Shower? Check.
Time to check out San Francisco? Not as much as we would’ve liked, but some.
Rested and ready for the next adventure, we navigated the downtown streets en route to AT&T Park, which sits nestled in the Northeast corner of the city, right against the Bay. We weren’t more than 5 minutes into our walk when police cars sped by us. This was an area with fairly congested traffic, so to see the rate of speed they were travelling at was startling. Tires squealed and then several loud crashes happened not more than 50 feet from us. Some sort of police chase ended in what had to be a 10 car accident, with police officers drawing their guns and surrounding the suspect’s car. It was an auspicious start to the evening.
Around the Park
The park is very unique, as it is bordered by McCovey Cove to the south and east; the 3rd St bridge to the south and west. This makes for a beautiful backdrop for baseball, but also limits access to the ballpark. Thankfully, there are still several entrances which minimize bottlenecks which may occur.
External Aesthetics
The park is a towering brick structure, surrounded by palm trees and plenty of signage to ensure there is little doubt what you’re gazing upon. Exposed metal protrudes from the top of the stadium, but is barely noticeable as your eye level is kept lowered. As you approach the main entrance you are greeted by the Say-Hey Kid (a statue of Willie Mays) and a large clock tower (which gives a Back to the Future vibe). The most beautiful part is undoubtedly the view from the backside of the stadium, where the cove steals the show. The park does a great job of integrating the water into the fan experience.
Tickets
This is the first stadium where we already had tickets for that day’s game (thank you Steven Berger). However, since one of the goals of the trip is to judge what a casual fan would experience walking up on game day, we engaged the staff at the ticket counter anyway. Ticket prices were high, though not exorbitantly so, and that’s probably to be expected from the reigning World Series Champions.
Internal Aesthetics
The concourses at AT&T Park were a mix between the modern-industrial Safeco and the stark concrete of O.co. Green metal railings and fencing guide you directly toward the food vendors or your seats. But don’t kid yourself, just about everywhere you go there is some sort of visually captivating amenity or attraction that we’ll cover a little later on. You get the distinct impression that internal architecture and design is simply a means of conveyance to get you from entrance to attraction.
Seats
We sat in the left field bleachers, in front of the famed Coke bottle and baseball glove. The bleacher seats had numbered designations, but we weren’t quite sure why, as the fans disregarded these assignments and moved around frequently. It is fairly commonplace at large sporting venues to sit in a seat other than your own, most likely because they offer a better view. This inevitably leads to an awkward confrontation when the rightful owner of those seats attempts to claim them. This interaction took place no more than a dozen times directly in front of us and each time the fans were not only pleasant, but they were downright compassionate. “These seats are mine, but I’ll just sit over here until someone claims these seats.” “Sorry guys, these seats are ours, but there are some opens two rows down.” A plea to AT&T Park: your bleacher-dwelling fans (which we’ll cover a little later on) are worthy of open-seating bleachers.
Aside from our own seats, the best view in the house is the 1B/RF line as you get a view of both the entire ballpark but also of McCovey Cove. The higher you are, the more you can see. This view of the Bay is diminished the darker it gets, so we highly recommend it for day games. The seats in right field were also a cool experience: face forward and you have baseball directly in front of you (only a few rows of seats to potentially separate the field from yourself); turn around and you’re overlooking the Bay. Pretty cool.
Entertainment and Amenities
The standards were there: fast pitch booths, a paddleboat race amongst mascots, exhibits featuring the history of the Giants, etc. But the additional amenities are the memorable parts: the giant green Coca-Cola bottle (which doubles as a children’s slide… who knew?), the huge old-fashioned baseball glove… they even played to the tech-savvy fan with the “@Cafe” where you tweet to win prizes. As we traversed the ballpark, we got the overwhelming sense that every single detail had been taken into consideration.
Fans
Back-to-back nights we were treated to excellent fans. The Giants fans were engaged in the game, they socialized freely with one another, and really enhanced the ballpark experience in the process. Several fans around us would start a chant and within seconds, they were joined by hundreds of others. The fans in the bleachers were a special treat for us, as we are accustomed to bleacher fans who tend to be more interested in partying than taking in the ballgame. These guys did both very well and deserve kudos.
Shout-out to the Giants
The Giants made it 3-out-of-3 ballparks that rolled out the red carpet for us. They sent over some really nice staff who provided us a couple of gift bags filled with Giants merchandise and even featured us on their Snapchat account! Very cool Giants, very cool. Thanks for showing us a great time.
Shout-out to the Pirates (the opponent)
BIG thanks also to Robby Incmikoski of ROOT SPORTS Pittsburgh who reached out and asked us to do a quick on-camera interview for their Pirates broadcast. What an amazing experience! So cool that they took interest in our trip!
Shout-out to the Twitter community
One of the craziest parts for us has been how quickly our trip has captured a following on Twitter. Honestly, we are just two guys from Chicago who had a cool idea and were crazy enough to try and make it happen. The fact that we’ve been able to share this experience has been fun, but the reactions and interactions with you all out there have been amazing. A perfect example, and someone who we owe a special thank you to, is the Twitter personality @MLBcathedrals. Someone whom we’ve never met and never shared more than a text box with, has helped promote our adventure in a way we never could have and has never asked for anything in return. It’s one of numerous examples of generosity and support that we are truly thankful for.
Overall
AT&T Park is going to be tough to beat. It had just about everything, no matter if you are a hardcore baseball fan or a family looking for a fun experience. The fans were passionate, the amenities were plentiful, the views/proximity to the Bay are spectacular, the stadium is new but doesn’t feel gimmicky. We’ll see how everything shakes out at the end, but this is a great baseball stadium.
Tomorrow, we head down to Southern California to see beautiful San Diego. We can only hope Ron Burgandy will be awaiting our arrival for an interview opportunity.
~ Brian and Tim
(for more pics, make sure you check out our Facebook page, which is linked on the left of the site)
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