PNC Park

PNC is one of my favorite parks. The design is nice, there are good views of the field from the seats, and there’s a great view of downtown. There are shrubs in the outfield that are trimmed to the word “Pirates.” The stadium has Permani Brothers sandwiches – which are the ones where they put the fries inside the sandwich (very tasty). I have only seen one game here so far. It was during my 2006 Memorial Day road trip with The Gue. We had just come from the day game in Cleveland and made it to PNC about 30-45 minutes before game time – just enough to find parking, grab a Permani Brothers, and get settled in our seats. We were on the first base side, lower level. We entered the stadium from the home plate entrance, right behind the Honus Wagner statue. It was a nice position for a nice statue.

We saw a terrible Pirates team – who finished one game above the Cubs to stay out of last place and have the second worst record in the NL that year. They had Jason Bay, Jeromy Burnitz, and Jack Wilson on offense and Zach Duke, Oliver Perez, and Ian Snell in the starting rotation. Matt Capps was in the bullpen but not the closer yet. They also had Nate McClouth and Ryan Doumit in their second season in the majors. Unrealized potential. They were playing a mediocre Milwaukee Brewers team that had Prince Fielder, Carlos Lee, JJ Hardy, Bill Hall, and Rickie Weeks. The Brewers had minimal pitching that year.

 

The game was a blow-out win for the Pirates. During the game, Prince Fielder hit a monster shot that landed in the Allegheny. During the game one of the vendors walking the stands would yell “Lemonade!” – but they he said it sounded more like “Limmy!” in the same voice as “Timmy!” from south park. I doubt this was intentional which made it that much funnier. One more thing about this particular trip. The Gue didn’t take any time off from work. Our plan was to see the game and drive back to Philadelphia so he could teach the next day. Since it was a blow-out, Gue wanted to leave early. As a matter of principle I don’t like to leave games early. Gue says, “We’re leaving at 10:00pm sharp – no matter what the score is.” At 9:59 – it’s the top of the 9th with two outs and the Pirates clearly in control. Gue gets up at 10:00 and leaves. I decide to walk a little slower and watch the game as I exit. Sure enough, the game is over and I walk out the exit right in front of the Roberto Clemente statue. I said to myself, “Cool! It’s the Clemente statue!...But didn’t I come in at the Honus Wagner statue?” The Gue was not happy. I made my way back to the home plate entrance and got the silent treatment as Gue drove 85+mph the whole way back to Philadelphia.

 

Oakland-Alameda Coliseum

I was able to see games at Oakland Coliseum before and after the Al Davis monstrosity in center field. This was a dual-purpose stadium built in the 1960’s. Originally it had relatively low seating compared to most other stadiums of its’ era. It is right next to the arena where the Warriors play and they share the parking lot. Another bonus is the stadium is right at a BART station for easy mass-transit access. The loge level seats were pretty close to the field and made for a nice baseball experience. 

The first game I saw there was in 1992 against the Mariners. This was a good A’s team who would win their division this year. They had Rickey Henderson, Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Terry Steinbach, Dave Stewart, and Dennis Eckersley. They also had Goose Gossage in the bullpen but he would pitch less than 40 innings that year. They played a bad Mariners team who would finish last in the division and the second worst record in baseball that year. They had good players in Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, and Randy Johnson. This game was a win or the A’s on a strong outing by Dave Stewart (and non-save outing by Gossage). There were home runs by Canseco and Jay Buhner.

Outfield Before Al Davis

Outfield After Al Davis

My next trip to the stadium was in 1996 during my Bay Area trip with John. [See the Candlestick Park entry.] It’s the trip I cured Jon of his bridge phobia! This was also during the time when they were constructing the Al Davis monstrosity in center. John had his picture taken with the weird A’s guy who wore the propeller beanie, played a banjo, and wore an A’s flag as a cape. We saw three games against the Brewers – both teams were mediocre and would finish under .500 this year. The A’s still had McGwire and Steinbach. They also had Jason Giambi. The Brewers had Greg Vaughn, Jeff Cirillo, and Jose Valentin. The A’s would lose two of the three games. Ricky Bones threw a great game on the first day. In the third game McGwire and Steinbach had home runs as the only scoring in a blow out by the Brewers. Three funny things happened during this series I’d like to mention. At the first game we saw, John and I got to the stadium early and went down to the field during batting practice (so we could go talk to Steinbach). After the A’s went into the locker room, we walked around the park and stopped to buy a program. The guy selling programs had on a huge ring that looked like a championship ring. Naturally we asked about it. He suddenly became very self-conscious (covering his ring with his other hand) and explained that the last year the A’s went to the World Series that ownership bought all employees championship rings, including the concession workers. I think it’s great that the owners would think about all employees in such a manner, I just question this guys judgment in wearing it to games. During the third game we saw something else funny. We were in the loge section along the first base side. There were a lot of open seats. At the end of our section (closer to home plate) there was a couple with an infant child. Beyond them in the next section was a group of people in their early 50’s. Mark Loretta, in his first full season in the majors, hits a foul ball to our section. The father of the infant child, who was drinking heavily and sporting a collection of tattoo’s, scooped up the ball and appropriately raised it to show the crowd. Immediately following the catch, one of the 50-year-olds came over. He explained that he was with Mark’s parents, this was their first time seeing him play live in the majors, and could they please have the ball. [By this time it was apparent that he was also pretty drunk.] The guy with the ball thought about it and said, “No. If my kid wasn’t with me, I’d let you have it.” Just in case you missed the irony, let me paraphrase, “If my INFANT CHILD WHO NO DOUBT WILL NEVER RECALL BEING AT THIS GAME wasn’t with me…” The drunk argument/negotiation that followed was pretty entertaining. One more funny thing about the stadium during this time, the construction was going on during the season meaning the construction crew was working during day games. At some point during the game they would play YMCA and the construction workers would stop working and dance. I don’t know how skilled they were as construction workers, but I can tell you they sucked at dancing.

John with Banjo Guy 1996

John with Banjo Guy 2013

The last time I was there was in 2003 right before a BRBL draft. We saw a good A’s team (division winners that year) against a mediocre Anaheim Angels team. The A’s had decent offense with Miguel Tejada and Eric Chavez but their strength was in their starting rotation of Tim Hudson, Ted Lilly, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito. The Angels had Tim Salmon, Garrett Anderson, and Troy Percival. They also had Ron Gant in his last major league season. The A’s would win that game on a good Lilly outing. Tejada and Chavez had stolen bases.

 
UPDATE 04/01/2011: I was in SF for another BRBL draft and the Giants were out of town. So the Buttheads jumped on the BART and went to opening day in Oakland. The stands were sort of packed. The A’s ownership [who are considering moving the team to San Jose] tarped most of the seats in the upper deck forcing the lower levels to appear more full. [As though no one would notice the tarps…] There was a lot of talk amongst the locals about ownership moving the club. I appreciated the t-shirts that said “STAY” with the A’s logo as the A. Oakland was coming off a .500 season and expectations for the post-season this year were low. While the stands were ‘full’, the real action during the game was happening in the massive bar behind home plate. It was 20,000 sqft of massive alcohol consumption. Except for a few seats no one could see the game, and I don’t think anyone cared. The game itself featured 2010 Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez and the Mariners. King Felix gave up two runs in the first on a Josh Willingham HR before he settled down and pitched a complete game [2 ER, 5 H&W]. The Mariners won 6-2. Chone Figgins for the A’s had a HR in the 6th inning. This would end up being his only HR in 2011.

Ballpark at Arlington

This is one of the back to the future parks built in the early 90’s. When you approach the stadium it’s by a large pond and not near any other large buildings so it stands out. The outfield has an adjacent office building that overlooks the field. Behind center field is a statue of Nolan Ryan and a kids play area. Unfortunately you can’t see the field from the play area. Right field has an upper deck with front seats almost flush with the outfield wall. At the top of these seats is a Friday’s restaurant. The rest of the stadium is pretty basic – but nicely done.

My first visit to the park was a non-game experience. I was visiting my sister [who at the time was living in Wichita Falls Texas] for Thanksgiving. We drove into Dallas for a few days to see the Redskins/Cowboys game and a Stars game. While we were there we decided to drive by the ballpark to look at it. It happened to be open. They had a bunch of people on the field singing Christmas carols. We walked down to the field and sat in the dugout for a while. The first of my two times to sit in the Texas dugout. The second time was during a ballpark tour in 2000.
I have attended a total of seven games at this park. Al happened in a one week time span in July 2000. I stayed with my sister, now married and living in Dallas. There was really no other reason for the visit other than to see my sister and go to games. I picked a week when the Rangers were in town and went to a game a day. My brother-in-law was not into baseball but seemed to feel obligated to attend all of the games despite my assurances this was not necessary. He only backed out of one game. During this week we sat all over the park. Cheap seats in left, field level seats on the first base side, a luxury suite, and the Friday’s restaurant.

We saw a bad Rangers team that had pretty good offense in Ivan Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, Gabe Kapler, and David Segui – before he was traded later that season. They also had no pitching with a starting rotation consisting of Ryan Glynn, Rick Helling, Esteban Loaiza, Darren Oliver, and Kenny Rogers. John Wetteland was the closer in his last year in the majors. They also had Francisco Cordero in the bullpen in his second year.

We saw three games against the Angels, three against the Tigers, and one against the White Sox. The Angels were mediocre finishing third in the division above the Rangers. They had Darrin Erstad, Mo Vaughn, Garret Anderson, and Tim Salmon on offense and Troy Percival in the bullpen. The first game was a 12 inning victory for the Angels. The Rangers took the next two. I watched the third game from the skybox. My sister was working for a rehab hospital and they would receive tickets from the law firm that represented them. She got tickets for us and we watched from just above first base. As usual with luxury suites, the attendee’s were more interested in being in being in the box than being at the game. This was a close one-run game with the Angels tying it in the ninth and the Rangers getting the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. By the end of the seventh, the box had cleared out and the owners seemed upset that we wanted to stay and watch the end of the game. We stayed.


The next three games were against the Tigers who finished third in the Central that year. They had Juan Gonzalez [signed as a free agent that year] and no one else of particular note. The Rangers would split the four game series. I only saw the first three of four, none of which were close.

The last game I saw there was against the White Sox which we watched from the restaurant. The deal with seeing the game from Friday’s was each ticket cost $50 and you had to buy them pairs. For each ticket you received a $50 credit at the restaurant. We got a table of four – my sister invited a friend from work. When it was all over our final bill [including tip] was $201.

One of the biggest benefits of watching from Friday’s – it was air conditioned. I’m sure this doesn’t come as a shock but Dallas is hot in the summer. Overall this was a nice stadium. If you’re going to a game there in the summer, try to get tickets in the first base side.


UPDATE AUGUST 2010: I was on travel for work and was able to catch the Yankees in town. I went with a colleague from UT Arlington who used his ‘ticket guy’ to get us seats about 10 rows above the Yankee dugout. It was a great game to see. The Rangers won in 10 innings. The rare event for this game was Mariano Rivera, arguably the best reliever in the game right now, took the loss for New York. 

I learned some new things about the park. First, the Friday’s restaurant above right field is closed. It’s now part of the club level. Also [and more interestingly] if you drive a Lexus to the park, you get complimentary valet parking. I don’t know how or why Lexus got this deal as opposed to BMW, Mercedes, or another high-end car maker but there is a drop-off/pick-up right by the home plate entrance. I suppose the Kia valet service may be near the outfield entrance. One thing that’s the same about the park, get seats in the shade.

Anaheim Stadium

I lived in San Diego for 15 years. The Big A was about a 1.5 hour drive away. Not bad by SoCal standards. It was a fairly straight shot from work but traffic could get pretty bad so we’d try to go up early, have dinner in a nearby sports bar before heading into the game. I averaged about a game a year, most of which I attended with my friend John.


The original park was dual purpose splitting time with the LA Rams. It was ugly and mostly empty. Disney bought the team and remodeled the stadium. They did a phenomenal job! There is the little stone A in center but focusing on that really downplays how much the stadium was improved. They destroyed the upper deck seats in the outfield which created a much more open feel. Entry to the ‘original’ park used to put you into the bowels of the stadium. Disney put up a fence around the physical stadium creating open area to walk around and enjoy the Southern California weather. Currently at the home plate entrance there is a brick layout of the infield (actual size) with bricks at each position noting the opening day started for all previous Angel teams. There are also giant hats on pedestals with the Angels logos. On a hot day they're nice for the shade in case you're meeting someone at the ticket window. In addition to the stadium change, the Angels changed from the California Angels to the Anaheim Angels to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim along with even more logo changes.


There were some themes to the games I attended. I would usually go with my friend John who had two strong connections to AL teams. First, he grew up in Minnesota and was a huge Twins fan. He also went to High School with Terry Steinbach. Thus half of the games we would see would involve the Twins or A’s. Having been to a number of games I won’t describe each one but I will mention some highlights.

 
From 1992 to 2001 (the bulk of my attendance) the Angels had some pretty good players: Gary Gaetti, Bert Blyleven, Chuck Finley, Tim Salmon, JT Snow, Jim Edmonds, Bo Jackson, Garret Anderson, Eddie Murray, Rickey Henderson (as an Angel), Troy Percival, Cecil Fielder, Mo Vaughn, and Troy Glaus.
Players from opposing teams that I got to see play in Anaheim include Terry Steinbach (I would be remiss if I didn’t mention him first), Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Rickey Henderson (as an A and a Padre), Robin Yount, Rafael Palmeiro (as a Ranger and an Oriole), Nolan Ryan, Kevin Brown (as a Ranger), Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Don Mattingly, Paul O’Neill, Wade Boggs, Darryl Strawberry, Cecil Fielder, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Tony Gwynn, Carlos Delgado, Joe Carter, Cal Ripken Jr., Paul Molitor, Todd Helton, and David Ortiz.

 

Here are some of the game (and non-game) memories I have of the stadium.

• In 1993 Nolan Ryan announced he was going to retire and this would be his last season. John and I looked at the schedule, did some math and estimated when he would pitch in Anaheim. We were not alone in this. We bought tickets two months in advance and got mid-level tickets along the first base side by the foul pole. As the day got closer, an alteration in the rotation moved Nolan’s start date up one game. We scrambled at the last minute and got tickets in the upper deck in straight-away left field. Way up there under a giant scoreboard. We were a long way from the pitcher’s mound, but during this game Nolan had five strikeouts. The last five of his career. Nolan had one more start but he was injured during that game and had zero K’s. An odd thing about Nolan’s exit from the game I saw was that he went 7.0 innings, came out in the 8th, threw his warm-up pitches, then walked off the field. [Craig Lefferts ran in from the bullpen.] Less than a month later, there was a big earthquake and that scoreboard fell down on to the seats we were in for the game.
  
• As I mentioned before, my friend John went to high school with Terry Steinbach. While Steinbach was with the A’s John and I would go up early and walk down to the field during batting practice. During one time, there was a rain delay. We walked down to the field, Terry was stretching out, John yelled, “Steiner!” Terry looked up, nodded, and ran in the other direction. An action I have never let John forget.
• One year John and I went to opening day. As we walked into the stadium I handed our tickets to the attendant. She tore off the stubs, handed the tickets back to us, and reached behind her back and gave the stubs to someone standing behind her. No explanation. We headed up to our seats in the upper deck on the third base side. We grabbed some hot dogs, showed the tickets to the usher and this guy in a jacket looks at the tickets and says, “You won!” For some unknown reason [other than good Karma] we had won the U.S. Air ticket upgrade. Between the top and bottom of the first inning, they announced as winners, put us on the JumboTron, and moved us to seats behind home plate.
• One year a group of us went early to a game to tailgate. The rule of the stadium is no charcoal grills. Propane only. We had the illicit charcoal variety. In the parking lot they had employees on scooters riding around checking. We were harassed by The Man. As he was pulling away John asked, “Are you a Nazi?” The guy said, “Yes I am,” and left.

UPDATE AUGUST 2010: I was visiting San Diego for a conference and went to a game with John and his 2 kids [Tyler and Nicole]. We had seats on the first base side between the bag and the foul pole. We saw the Blue Jays in a game that probably won’t mean anything to either team. An interesting thing during the game, I was talking to John about cities that had a AAA franchise and a major league club. I was listing the minor league teams around the DC area and the guy next to me starts naming some as well. Turns out he lives about 10 miles from me in the DC area. He was attending another convention in Anaheim. What are the odds that two people from suburban DC would end up next to each other at a game on the west coast. 

 

Coors Field

I have made two trips to Coors Field. It is a very nice park located in what I have been told is a gentrified area of downtown. The park is one of the Back to the Future designs. The unique stadium aspect is the mini-arboretum in center field. It has an impressive red brick façade at the main entrance. They also have a general admission section in center called the ‘rock pile’. Overall it’s a nicely designed park.


My first trip to the stadium was in 1996 while I was driving my cousin from Chicago to LA. This was the Rockies second season in the park and tickets were tough to get. Ironically my cousin and I stayed in a hotel adjacent to Mile High Stadium. We bought tickets the morning of the game and sat in the front row of the upper deck behind home plate. It was a pretty good seat to see the game. The Rockies had Vinny Castilla, Andres Galarraga, Larry Walker, and no pitching. This game was against the Pirates who would finish last in their division that year. The Bucs had Jason Kendall, Al Martin, Jay Bell, and an equal amount of pitching talent as the Rockies. The Pirates also had Tony Womack – but this was a year before he became a regular starter. The Rockies won that day on a strong performance by starter Kevin Ritz. There were two home runs [one for each team] and Eric Young had a stolen base.



My second game was opening day 2001 right after the BRBL draft. I attended with John, CJ and Grace. The Rockies would finish last that season while the Cardinals would finish tied for the division lead with Houston. The Rockies had Larry Walker, Todd Helton, and Juan Pierre. The Rockies had just signed Mike Hampton. The Cards had Mark McGwire, Edgar Renteria, Jim Edmonds, and Bobby Bonilla. Rick Ankiel was still a pitcher following his meltdown in the 2000 playoffs. They also had the Rookie Albert Pujols appearing in his first game. Thus began the ‘Pujols Incident’. During the BRBL draft we just completed 2 days earlier, one of the owners [Marc] wanted to draft Pujols near the end of the draft and would have had him for $1. No one at the draft had internet access except the one owner who was participating by phone [Mendoza]. He announced that Pujols had been sent down to the minors making him ineligible for the regular draft. As we sat in Coors watching the game [upper level first base side] CJ says, “Isn’t that the guy Gue tried to draft? I guess he wasn’t sent down to the minors.” The Cards lost that day 8-0 on a great Hampton outing. Cardinal ace Darryl Kile gave up 6 ER and 14 H&W in 5 IP. Todd Walker and Larry Walker each had a home run. Pujols was 1-3.

Coincidentally the BRBL draft that year also produced the ‘Kaz Matsui incident’.

Candlestick Park

This was a dual purpose stadium that wasn’t really good for either. For football, some seats were completely view obstructed and unusable. For baseball they would fence in left field and put up some generic stands behind them – with unusable permanent seats behind them. Access to the park was poor. There was one road from the freeway to the parking lot. The parking was adequate but mass transit was virtually non-existent (one bus line, no BART). The stadium sat (or still sits) close to the SF bay just south of the city. During the day it’s a nice park temperature-wise but night games could be brutally cold. I fully understand what When Mark Twain meant when he wrote “the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” I don’t know the actual dimensions but I think this park had one of the smallest screens behind home plate.

My first game at Candlestick was in 1992. We sat in the upper deck on the first base side. We saw them play the Padres in a day game. Neither team would challenge for the NL West that year. The Padres had Tony Gwynn, Gary Sheffield, and Fred McGriff. The Giants had Will Clark, Matt Williams, and Robby Thompson. The Giants got the 3-1 victory on a good Bud Black performance and Rod Beck save. Willie McGee, a long way from his speedy St. Louis days, stole a base in this game.

In 1996 my friend John and I took a trip to the bay area (SF/OAK) for a long weekend and to see some baseball. We saw three games at Oakland and two at the Stick including a day/night double header with the day game in Oakland and the night game in SF. Please see the Oakland Alameda Coliseum entry for the other games on this trip [this is also the trip I cured John of his bridge phobia]. For the double header, the game in Oakland was warm, sunny, and we were dressed comfortably in t-shirts and shorts. On the way to Candlestick I changed into jeans, put on a sweatshirt, and brought a jacket. It was not nearly enough. This was [prior to Veteran’s Stadium] the coldest game I ever attended. We had tickets for the upper deck but we sat in seats on the lower level and the ushers never bothered us. This was a bad Giants team playing slightly better Reds team. The Giants had Barry Bonds at this point but no one else on offense. For perspective the Giants opening day outfield consisted of Bonds, Stan Javier, and Glenallen Hill. Rich Aurilia was still a rookie for the Giants. The Reds had Barry Larkin, Eric Davis, Vince Coleman, and Bret Boone. Neither team had much in the way of pitching other than Rod Beck and Jeff Brantley in their respective bullpens. As I mentioned before this game was COLD. I bought a Giants scarf which I still use today. The Reds won the game 4-3 (Brantley save, SB’s by Larkin and Aurilia). We came back the next day for a day game, which the Reds won again. Brantley got a save after Rod Beck blew a one run lead in the top of the 9th. Bonds hit a home run and Eric Davis had 2 SB’s.

 

One of the most interesting things about this trip was where we stayed. I was dating Myra at the time and she said she had friends in Berkeley we could stay with. About a week before we left she called and asked if it would be OK for John and I to stay at their place. John and I had never met these people but they said yes, but they were going out of town that weekend. When John and I arrived we had dinner with the husband, wife, and daughter. The next morning the wife and daughter left for the week. The husband, who owned a liquor store, had to work that night so John and I saw him after the game briefly. The next morning he took off for the week leaving John and I the keys to the house. At the end of our trip we left the gifts [book on the NY/SF Giants, Bath & Body Works gift basket, and a stuffed animal] which they said they really liked.

Kingdome

While I was living in San Diego, my brother moved to Seattle and my friend Joe’s family lived in the area. One day Joe and I are talking and we decide we need to see a game at the Kingdome. This was one of the better Seattle lineups (1996) with Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Alex Rodriguez, Jay Buhner, Randy Johnson, and Dennis Martinez. Raul Ibanez was a Mariner September call-up. We flew up and saw the last three regular season games against the A’s. The Mariners had already won the division by then and were just resting up against last place Oakland. This was the year Mark McGwire went to St. Louis from Oakland but they still had Jose Canseco, Jason Giambi, and rookies Miguel Tejada & Mark Bellhorn. The A’s took 2 of 3. Nothing spectacular happened in the games. In the second game Griffey hit #56 for the season and the big unit got the win #20 – pitching in relief.

This was my first domed stadium and it was bad. There was no natural light from the outside. When we walked out of the park it was weird seeing daylight. It was also really dark inside. The lighting in the seating area was particularly bad. Otherwise it was really no different than any other generic dual purpose stadium. When they destroyed the park, I didn’t really see it as a loss to baseball.