my friend John and I were at the game. Trevor was talking to a friend of his at the railing by the bullpen. John and I went down and introduced ourselves and welcomed him to San Diego. I’m sure Trevor has fond memories of that interaction. [OK, maybe not.] It was great to see a dominant closer in San Diego for all those years. In the early 2000’s my favorite trivia question at games was “who was the Padre closer before Trevor?” Most people didn’t know. [It was Randy Myers.]
Some of my other favorite Padres to watch: Ken Caminiti, Roberto Alomar, Greg Vaughn, Steve Finley, Kevin Brown [for that one year], Fred McGriff, Gary Sheffield, Rickey Henderson, and Wally Joyner. That’s not to say there weren’t other good players to come through San Diego. Other people I saw in the Padre uniform included Joe Carter, Jack Clark, Fernando Valenzuela, Tony Fernandez, and Ryan Klesko. For visiting players, if they were a regular starter in the NL from 1990 to 2003, I probably saw them at least once.
Jack Murphy was a good ballpark…pre-expansion. The Padres definitely upgraded by moving into Petco but I have very good memories of the Murph.
I used to consider Jack Murphy to be the best dual-purpose stadium. I still think this is true up until the stadium expansion in 1998. Pre-expansion, the stadium was open at one end [above right field for baseball and one of the end zones for football]. There was an open feeling and a nice view of Mission Valley. It’s hard to beat the weather in San Diego. I think there were less than five rain-outs in the 15 years I lived there. The field was typically in great shape until football season. One of the coolest things the stadium did was to install ‘computer seats’ for two seasons. To give proper credit, they were really for football games, which explains why there were in the loge level at first base and left field [aka the 50 yard line]. In these sections, every other seat had a touch screen computer that allowed the user to see instant replay, live broadcast from all of the camera angles, and some other TV stations like ESPN. This was in 1998 – an era before smart phones when showing the replay of a close call on the JumboTron was just not done. As a hockey fan, having the computer seats allowed us to see Stanley Cup playoff games while at the Padre game. The computer seats were removed after two seasons.
To get to the upper deck seats, there were a few escalators. San Diego fans are pretty laid back and getting in was always easy. There were also these circular ramps. You would alternate between walking down [or up] a section on the outside, then continue on the interior. I went to the playoff games against the Astros in 1998. Following one of the games we were walking down the ramps and the cheering in the interior was probably the loudest noise I have ever heard at a stadium.
The stadium had a big parking lot that surrounded the stadium. I would give mixed reviews on tailgating there. On the plus side, there was a lot of room. They had special concrete cylinders for hot coals. On the down side you were not allowed to use more than your assigned parking spot. Most people would use an adjacent empty spot until the parking lot started to fill up. The police patrolled the lot as well and you were not allowed to throw baseballs or footballs – even Nerf balls. Most people still did and the police would only harass people if they gave them an attitude. A huge addition to the stadium was the extension of the San Diego Trolley line to the parking lot. Prior to this you were pretty much at the mercy of the parking lot to get to the game. The alternatives were some street parking that was not very close to the stadium.
The food was very generic with two notable exceptions. One, Rubio’s Fish Tacos were very popular. There was always a big line there. The other, Randy Jones [former great Padre pitcher] had a barbeque restaurant which was really good. Randy was usually present and friendly with fans.
As I mentioned before, I have attended a lot of games here. I went to the home opener almost every year. It would be impossible to sum all of the great players and events I saw so I’ll give the abbreviated version:
- In July 1990, a co-worker with season tickets invited me to a double-header against the Reds. The big draw for the game…Rosanne Barr was going to sing the National Anthem. She ‘sang’ between games and by my recollection, there were as many people cheering as booing.
- In 1992 the All Star Game was going to be played in San Diego. In order to get tickets, MLB set up a lottery system. You sent a letter asking to be in the lottery and could submit one letter per address. I asked my co-workers who were not sports fans if I could submit using their address. I managed to put in 10 letters – and hit on three of them. One of the people who swore he wasn’t interested in going to the game suddenly changed his mind when his address was one of the winners. [Dick.] It was a good game to see. Griffey Jr. won the game MVP.
- In 1993 I was a season ticket holder. The owners were getting rid of all of the expensive talent in order to sell the team. For obvious reasons, the fans were unhappy. To placate them, the season ticket holders all received a letter from the owners letting us know that no other good players would be traded this year. Two weeks later Fred McGriff was traded to the Braves.
- In May 1994 I went to the Reds game when Tom Browning broke his arm. I could hear the pop from my seat.
- Somewhere in the mid-90’s the Padres introduced the worst mascot to date. It was a dog-like character with a giant baseball for a nose named “Bleupper”. I don’t think anyone liked this mascot and fortunately he didn’t make a second season.
- The 1998 playoff series against the Astros and Braves. I had tickets to every game. For the World Series against the Yankees I had a ticket to game 5. It was a sweep for New York. One of my co-workers ended up throwing away a ticket for game 3 since someone didn’t show up. [Rachel, if you’re reading this…I’m still a little bitter.]
Trevor Hoffman was also amazing to watch. He was acquired from the Marlins. On his first night in San Diego, my friend John and I were at the game. Trevor was talking to a friend of his at the railing by the bullpen. John and I went down and introduced ourselves and welcomed him to San Diego. I’m sure Trevor has fond memories of that interaction. [OK, maybe not.] It was great to see a dominant closer in San Diego for all those years. In the early 2000’s my favorite trivia question at games was “who was the Padre closer before Trevor?” Most people didn’t know. [It was Randy Myers.]
Some of my other favorite Padres to watch: Ken Caminiti, Roberto Alomar, Greg Vaughn, Steve Finley, Kevin Brown [for that one year], Fred McGriff, Gary Sheffield, Rickey Henderson, and Wally Joyner. That’s not to say there weren’t other good players to come through San Diego. Other people I saw in the Padre uniform included Joe Carter, Jack Clark, Fernando Valenzuela, Tony Fernandez, and Ryan Klesko. For visiting players, if they were a regular starter in the NL from 1990 to 2003, I probably saw them at least once.
Jack Murphy was a good ballpark…pre-expansion. The Padres definitely upgraded by moving into Petco but I have very good memories of the Murph.
It will be great to watch Houston Astros,i have bought tickets from TicketFront.com looking forward to it.
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