San Diego - Day Seven

DAY SEVEN

Today was baseball day. I got up and took the five-minute walk to Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres. I got there about 10am and picked up my ticket at will call for that night’s game, and then paid a little extra and took the tour of the park.

Petco Park is fairly new, only four years old, so it still has that clean, new appearance. The tour showed us all the seating areas, including the high rent seats behind home plate. It only costs $23 grand for a seat license, which gives you the right to buy season tickets at $20 grand each. That’s $43,000 per seat, per year. There are 181 seats in that section, and a little math says that’s almost $8 million in income right there. No wonder these pro ball players make so much. The tour showed all the unique aspects of the park, including the old historic warehouse down the left field line and the suites in that warehouse that overhang the left field area. Another unique aspect is the Park in the Park. Beyond the right field area, there is a park with a grassy hill and a little waffle ball field. General admission tickets can sit there and watch the game, or you can buy bleacher seats which go from that grassy park area down to the right field fence. In front of those bleachers, and going right up to the fence is a big beach area with sand for kids to play in during the game. The park is very fan friendly, as it is wide open in every aspect, with no closed off concourse, so you can see the field from just about every part of the park, no matter where you are. Another fan friendly aspect is the seats themselves. Each section of the stands is laid out like normal parks, but the seats are not straight in those sections. The seats are actually angled so the seats are facing towards the infield area, which can save on the neck strain from turning to watch the action the whole game. For the players, Petco Park features a really weird configuration in the outfield as far as distances. The left and right field power ally areas are deep, with the left field ally measuring 400 feet and the right field ally measuring 401 feet. The distance to straight away centerfield however, measures just 396 feet, a little different than most parks where centerfield is the deepest area of the park. I noticed also that there was no tarp anywhere to be found. The tour director mentioned this a little later and said they have a tarp, but it is actually stored under the seats in the left field area. Because it doesn’t rain much in San Diego, they don’t need the tarp that often, so they keep it hidden and out of the way. In fact, in the four-year history of Petco Park, they have had just one rainout and in the past 23 years, they have had just two rainouts. That’s pretty impressive. And of course, like most of these tours, I got to go down on the field. This included walking in the dugout and behind the home plate area. Overall it was pretty cool to see a lot of the park features and areas that the general public cannot visit or see during game days. After that it was off for some lunch, then walking around some of the local shops to kill some time. Then I went back to the hotel to pack for tomorrow’s departure and relax before going to the game that night.

That night I went to the Padres game, adding Petco Park as baseball stadium number seven where I have seen a professional baseball game. I got there early and walked around the park during the visiting team’s batting practice. I stationed myself in the leftfield stands area, hoping for that age old dream of every fan and getting a baseball. I was not, however, going to be the guy from the Budweiser real men of genius commercials who goes diving for a ball. But, I actually saw one home run ball come near me where three men, all in their 40s and 50s, went diving in the seats to try and retrieve. At that point, I felt ashamed to be a fellow human being. It was that embarrassing and ridiculous to watch. I then got pictures of future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux as he warmed up in the bullpen prior to the game before heading to my seat. I decided to take out a second mortgage on my house and eat my dinner at the ballpark. I was actually surprised by the prices at the concession stands, which were lower than I thought. That or the St. Louis Cardinals concession stands are way overpriced. The biggest complaint I do have about the concession stands was their selection. They had a wide variety of foods, but not at the same place. For example, I planned on going for a hot dog, nachos, and a Sprite in the souvenir cup (which, as I am typing this, I just realized I left the cup under my seat – I’m a moron!). Unfortunately, the nachos were at the concession stand half way across the upper deck, but the concession stand with the nachos did not have hot dogs. I didn’t understand that, and I didn’t want to buy nachos at one place then go get a hot dog and drink at another. It all seemed like trouble waiting to happen, so I went with a hot dog, pretzel (no salt) and a Sprite in the souvenir cup that I could conveniently leave underneath my seat (idiot!).

Finally I got to my seat, only to have one of my fears come true. The seat to my left was occupied by a lady who had to be pushing 300 pounds, and did not have a pleasant aroma. That was totally counter balanced by the person in the seat on my right, which was occupied by a four-year old boy attending his first ever baseball game with his dad. I quickly made pals with the four-year old to divert my attention from Shamu on my left. The game itself was a typical baseball game, and I quickly fell in line with the home fans, cheering for the Padres despite their blunders and eventual loss. I wanted tickets for this game so I could see Greg Maddux pitch, who is a future, first-ballot Hall of Famer, and to see San Diego’s great closer, Trevor Hoffman. For those who don’t know baseball, Hoffman has one of the best entrances in baseball, as they play the AC/DC song Hells Bells as he enters. I wanted to hear that song as he entered – that was my only goal. Unfortunately, San Diego gave up four runs in the seventh inning and lost 6-4. Maddux took the loss, and Hoffman never pitched. They did have a great fireworks display after the game, which I stayed for and because of the fireworks got completely distracted and forgot my stupid souvenir cup under my seat (moron!). The evening ended with me stopping by for a large helping of cookies and cream ice cream in a waffle cone, which I ate on the walk back to the hotel, where I got to my room and realized I left my stinking cup under my seat (idiot!).