our visit to petco park this week was pretty amazing. i knew it was going to be a great park, but it totally surpassed our expectations. as a new dodger fan, i know i'm not supposed to like anything from the padres (especially when they beat you 4-0), but this park blew us away. from the perfect view of the field from pretty much every section we visited, to the numerous restaurants and bars around the stadium, to the open air concourses, and that quirky western metal supply building that they built the park around. it was pretty spectacular. the first park on our trip is going to be hard to beat. we went to the angels/yankees game tuesday night, on to san fran for a game yesterday afternoon, and finally Oakland for this evening's game.
one last photo - the newest dodger doing what he does best. glove in hand, just hanging out. manny being manny.
8 comments:
Looks like fun!
Have you been to SF's Pac Bell, AT&T or "Phone Company Du Jour" Park? It's awesome. I did not like Petco because there's too much concrete. I don't think it compares to most of the other new parks which are made to look like old parks, like SF, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta, all of which I've been to.
At Pac Bell, sit in the upper deck on the first-base line and watch the boats after they pass under the Bay Bridge.
PS - I presume the reason Petco does not offer a view of the Coronado Bridge is because of the wind conditions. I hope that's the reason! Instead, it looks out over the least attractive part of downtown.
Not sure why my comments didn't get posted here the other night but in response...
Petco doesn't have the view that PNC or AT&T have, but it has more bells and whistles than any other park I've ever been to. It totally took me by surprise. The concrete look is actually sandstone and I think it looks pretty sharp. We visited AT&T later in the week and had a great experience there too.
Hi Ben:
Let us in on some of those Petco bells and whistles. I probably didn't know they were there!
Well just wandering around the park gave me a glimpse at how many great vantage points there are. It seemed like every seat was great - apparently they have the closest upper deck seats in the majors, but beyond that:
The former warehouse in the corner down the foul line holds the team shop on the first floor through which you can exit and stand behind the left feild fence. It also includes an amazing restaurant/bar on the top level that houses a Padres Hall of Fame. The top has an amazing view and holds rooftop parties as well.
The park within a park feature in the outfield was awesome. Little kids can play ball with their parents on the little feild, or lounge on the grassy hill under the Gwynn statue, OR go down to the giant sandbox right in front of the center field fence! Apparently you can get into this section for only $5 which is amazing in a major league park.
Which leads me to my third point. Although we sprung for a bit higher priced tickets, the weren't checked at all as we walked around the park meaning you could get in for $5 and wander around the park to the plethora of bars, restaurants, or even some upper deck seats. The security was more lax than almost any park in the majors.
Food seemed expensive, but you could get some pretty cool items there as well as a big selection of microbrewed beer - something that is refreshing coming from Anaheim and LA where you can pretty much just get Bud/Miller.
The park has a wifi connection and the box seats apparently have personal screens to look up stats, order food, etc.
The fact that the park is right off the trolley line, minutes from the gas lamp district, and right off the ocean is a huge plus in my mind.
That's all I've got for now.
Interesting points, Ben. I took the Amtrak down there from LA and liked the trolley going to the park. The same Amtrak stops right behing the ballpark in Anaheim, so on my return trip from Petco there were a lot of Bosox fans going to the Angels / Red Sox game.
Quite an impressive list of parks you've been to. You need to get to Wrigley!
agreed! I really do.
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