AT&T Park (San Francisco Giants)

San Francisco

 

 

Ballpark Assessment

Category Score (0 to 10)					TOTAL (0 to 50)
Location	Atmosphere	Food	Exterior Architecture	Interior Architecture
6	8	9	9	9	41

What a gem of a ballpark!  AT&T Park does a good job of integrating the Giants' rich history into the stadium, which is situated on Willie Mays Plaza.  Lining the walkway along McCovey Cove outside of the stadium are a series of plaques commemorating notable events in Giants history.  Barry Bonds is very well represented.  A lone kayaker adorned in "Bonds Army" paraphernalia was paddling around McCovey Cove throughout the game.  The food is very good despite a lack of healthy options.  On a less positive note, the walkways throughout the stadium are very cramped/crowded and it turns out that about 75% of the outfield is inaccessible to people without a ticket in the outfield.  Really frustrating.

Game Comments (courtesy of MLB.com)

Game Date: August 27, 2010

Attendance: 24,929

Weather: 64 degrees F, partly cloudy

Length of Game: 2 hours, 45 minutes
Final Score: Arizona Diamondbacks 6, San Francisco Giants 0

Tim Lincecum regrouped after giving up a splash-down homer in the D-backs' three-run first, but the Giants' offense, which had scored 38 runs over its past three games, was shut down by rookie Barry Enright.

Stories from the Road
This project has let me get a sense of cities that I would like to live in, and those that I don't.  San Francisco definitely falls into the latter category.  Many people are absolutely enamored by the city and I really don't understand why.  It's cold, cloudy and windy all the time!  This is not the California weather I was expecting ... SoCal > NorCal.  Sorry.

There is a sense of edginess to the city that is hard to miss, which is probably because everyone is wearing a lot of clothes and accessories to keep warm (hoodies = edgy, hats = edgy).  At Fisherman's Wharf, a group of about 50 high school students were taking turns to show off their break-dancing skills.  Nearby, a group of people were showing off their yoyoing abilities to anyone who would pay attention.  A bit further down, on the side of the road, a band of pre-teens were playing popular cover songs and were being led by an elementary school girl.  Slightly bizarre, but very edgy.

I walked from one side of Golden Gate Park to the other.  Now that's a large park!  Larger than Central Park in NYC.

Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles

Baltimore

Ballpark Assessment

Category Score (0 to 10)					TOTAL (0 to 50)
Location	Atmosphere	Food	Exterior Architecture	Interior Architecture
7	9	10	8	8	42

Camden Yards was almost my favorite ballpark, but came up short in one critical area; the positioning of the concession stands do not allow you to see the game from the concourse area.  Barring that one blemish, the stadium and it's surrounding area is fantastic!

Like many ballparks, Camden Yards has a beer garden across the street that was packed with people "preparing" for the game.  The main entrance of the stadium at Eutaw Street leads into a long walkway in rightfield with the stadium to the right and a warehouse to the left that has been converted to offices.  This walkway is lined with some really really good BBQ that is grilled on large open-faced grills.  The crab cakes (what would Maryland be without crab cakes) offered at a concession stand located behind home plate are surprisingly good.

Game Comments (courtesy of MLB.com)

Game Date: August 7, 2010

Attendance: 24,929

Weather: 82 degrees F, clear

Length of Game: 2 hours, 49 minutes
Final Score: Chicago White Sox 4, Baltimore Orioles 2

The White Sox put an end to Buck Showalter's 4-0 run at the helm of the Orioles with a come-from-behind victory at Camden Yards. The visitors tallied single runs in each of the final three frames for the win.

Stories from the Road
After an early morning sky dive in South Jersey with some co-workers (no big deal), I took an amtrak train from Philly to Baltimore to catch a Saturday night game with my parents. The Saturday afternoon amtrak ride (on Northeast Regional 161) along the northeast corridor in good, sunny weather is actually really refreshing.  The ride offered some great views of what I assume to be a few lakes and/or rivers that lead into the Chesapeake Bay.

As it turned out, it was a good thing I got my refreshing experience during the ride down to Baltimore because certain parts of the city are anything but refreshing.  In my quest to walk around (nearly) every city that I visited along the way, I decided to walk from Baltimore's Penn Station to Camden Yards where I would meet my parents for the game.  Unfortunately, one of my more memorable experiences of Baltimore was walking through the scene at the Lexington Market metro (intersection of N Eutaw St and W Lexington St) ... where dreams come true.  In this oasis of activity, amidst an otherwise sleepy city, you could see two men, who had clearly had some sort of disagreement, yelling at each other and seemed bound for a messy physical confrontation.  On the other side of the street, a group of 20 to 25 year olds were sitting on the curb and sizing up everyone that passed by while listening to a boom box (yes, a boom box) blast music in the background.  In total, there were about 100 people within a 1/2 block radius of the metro, all of which were either yelling, or looking to yell, at someone.  It seemed as if everyone was moving every which way, but not seeming to really go anywhere.

On a much more positive note, Baltimore reminds me a lot of the colonial vibe that Philadelphia gives off, with narrow streets lined with rowhouses on either side, cobblestone streets and a main street called Lombard Street.  Also, with it's glitzy restaurants and eye-catching ships the Inner Harbor is a true bright spot in the city.  It's probably worth spending an afternoon or evening to visit if you get a chance.

Target Field (Minnesota Twins)

Minneapolis

Drive to Dyersville, Iowa

 Dyersville, Iowa

Ballpark Assessment

Category Score (0 to 10)					TOTAL (0 to 50)
Location	Atmosphere	Food	Exterior Architecture	Interior Architecture
8	8	8	9	10	43

The brand new Target Field (new for the 2010 season) does not disappoint.  Located in downtown Minneapolis, the stadium is easily accessible by public transportation.  The interior and exterior architecture of the stadium is amazing.  The unique architecture, water spouts and ornaments  located throughout the stadium give you a lot to look at aside from the game.  Decent food options are available.  As might be expected for a brand new ballpark, the stadium is very clean.  The one missing link is a sense of atmosphere outside of the stadium (bars, memorabilia stores, etc.)  A couple more years of seasoning should fix this.

Game Comments (courtesy of MLB.com)

Game Date: August 1, 2010

Attendance: 40,374

Weather: 86 degrees F, overcast

Length of Game: 2 hours, 14 minutes
Final Score: Minnesota Twins 4, Seatle Mariners 0

Francisco Liriano struck out 11 batters and allowed just two hits to push his scoreless streak to 21 innings, as the Twins won their eighth straight. Seattle was blanked for the third time in six games.

Stories from the Road
The Saturday drive from Chicago to Minneapolis was much longer than I thought.  With a couple of stops along the way for food and audio book purchases, the entire trip took eight hours.  Eight hours!  Are you kidding me?!? On the east coast, I can drive the entire length of the Northeast Corridor (from Boston to DC) in eight hours.  Oh well. Such is the distance between city centers in the midwest.

I finally got to the MSP late in the evening, checked into my hotel (a lovely Sheraton at a rate of 7K Starwood points per night), went to the gym, showered/changed and went back out to drive around the city for a bit.  Not much to report since I didn't know where to go.

The next day, I visited many of the standard tourist attractions including the Minneapolis Scuplture Garden (home to the giant spoon and cherry sculpture), The Basilica of Saint Mary (America's First Basilica), and Target (yes, Target).

Before the Minneapolis game, I had brunch with a college friend of mine who lived next door to me in Donlon Hall during our freshman year, and now works for the Target Corporation.  It was great to catch up about what we are doing, etc.

A side benefit of all this travel is I get to visit states that I have really no business visiting (Side note:  A life goal of mine is to do something in every state in the US).  Iowa is definitely one of those states.  I drove through back roads from Minneapolis, MN to Dyersville, IA to see the legendary Field of Dreams from the movie of the same name.  While the remoteness of the field was not all that shocking (this is Iowa after all), what was surprising was how small the field really is.  It's smaller than many ballfields I played while growing up.  I guess everything really does seem bigger on the big screen.