Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Last night was full of fun and surprises at the Arizona Diamondbacks ball game. While we lost 3-2 to the Milwaukee Brewers, fun abounded in the stands where the family was seated with 50 students from Jeff's choir, which was invited to sing the national anthem at the start of the game. The kids sounded great and were extremely excited to stand behind home plate and sing. The cameras panned across each student (and the director, or course) throwing their images on the gigantic screen over the scoreboard. Chase field itself is pretty interesting with its sunken swimming pool and pull-back roof, which opened just before the game began allowing visitors watch the slowly darkening sky and anticipate the post-game fireworks display.

One highlight of the night was when Jeff was invited to steal second base, literally. At the end of the third inning, he went on to the field with the grooming crew to change out the bases and rake the dirt. Jeff swapped out the second and third bases, replacing them with clean ones. When he left the field, he was allowed to keep second base. Officials even authenticated it for him with a holographic sticker that has a code which allows the base to be searched on-line for details of the game in which it was used. Needless to say, this was nifty-keen for his inner child!

Upon returning to our seats with the base, Jeff gave a full accounting of the post surroundings hiding under the regular seats. Apparently, tickets behind home plate, field level, go for about $150 each and entitle the fan to a waitress who fetches anything he or she wants to eat and drink from the Sedona Lounge, which is located under the stands. Fans may also leave their seats to visit the lounge which is equipped with multiple t.v. screens broadcasting the current game along with over-stuffed armchairs and a full-service bar and restaurant. (Who knew?) In addition, the dugout lounge is a bar connected to the end of the actual dugout. Here, patrons may order snacks and cocktails while watching all the camera angles being shot for the current baseball game along with other sporting events being shown around the country.

While the high-ticket crowd was living it up out of sight, the rest of us were entertained by colorful hawkers walking up and down the stands with offerings ranging from water bottles to coffee frappes to multi-colored slushes to several kinds of beer along with sunflower seeds, peanuts, cotton candy, and popcorn. Of course the mezzanine ring around the stands offered a huge variety of food ranging from standard ballpark fare like hotdogs to chain restaurants including Taco Bell, McDonalds, and TGI Fridays. Of course, these places all want your first-born son in exchange for a meal. Luckily we had a $20 voucher and snacks of our own. The voucher went for three hotdogs and some popcorn that came in a D'backs batting cap, which the boy promptly wore as soon as he emptied the contents into his stomach. The guys were in charge of obtaining food, so when they returned I received a lesson in ballpark dogs. Apparently, we ate Diamondback Dogs which are higher quality - read more expensive - than the el-cheapo-deluxe regular dogs. (I think their reasoning was that we didn't have to pay for the hotdogs, so we might as well get the good ones!) In addition, the hotdogs are delivered naked, so each fan can build his or her own. Both of the guys put only ketchup on theirs, but they returned with a fully stocked dog sporting ketchup, mustard, pickle relish, and onions for me. (What, no chili?)

Interestingly, the ballpark allows fans to bring their own eats. People may bring soft-sided coolers with sealed water bottles and clear plastic grocery bags with whatever snacks they wish. So, realistically, going to the ballpark does not mean people have to spend a ton of money on food. Fortunately, I discovered this in advance and took a stock of items to share including nearly a dozen cold water bottles (nine of which we polished off) and several boxes of snack crackers, cookies, etc. In retrospect, I suppose I could have packed an entire picnic, though leaving directly from school made carrying the snacks about a little more difficult.

Ultimately, it was a long day, (We left for work at 7 a.m. and arrived home at 11:30 p.m. - which is why this entry was not posted last night.) but everyone had a good time. As a group we laughed, cheered, sang, did the wave, danced, tossed around an inflatable baseball, and enjoyed a beautiful Arizona night capped by spectacular fireworks. What could be more fun?