ballpark Archives - Reach The Bleachers

July 31, 2018May 10, 2019

My Bizarro Baseball Experience – Yankee Stadium: New York, NY

**1 E 161st Street, Bronx, NY 10451 (5/26/2018) – CB**

If I’m going to complete my countrywide journey, this was an inevitable stop. A site that, from the womb, I was taught was the real-life equivalent of the Death Star (technically Death Star II), or Mt. Crumpit. There’s even a distinct memory of my mom not allowing me to get a Babe Ruth jersey when going to Cooperstown when I was a kid. Rivalry, much? As I walked off the D train and walked the scenic route towards my seat in Section 237, my fan-like curiosity couldn’t help but want to explore the second generation lair of my team’s rival and what makes it special to the 50,000+ per game that attend a game here. All of this, while feeling a little like if Michelangelo walked into the Technodrome.

***I don’t know if I should be here! (5/26/2018) – CB***

Game Time! (vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – 5/26/2018): On this Memorial Day weekend, I decided to bring my girlfriend and a good friend of mine out to the bleachers to enjoy some brews and a ballgame, with slightly-camouflaged jerseys in view. Walking in, I definitely noticed an early 20th century essence emanating from the design, which was no coincidence. It was as if we were off to see Ruth, Gehrig and Lazzeri back in 1927 rather than Judge, Stanton and Sanchez. Based on the Red Sox record that year, and the social climate at the time, I’m glad that wasn’t the case! A surprising delight was going to my seat in the last row of the bleachers, and actually seeing bleachers behind the outfield walls. Generally, the bleachers are the the place to be for a simultaneous session of game-watching and people-watching, and this place was no exception. Even within the pack of Yankee fans and scattered presence of Angel red, I spotted a few fans for my hometown Crimson Hose, making me a coward for leaving my Sox gear at home in exchange for my 2014 Clint Dempsey USMNT kit (Hey, it was Memorial Day!). The passion really came out in the top of the 4th inning, after Sonny Gray got yanked, allowing 5 runs and walking 3 in less than 4 innings. One crimson-faced fan let his frustrations right out, and in a rare moment, I found common ground with a supporter from the Evil Empire, for I too would have been screaming at Sonny Gray and his 5+ ERA from the bleachers if the Sox had got him at the trade deadline a year ago. Stuff like that can bring the country back together! Anyway, there are some entertaining moments to witness that don’t truly get captured watching at home, like hearing the bleacher roll call to the players, and how the flood lights flickered after Gardner and Judge went back-to-back in the 1st. However, once the game got out of hand, the volume was a little toned down, but there was still enough of a presence to show displeasure in the bullpen taking a blow torch and setting any chance of a comeback in flames.

***Time to reload on bleacher fuel! (5/26/2018) – CB***

Home Runs: Boy, I do not regret getting bleacher seats for this. The environment at Yankee Stadium (especially in the bleachers) definitely rivals that of my hometown team, especially when their starting pitcher gets lit up and doesn’t even get out of the 4th inning. Despite leaving a place with so much history almost a decade ago, they did a good job of incorporating the feats and legends of the past, all while recreating the look of the old stadium inside and out. In walking past the gate into the stadium, you will see flags of Yankee legends hanging one behind the other, which had the feel of walking into a neo-Coloseum, with the gladiators of the past greeting you on the way in.

Flyouts: As you may expect from a New York venue, the food and drink, while good, can run a pretty penny. There is also that little issue of those empty padded seats at the Legends Suite that hug the front rows, with 2 tickets costing as much as the average honeymoon. However, that has been well documented. Call me jaded from the normal ballpark experience I get, but at times, it felt like being more in a shopping mall that happen to have a Yankee Stadium replica attached. Maybe a little more cracks and rust over time will open my heart more a bit in my next visit. There is also not as much of a scene as you’d expect when it comes to bars and restaurants. There is a pocket of watering holes by the River Ave. side of the the stadium. However, it is not much for a city that has many scenic and character-filled neighborhoods as any city in the world.

**Pit stop at Stan’s. (5/26/2018) – CB**

Around the Diamond: As mentioned before, there aren’t as many options as there are around many other ballparks. Pretty much all the bars nearby are located at the River Ave side of the stadium. There is a Hard Rock Cafe located in the stadium if you’re a music memorabilia junkie, or if you’re a natural magnet for tourist traps. The one watering hole I visited after the game was Stan’s Sports Bar, which provides the basics of want you want in a bar near a sporting event; 90’s-2000’s music you can sing along to with beverages to quench your thirst after a hot 3-hour game. However, I would be open to exploring more of the options in a future trip to the Technodr…I mean Yankee Stadium. You can bet I’ll be back to explore more of the River Ave selections in the near future. Billy’s, you’re next!

My Final Play: I can’t help to think that after my new Yankee Stadium experience, it made me think of the future of Fenway, or even Wrigley Field in that eventually these franchises will go the way of the luxury boxes and Legends Clubs and create a new home for their local 9. The new Yankee Stadium is a reminder that you can’t recapture all of history simply by building a replica from yesteryear. However, it’s also a reminder that the legacy of the team is carried by the generations of fans who go through the turnstiles. At the end of the day, even if all of the ghosts haven’t quite found a home here, it’s the New York tradition and passion that can make this place special a couple of decades down the road (I think that last sentence made the Red Sox hat on my head catch fire!). For that, this is a must go for any sports fan. Besides, I would not be doing my duty as a sports fan if I skip out on attending the best North American sports rivalry in opposing territory!

Well, now you know!: With a little less than a decade under its facade, I will admit that it was a little tough finding a unique nugget that hasn’t been noted in the past, or that involves the Yankee Stadium of the past. In fact, this piece of information is pre-grand opening. Remember when the new Yankee Stadium was going to have a dome? In an original 2001 proposal, both the new stadiums for the Yankees and the Mets had retractable roofs included. However, Mayor Bloomberg scrapped the original deal, which shifted more of the stadium construction costs on the team, after which the Yankees decided to save a cool $200 million and continued construction, sans dome.

Want to view more of Yankee Stadium and the Big Apple? Click here to get linked up to the New York gallery page to see more images of the park and the city.

July 23, 2018May 10, 2019

Charm City Travels – Oriole Park: Baltimore, MD

333 West Camden St., Baltimore, MD 21201 (8/16/2016) - CB — **333 West Camden St., Baltimore, MD 21201 (8/16/2016) – CB**

The next post will discuss my experience in Oriole Park, one of the more celebrated parks in the league. When you arrive here, it will be hard to disagree. To date, this is the park I’ve been to most outside of Fenway, due to the ease in which you can get tickets to watch the team of your choice, as well as the park’s close proximity to friends and family over the years. I welcome you to a new edition of the classic urban ball park!

**Chilling in the terrace boxes. (8/16/2016) – CB**

Game Time! (vs. Boston Red Sox – 8/16/2016): Out of all my times at Camden Yards, this was the 1st game for me getting the Light Rail experience into the pre-game festivities outside the stadium. After a couple of orange crushes from the bar, and snacking on a large bag of peanuts (which you can bring into the game), we made the humid journey up into our box seats. A convenient feature of this park were the indoor air-conditioned concourses, which on a predictably hot and muggy August evening in Maryland was a life saver. The contest was as good as expected, with the top 2 teams in the AL East separated by 1 game duking out in a back-and-forth affair. At one point, the O’s got their ‘Thank God I’m A Country Boy’ momentum boost, and tied the game up in the bottom of the 7th. However, it was the Mookie Betts show, who hit a 3-run blast in the Top of the 8th (He also drove in all 5 Boston runs) to put the game away. It was at that moment where I caught a glimpse of a woman giving me a laser stare from 3 sections away. My exuberance while wearing a Sox cap, perhaps? I did notice a small hole in the jersey I wore that night after the next laundry cycle, but I don’t want to jump to conclusions! But hey, at least half of the stadium left happy!

Someone's ready for a closeup. (9/19/2009) - CB — **Someone’s ready for a closeup. (9/19/2009) – CB**

Home Runs: As the first salvo launched against the stale cookie-cutter stadiums of the 70’s and 80’s, Oriole Park ushered the return of the ‘old school’ park. The combination of its throwback look inside and the cityscape outside its walls screams baseball paradise. It seems that no matter where your seat is, you a get a remarkable view of the game, all while feeling relatively close to the action. I even find it amusing when the Red Sox visit town, and the PA guy plays the first few notes of Sweet Caroline, and then cut the song right when the moment of mutual acknowledgment exists among Sox fanatics. And with outside staples Boog’s Barbecue, the crab cake vendors and even the little homerun markers on Eutaw Street, you could have just as enjoyable experience outside the park as you can inside.

Flyouts: For a park like this, it is pretty hard to come up with bold negatives, but here it goes! For one, the recent construction of some taller buildings has blocked what would be an immaculate view from the upper boxes. The home fans that do show for a game seem passionate for their O’s, but seem fewer and farther between. Even in the game I went to, the Orioles were in playoff contention, and yet about two-thirds of the seats were filled with somebody wearing red or navy-blue. As well, in wading through the web, there is a lot of chatter of higher ticket prices, which could explain some of the decrease in attendance. However, I feel that the presence of empty green seats is a silent protest of their current owner (Peter Angelos), who hasn’t presided over a set of consistently successful teams since the Clinton Administration. You can blame the resources of two of their division rivals, but many a mid-market team (Astros, Cardinals, Indians) have built teams on shrewd executives that make even shrewder moves, which always make them a threat to compete year after year. Eventually the apathy from the top affects the product on the field, which affects the number of bodies in the bleachers and grandstands.

Been 14 years since '04, yet he still follows me! (8/16/2016) - CB — **Been 14 years since ’04, yet he still follows me! (8/16/2016) – CB**

Around the Diamond: There are a few pubs which are located in stone-throwing distance, and a few more establishments within comfortable walking distance. The one place I have actually entered in the area was Pickles Pub, where I had my first (and definitely not last!) orange crush. Huge warning that on a hot day, these will be your best friend at pre-game, but depending on how much you pound, can turn on you by the time Thank God I’m A Country Boy plays from the speakers! On my next trip back, I would like to scoot over to the Babe Ruth Birthplace & Musuem. If you’re on a watering hole tour near the park, you can find a few in the surrounding streets. Appropriate, considering Babe Ruth pretty much grew up in a bar before getting sent off to boarding school. Another friendly warning in that if you are a Babe Ruth-type tour with your little ones that the location of that family bar is now let’s just say, a ‘gentlemen only’ establishment. As mentioned in the Flyouts, some of of the streets on the outskirts of Oriole Park display some of the poverty in Baltimore that you may have heard about. Thinking back, I’m wondering if this was the reason why my girlfriend’s cousin seemed incredulous as to why we took the train up to Lexington Market. In short, there are definitely safe areas around the park, but don’t wander too far off.

The Final Play: Oriole Park definitely deserves all the hype it gets in terms of ball park quality. Admittedly, I’m a bit jealous of the comforts, from the spacious seats to the funnel cakes. If you’re a baseball fan, a sports fan or a fan of just sitting and weirdly enjoy people in action within an open space for 3 hours, this park should be on the top of the list. However, in some ways, I feel like Oriole Park a is place of lost potential, and not because of the look and feel of the park, which rivals the other great parks of the league. It’s somewhat depressing to see vendors outside the park that are selling merch from my favorite team outside of a ballpark 400 miles away, which irks some in the Oriole fan base. Combined with a clueless ownership, and that the 2018 team is on pace for one the worst seasons in this young century, I empathize 100%. In short, this park has it all, minus the swarms large of orange-clad die hards that use to occupy these seats from the stadium’s infancy to its pre-tween years through the ’90s. Based on recent attendance numbers, it’s obvious that it’s not there right now, even to the point where they have initiative for kids to attend ball games for free! Simply put, it’s all about the fans having confidence not only in a winning team, but in an organization that is doing its very best to build a quality product that will contend year after year. When that happens, the country can once again see the best of what Camden Yards has to offer.

Well, now you know! – Many baseball enthusiasts have heard of the red seat in Fenway’s bleachers. In a sea of green that surrounds Oriole Park, there are 2 orange-colored seats, which mark historic occasions in Oriole history. One seat is located in left field (Section 86, Row FF, Seat 10), which marks the 278th dinger hit by Cal Ripken Jr. that broke the record for shortstops. The other is located in right-center (Section 96, Row 7, Seat 23) marks the 500th homer of Eddie Murray.

Want to be more charmed by the Charm City? Click here to get linked up to the Baltimore gallery page to view photos from around the park and city!

July 23, 2018May 10, 2019

Opening Day A La Trop – Tropicana Field: St. Petersburg, FL

**1 Tropicana Drive, St. Petersburg, FL 33705 (3/29/2018) – CB**

My next locale of choice was down in St. Petersburg, FL, home of the park formerly known as the ThunderDome, which has way more buzz (Sorry, pun), and is accurately descriptive of the summer weather down in that region of the country. As well, I reached another attendance accomplishment in going to my 1st Opening Day. Considering what you can experience in Boston earlier in the season, picking a place that’s 72 degrees and air-conditioned inside, with some mild sunshine outside, I picked a great spot to make this first. Here is my experience from the land of cowbells and catwalks.

***Cornhole and garbage can pong, the official sports of St. Pete. (3/30/2018) – CB***

Game Time! (vs. Boston Red Sox – 3/29/2018, 3/30/2018) – The streets around the park were buzzing (Have to stop with the thunder puns), with an even blend of sun-tanned Sox and Rays fans enjoying a beverage and playing garbage can pong, which I saw everywhere during my time in the Tampa area. From the bar, I made the walk to the face of the stadium, which was a bit detached from the loud music and bean bag games that were happening 10 minutes away. While waiting to get in the park, it was fairly evident that the crew wasn’t used to managing large crowds, for I entered the ballpark in the Top of the 2nd (missing Eduardo Nunez’s inside-the-park homerun), even though we showed up about 40 minutes before game time. Whether it was due to being the opener, or the commemoration of the Rays’ 20th anniversary, the ambiance was more exuberant than expected. A dancing member of the grounds crew brought the energy to even greater heights. As much as it didn’t help my ears, the cowbells also had an assist in making the game crowd more lively. Especially when the Rays rallied back with a 6-run 8th to take the lead, and eventually the game.

Due to a generous boss of a friend, I was lucky enough to return to the Trop a second time in as many nights. It was on this evening where I got to enjoy rays in their true natural habitat in right-center field, as well as playing a little garbage can pong at the new Ballpark and Rec. However, the second time time around seemed a bit different. The overall size of the crowd was obviously down from the previous day, with exponentially less raucousness. Almost made me wish the Sox had won in the opener instead. As I sat watching both teams struggle to score while avoiding the temptation to grab Dippin’ Dots from the concession stand, I realized that there wouldn’t be many games like the opener here. The cold fact is that this game would be probably one of the most attended games all season (with exception of the opener), due to the strong presence of Red Sox fans that dwell nearby. Based on watching the team as a divisional rival over the years, I could make an educated guess that a Rays-Royals contest in August won’t generate the same crowds.

Home Runs: Like with every vacation spot above 70 degrees, I envisioned myself as a resident of this growing city, all with the fantasy of avoiding shoveling feet of frozen and slushy precipitation. I found that with the laid back vibe in St. Pete, it was very easy to fall in a conversation. It was through those small conversations that I was able to see that there is a solid fan base for team in spite of all the lean years and transplanted residents that have allegiances to certain teams up north. Players like Chris Archer and Kevin Kiermaier are looked up in high regard by the local faithful, and youngsters like Mallex Smith and Blake Snell are viewed as the building blocks of the next great Rays team. In one of the more out-of-the-box positives, the game viewing experience seemed a little brighter than in games I’ve seen on TV. Maybe it was the new artificial turf that was installed for this year that lightened everything up.

Flyouts: The contrast in environment from the first game to the second game couldn’t have been more evident. Unless a larger market team is in town, you generally will not see the kind of crowds at the Trop that I was lucky enough to experience. Even in a burgeoning area, it seems that there is a location mismatch between park and city, hence the low attendance numbers. In fact, Tropicana Field is currently on pace to be last in the American League in attendance for the sixth time in the last eight years, and that includes two playoff years for the Rays. Another thing is that the hustle and bustle that is generally at the face of stadiums is detached from the Trop, which doesn’t help hide the concrete aesthetic that the park provides. As a result, it creates a vibe similar to the old cookie-cutter stadiums of the past in which the most colorful thing around the ballpark were the yellow lines that marked the parking spots. But the palm trees still add a nice touch!

**Enjoying some pre game leisure at Ferg’s (3/29/2018) – CB**

Around the Diamond: From talking to people in the area, the city has gone from exclusively a retirement destination, to a growing metropolis due to its recent youth infusion. As a result, the city has been filling up with many restaurants and bars, especially in the downtown area. In the opener, the place to be was definitely Ferg’s, which had festivities outside to commemorate the start of the season, and has a walkway in the back of the bar which leads you to the stadium gates. For food near the stadium, I had a solid burrito at Red Mesa, a good feeding spot prior to strolling through downtown. Depending on how much you eat here, it may be a slow crawl. Keep in mind that a lot of the St. Petersburg nightlife is further down the road. But if it’s not raining buckets and bolts from the sky, it’s worth the scenic walk.

**Maybe an improved backdrop behind the palm trees soon? (3/30/2018) – CB**

My Final Play: I know the crowds I saw in my two days here were not the norm. However, I was impressed with how loyal some of the fans were, and even how some of the transplants made this team their own. But at the end of the day, it is clear that a change is needed to inject more interest into the club. Even in a growing area like St. Pete, it appears that the attendance potential is tapped out here. The recent rumblings confirm that team ownership is planning on a move over to Ybor City, a more established neighborhood just off of downtown Tampa. The presence of a retractable glass dome from the original drawings will also be a welcome departure from the Soviet Bloc-ish look that the Trop currently possesses. I’m actually a believer that Florida baseball can thrive beyond Spring Training. However, due to the slightly off-the-mark stadium placement for one team, and with bumbling ownership weighing down the other, it seems as if Major League Floridian baseball has had as much of a chance as a gazelle already in the mouth of a lion. Overall, I would assess that this is a wonderful area to watch a ballgame, but the stadium itself doesn’t scream all-timer. As much as I loved the city and watching my team under a different background (Which I would still recommend all of you to do), I’d be rooting for this Ybor Bay Rays move to happen. Has a better ring to it than the Montreal Rays!

Well, now you know!: For starters, Tropicana Field pre-exists the team, for it opened up in 1990, 8 years before the Devil Rays came into the world. The Florida Suncoast Dome (the initial name) held everything from ping pong to sprint car racing to karate tournaments. Hell, it was even the home of the Tampa Bay Lightning for a few years when the franchise entered the NHL in 1993. But do you know who drew the biggest crowd? None other than Boston’s own New Kids on the Block, who drew 47,150 screaming fans in August ’90, which proves that a Boston-based act has always drawn a large crowd in this venue. Guess some things never change.

Want to bask in a city that claims to be ‘always in season’? Enjoy a nice river walk every now and then? Click here to get linked up to the St. Petersburg/Tampa gallery page to get more views of the park, as well as photos from around the area!