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.