8/10. Game time- 7:05 PM
Attendance: 34,155 (est. 10,000 no-shows)
Conditions: 73 degrees, roof closed (95 degrees outside, high humidity)
Matchup: Atlanta Braves at Houston Astros
Starting pitchers: Jair Jurrgens vs. J.A. Happ
Result: ATL 4, HOU 2, W – Venters (4-0), L – Lindstrom (2-3), S – Wagner (28)
Ticket purchased: $1 View Outfield ticket (Sec 407, Row 8, Seat 25; req. Powerade purchase – $1.83)
Beer of choice: None
Food: Monster chicken nachos – $8.75
Travel cost: $2.50 roundtrip on METRORail from Reliant Park (30 min. ride)
Other: Minute Maid Park tour – $9, $1.50 1L bottled water brought into park
Total spent: $23.08

10 minutes into the 10 AM tour of Minute Maid Park, the tour guide proudly proclaimed Houston the most air-conditioned city in the world. Some time later, I bent down to tie my shoes and noticed an outbreak of heat rash on my lower legs. If there were ever a city that needed all that A/C, it’s Houston.

Just as in Phoenix, a roof is a necessity in Houston. After pioneering the domed revolution with the still-upright-but-decaying Astrodome, Harris County built two domes, one for the Astros and one for the expansion NFL Texans. The Texans would play 300 feet from the Astrodome at the new Reliant Stadium, while the Astros would move downtown on the site of the old Union Station. While passenger rail service in Texas went into serious decline thanks to airline deregulation and the aggressive moves of Southwest, the old rail depot was preserved and integrated into the ballpark as a multi-use lobby, conference center, and team store.

Tributes to the history of rail in Houston abound throughout the ballpark, from the train in LF that runs when a home run is hit to the more subtle cues found within the interior design of the suite level. As a rail fan it’s a heartwarming gesture, especially knowing that in the future a new rail station and transit center will be built on the north side of downtown to replace the very utilitarian building now being used as a depot.

Getting there

While it’s convenient that Minute Maid Park is downtown, there isn’t much in downtown. It’s chiefly one of those places that’s much more lively during the day because of the office buildings in the area. There are restaurants, of course, but little retail. I had to walk several blocks just to find a bottle of Powerade, which seems extremely out of character for a central business district.

As in Phoenix, a new light rail line runs through Houston. It heads briefly north to the University of Houston’s downtown campus, and south past Reliant Park, home of the Astrodome and Reliant Field. A single ride costs only $1.25, though there’s no way to get a pass unless you sign up and send for a smart card type of pass. Parking is among the cheapest I’ve seen at a downtown ballpark, with numerous third party downtown lots within only 2-3 blocks offering spaces for $5, another sign that downtown is no cultural hotspot. Either way, it’s easy to get in and out, making traveling to and from the ballpark a mostly pleasant experience.

Ticketing

While I was waiting for the ballpark tour to begin, I headed to the ticket booths to score a ducat for later that night. Looking over the seating chart, I decided on the $7 View Outfield seat. I was stopped before going further, as the friendly ticket seller showed me a stack of plastic labels from Powerade bottles. He told me that if I could bring him one of the labels, I’d get a seat for a buck as part of the Double Play Tuesday promotion. When I had time after the tour, I headed to a local Asian market (a small Asian retail enclave is only a few blocks away) and got a bottle plus a Vietnamese sandwich. Happy with the bargain, I bought a ticket, then headed over to Treebeards and had lunch.

Concessions

Still full from the late lunch, I figured that I wasn’t going to eat at the ballpark until late at the game, if at all. As I perused the upper concourse unsatisfied, I saw the occasional Blue Bell ice cream stand, which was notable for the toppings bar opposite the concourse from each stand. I ended up getting a much too large bucket of nachos for $8.75, of which I was only able to finish a third. This was chosen over a “gourmet” hot dog, which could be had for $6. Should’ve chosen the hot dog. I didn’t get a beer as I was at that point running on empty, having arrived in the city at 4:40 earlier in the morning and going non-stop until I got to the game. Shiner Bock had a bar on the upper level, where they were pouring out of bottles.

Circulation

Outside the main Union Station gate, the concourse has a bank of three escalators, two going up and one down at the beginning of the game, the reverse at the end of the game. Ramps and stairs are hidden all over. Concourses are more than adequate, though the separation between the upper concourse and the seating it feeds is more prominent here than at any ballpark I’ve visited. This is because there are no openings from which anyone on the concourse can view/feel the game. Add in the glass windows facing out towards greater Houston, and the effect is that the place feels more like an arena than a ballpark on the upper concourse. The lower concourse and mezzanine level in RF are open and don’t have this problem. The seating layout is typical early-2000 HOK/Populous, with a 40-row lower deck, a 12-row club mezzanine, a suite level, and a split upper deck (6+18 rows). Like AT&T Park, the press box is split into two distinct levels, broadcast at the club level and writers at field level.

When it comes to air circulation, I was a bit disappointed. The effectiveness of the air conditioning system varied wildly depending on where you went. In the seating bowl, I rarely felt any air, and although the stated temperature in the stadium was 73 degrees, it felt much more like 83. Much of this was due to the ever-present humidity in the area, so constantly cooling the playing field and thousands of spectators in such a massive space is a big challenge. On the concourses, where the volume of air to be cooled was much less, there was no such problem. Contrast this with Chase Field, where I felt little variance wherever I went thanks to the dry air there being much easier to cool. When asked by a British tourist how the HVAC system worked, the tour guide explained that for night games, the roof closes at 3, with the system cranked up at that point to make the place comfortable. The cost to cool Minute Maid Park is around $1,300 in electricity per game. Physics might keep them from spending more, as the humidity probably exposes diminishing returns in terms of blasting the A/C.

While we’re comparing Chase Field to Minute Maid Park, I should add that the steepness of the Juice Box is not crazy ridiculous, it’s pretty standard. In fact, I found myself climbing all over the upper deck as if it was a jungle gym. You might too if you saw this:

A secondary roof, separate from the retractable system, holds the lighting system. For some reason, the designers chose to put supports in the seating bowl along the first base line, instead of hanging it off the back of stadium. This creates the retro effect we all know and love, obstructed view seats. At least three sections have these seats. You can even go over/under some of the support beams if you like. The curious effect of this design, whether or not you are obstructed, is that at the top you are very close to the roof, with the only thing separating you from the roof being a large A/C duct. As I walked around, I found several people camping out in front of vents, giving them their own private cold air (smart!). I found one for myself and hung out for an inning before moving on.

Other observations

• The Harris County Sports Authority has held off on doing a mass upgrade of the video and scoreboards for now. The only thing recent is a set of small full color ribbon message boards. If they’re playing Keeping Up With The Joneses, the place is overdue.
• While I got in for $1, the Astros like to point out that every game has dollar seats, usually for kids in the area where I sat. Kudos to the team for continuing this tradition.
• The Coca-Cola and Minute Maid branding was much more restrained than I expected, which was nice considering the fact that the company owns a sizable piece of the team. I only found one remaining Enron logo on an original sponsor plaque inside Union Station.
• Inside the Diamond Level club, what used to be a team interview room was transformed into a private dining room because players complained about walking 100 extra feet out of the way.
• The broadcast booths were open to the air, save for rollup clear plastic windows. Why did they use the windows? Pigeons. I did not see any birds in the facility, BTW. I did see one bird inside Chase Field.
• Brett Wallace’s night: 1-3 with a bunt single, 2 strikeouts, lifted for pinch hitter in 7th
• Braves fan presence: At least 1/3 of crowd

Wrap-up

Drayton McClain and Tal Smith wanted quirky, and quirky is what they got. Other than the roof, Minute Maid Park doesn’t feel outwardly modern and gleaming, as did its predecessor once upon a time. It hides its modernity reasonably well, making the experience much more authentic than the Astrodome ever was. Still, there are signs that the Juice Box is showing its age, and it’ll be interesting to see how quickly major changes such as new scoreboards or expanded luxury seating can be implemented. The Astros are going through a rebuilding phase, making it difficult for them to extend their hand right now. Until then, the team should be able to get by.

The trouble with doing a trip such as the one I planned via train is the nature of the rail system in the United States. Even though Western Europe, Japan, and China have elegant, efficient high speed rail systems and additional feeders that work well in concert, we’re still struggling in this country to get even one state moving in that direction. Part of the deterioration of the US rail system comes from neglect, another part comes from the populace feeling that until recently trains were largely a 19th century technology. Finally, there’s the feeling that for many types of travel, such as coast-to-coast flights, rail isn’t fast enough to compete. High speed rail in particular has a sweet spot of 400-500 miles max before it starts to lose out to planes in terms of time savings.

Even if high speed rail were to become a viable, time and cost-efficient alternative to air travel, something would be lost in the process. Right now, I’m on a 28-hour journey, half of it through West Texas. There’s no 3G coverage out here, and it’s easy to go an hour without seeing a building, let alone civilization. Yet I’m relaxed. The next stop is two hours away, where we’ll all have a chance to get off the train and stretch our legs. Onboard, there are no restrictive seat belts. The coach seats have 50 inches of leg room, so much that my short legs can barely reach the foot rest in front of me. There’s plenty of room to recline, and I can get up and move about the train as much as I like. I’ve spent much of the trip so far in the observation lounge car, where I’ve plugged all of my portable electronic devices at a booth and have gone to work. I got a snack down below and had a dining car immediately next door.

Last night, I met a gentleman who was looking at my ballpark pictures while I was working and decided to strike up a conversation. It turns out that he made it to AAA in the Cleveland organization before being called to serve in Korea, where he was in the Air Force. After his service ended, he decided against pursuing a major league career, instead choosing to start a family and settle down in Southern California. He admired how quickly I manipulated files on my machine, while I thanked him for his service and for giving a bit of his own history. I didn’t get chance to mention to him that the end of his baseball career may have coincided with the last World Series won by the Indians in 1954. Coincidence? Hmmm…

Perhaps trains are of a different age, where people weren’t in such a goddamn hurry. Riding a train certainly won’t make me turn my back on new technology. Yet it’s nice to know that there are still ways to travel in which the journey is appreciated every bit as much as the destination. That is the essence of train travel.

• 8/8. Game time- 1:10 PM
• Attendance: 27,856
• Conditions: 76 degrees, roof closed (97 degrees outside)
• Matchup: San Diego Padres at Arizona Diamondbacks
• Starting pitchers: Mat Latos vs. Dan Haren Joe Saunders
• Result: SD 10, ARI 1, W – Latos (12-5), L – Saunders (7-11)
• Ticket purchased: $16 bleacher ticket (Sec 140, Row 34, Seat 16; includes $1 gameday surcharge)
• Beer of choice: Leinenkugel Classic Amber, 12 oz. – $4
• Food: Fatburger with cheese – $6.75, Value corn dog – $1.50
• Travel cost: $3.50 for Valley Metro light rail/bus day pass, used on light rail from Tempe (30 min. ride)
• Other: $1.50 1L bottled water brought into park
• Total spent: $33.25

12 years into its life, Chase Field (formerly BankOne Ballpark or The “BOB”) has settled in like a comfortable old shoe. No longer is it considered a tremendous engineering marvel, now that the other retractable dome in Glendale has captured the region’s imagination. What appeared at first like strange affectations or quirks in the outfield dimensions have become familiar and not particularly offensive. Thousands upon thousands have ascended and descended the mountain range known as the upper deck, and lived to tell others that they did not, in fact, need sherpas.

Getting There

Regardless of how well the now red-clad snakes do on the field, the stadium is an institution, its massive, hangar-like steel roof visible for miles around the valley. A few years ago, Valley Metro opened a light rail line, linking Downtown Phoenix and some neighborhoods north to Tempe, ASU, and Mesa. Color me pleasantly surprised when I encountered very full trains in both directions, even the inbound train I took over 90 minutes prior to the first pitch. If you’re driving, cash lots run from $6 to $12 depending on how close you want to be. A garage on the opposite side of tracks south of the ballpark has a footbridge for direct access by suite holders.

Westbound trains drop fans off two blocks from the ballpark, whereas eastbound trains stop roughly at the location where the above picture was taken. This makes using the train a rather painless experience from those who live within a short, often dry-heat enduring walk, or those who may use a station-adjacent Park-n-Ride lot. One way fare is $1.75, $3.50 for an all day pass good on Valley Metro buses as well.

The ballpark is laid out in Phoenix’s grid from west to east, with the field orientation facing north. Satellite and overhead photos with the roof closed give the appearance of a rectangular football stadium, not a ballpark. Only a nub sticking out on the south face gives a hint at how a baseball grandstand is shoehorned in there. Fans enter on either the west or east face from large, landscaped plazas. The west side has sports bar called Sliders across the plaza. A recording booth for sports radio station KTAR-620 AM is attached. A dozen or more ticket windows are set up in the southeast corner. Throughout my short journey, I did not see or encounter a ticket scalper, though I must admit I wasn’t actively looking for one.

Ticketing

I sidled up to the ticket window with my eye on one of the cheaper seats. The offerings were plentiful:

• Outfield Reserved (Upper Deck LF/RF corners): $9
• Bullpen Reserved (Lower Deck LF/RF corners): $15
• Bleachers (Lower Deck LF/RF outfield): $15
• Infield Reserve (Upper Deck infield/baselines): $15

As an Oakland bleacher bum, I couldn’t help but get a reasonably priced, $15 bleacher ticket (Sec 140, Row 34, Seat 16). The bleachers are aluminum benches with backs and upholders. Riser depth is the same as the regular seats, making it easy to run between the bleachers and the regular seat sections. I was not pleased to see that the D-backs charge an additional $1 gameday service fee on top of the published price, bringing my ticket cost to $16. It’s still better than dealing with Ticketmaster or Tickets.com, at least for games that are definitely not expected to be sellouts. In hindsight, I probably should’ve gotten the $9 ticket since it was so easy to move around.

From where I sat, I initially had a serious glare problem from the combination of lights and clerestory windows in the roof. It took a few innings to properly adjust so that I could pick up ball flight. It’s not a problem that would seriously affect outfielders.

Concessions

Food offerings at Chase Field are middling with little variety. A Fatburger stand is behind the LF bleachers. All burgers are cooked to order with your choice of toppings, just like the restaurant. The 1/3-lb. burger was $6.75 and was pretty close to what a Fatburger in a restaurant would taste like. Regular ballpark fare rules otherwise, with $5 D-back Dogs and $3.75 sodas, all Pepsi stuff. There’s also a value menu at most stands, consisting of a $1.50 hot dog/corn dog, $1.50 small popcorn, or $1.50 milk or small soda. That’s an excellent deal, and worthy of a thumbs up.

Beer has three pricing tiers. Just about every stand that offers draft beer has a $4, 12-ounce beer on hand, which is usually Coors Light. For $9 a large is offered, in which case a better beer such as Blue Moon Belgian White (also a Molson Coors product) is available. For more discriminating beer lovers, most of the beer stands also have 22-ounce bottles of Fat Tire and Sierra Nevada on hand for $10.50. I choose to get beer from the Leinenkugel stand, just around the corner from Fatburger. Leinenkugel, or “Leinie” to those in the know, is owned by SAB Miller and makes different kinds of craft lager beers. I got the $4 classic leinie, an amber by name and while not as interesting or flavorful as notable craft brew amber ales, is more than a step above the usual Big Three swill. Note: Maricopa County is looking to sell countywide pouring rights to the highest bidder.

Circulation

For some strange reason, only one set of escalators were built at Chase Field, at the West main entrance. Since fans have to exit the air conditioned confines to use the escalator, it doesn’t get heavy use. Ramps and stairs are well marked but also well concealed. Fans enter in on the Main Concourse, with the field 25 feet below MC. The Upper Concourse is over 46 feet above the MC. The MC and UC sandwich the Press Level (lower mezzanine) and the the Insight Diamond Level (upper mezzanine). Interestingly, two sets of elevators in LF and RF are available to the general public. The location of a large play area in the upper deck translates to a mall-like scene where tons of families use the LF elevators heavily. In right field, where there is an unadorned plaza, the elevators are only lightly used. Other elevators elsewhere in the stadium are intended for accessibility uses and are clearly marked as such.

Concourses are the stadium average 30 feet wide, though unlike the Coliseum they don’t include the transitional areas for fans entering or leaving the seating sections, as well as the wheelchair rows. That makes the whole place feel much less cramped, leaving plenty of room for alternative uses, best exemplified by the following picture:

Do you really need to ask what the girl was singing? “Love Story” by Taylor Swift, of course.

While I went through the seating bowl taking pictures, the ushers were extremely friendly and courteous. After the game started, they stayed the same – and not a single one checked for a ticket. I didn’t have time to do a significant seat upgrade, but I was able to get down to the lower boxes around the infield in the 5th inning. By that time the Pads had gotten a big inning thanks to some D-backs defensive miscues, prompting some fans to leave. It also helps that there is no cordoned off field level club area.

Alas, I didn’t stay long. I came not to merely check out the stadium, but to also hike to the top. Chase Field is notorious for its expansive upper deck, which has a minimum of 32 rows and maxes out at 40 in certain locations. If that isn’t bad enough, the pitch (rise) of the seating rows is at least 21 inches, making it the steepest of any ballpark west of the Mississippi. (The Coliseum has only 17 rows in the upper deck, with a pitch of 17-18 inches.)

I noticed that a couple dozen people were hanging out in the upper reaches, so I figured it was time to reach the summit. I made my way to the top, where I was congratulated by a young family. It’s the top row where fans have access to windows looking out on the metro area. Unfortunately, the views aren’t particularly exciting from the east side. From the west side, you can get a good look at Downtown Phoenix. Strangely, the seats behind the plate feel somewhat isolated from the rest of the ballpark as the ceiling is lower. If you’re willing to deal with the climb, it’s a cheap way to go at $15 ($9 in the outfield).

Other observations

• The sound system is extremely echo-prone. I’d been here before when the roof was open and noticed the same thing.
• The scoreboard, upon the second or third AB for each batter, displays a “back of the baseball card” show of stats. No advanced stats or peripherals, however.
• Overhangs are modest, 12 rows over the lower deck for the club level, and 6 rows over the club level for the upper deck.
• When the park opened, I really hated the Buck Showalter-influenced field dimensions. I realized sometime later that Jerry Colangelo was just trying to squeeze as much revenue out of the outfield as possible.
• The park is due for some upgrades in the next decade, including a new field level club and better growing lights for the oft-brownish field. The scoreboards were revamped some time ago and need nothing.

Wrap-up

Yes, it’s a dome. Can’t get around it. But you also can’t get around sweltering heat, even if it’s dry heat. MLB and Colangelo were smart to get the ballpark built in time for the 1998 season, instead of having the D-backs play at a beefed up Phoenix Muni or some other spring training facility. The fans like it, the amenities are good, and the transit and parking convenience make it one of the better urban ballparks in the nation. No, the upper deck can’t be fixed. So far, MLB has stood firm in its stance to keep the All Star Game at Chase Field in 2011, despite boycott threats over SB 1070 (which has had an injunction neuter the most controversial parts for now). Small changes may be in the offing if/when All Star Weekend happens, though it probably won’t be much to enhance the fan experience. Until then, Chase Field remains perfectly serviceable and pleasant for snakes and Phoenix MLB fans, and that’s something that would’ve been considered inconceivable 30 years ago.