Ballpark experience number seven: The Bronx, NY

Like anyone who is a fan of an MLB team that is not the New York Yankees, I hated the Yankees. They are the evil empire of baseball, with more money and less class than any other organization. So I wasn't expecting to enjoy being in the den of the beast as much as I did. For me, the Yankee Stadium experience was really good, and it made me re-evaluate my opinion of the franchise.

I had not bought a ticket prior to turning up to the stadium, so with some trepidation, I joined the queue at the ticket stand. I was slightly star-struck when I found I was standing three people behind current world chess champion Magnus Carlsen. I don't think anyone else recognized him. Another guy in the queue was directing some friendly banter towards Magnus' friend, who was wearing an Oakland A's t-shirt. The queue was sizeable but went pretty fast. When I turned up at the counter to buy my ticket, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the ticket was half-price if I paid by Mastercard. So I did and saved $26.

I took my savings and went to look for some food. I took advantage of another Mastercard special to buy a combo that contained two Premio hotdogs and a diet soda. The hotdogs were the best stadium food that I came across on my tour. They were spicy and tasted like they contained a good proportion of real meat. I would say they were good by any standard.

Due to the size of the stadium, there wasn't much free standing area close to the action. This was about as close as I could get:

I stood and enjoyed my hotdogs in the shade, before heading up to my seat.

Yeah, it was a little far away from the field, but the viewing was unobstructed. The surrounding fans were pleasant, and contributed to a good vibe. It seemed like folks were interested and really got into cheering for the home team, without being abusive douchebags. I was also impressed by the general baseball knowledge on display. 

As for the baseball action, the Yankees won on the back of two home-runs from rookie 1st baseman Greg Bird, who was filling in for the oft-injured Mark Teixeira. The Yankees get deserved criticism for spending hideous amounts of money to lure veteran free-agents away from other teams*, but the bulk of their success over the years has come from developing their own talent. Maybe Greg Bird will be the next great Yankee star, and I will be able to say that I was at his first multi home-run game. Hopefully not though. They are still the evil empire and I will happily root against them (except when they are playing Boston). Actually, there are quite a few teams that I dislike more. Lets say they have gone from very hateable to moderately dislikeable in my books.

The Yankee Stadium experience was really cool, and I would recommend it to anyone. The food was good, the fans were great and the stadium is fancy. In a non-biased ranking, it may have come in first place. However, I am very biased toward my favourite team's home stadium, so my afternoon in the Bronx comes in at 2nd place.

* Yes, I realize the Mariners signed away Robinson Cano from the Yankees.

Ballpark experience number six: Philadelphia

I'll be straight up...this was the least amount of fun I had at a baseball stadium on my trip. My rankings are just a rank of how much I enjoyed the whole experience of being at the stadium, not some detailed, objective scientific study. After all, what kind of expert am I? I am a New Zealander who has never played baseball, and had never even watched a game in person until 5 years ago. So in the highly unlikely event that any Phillies fans read this post and feel offended...it's not Citizen's Bank Park's fault...it's mine.

At this point in the trip, I was tired and starting to feel the effects of a diet consisting mostly of greasy junk food. Also, because I was travelling city to city by train, I hadn't gotten much sleep the previous three nights (two 6am starts and an overnight train from Boston to Baltimore). Plus, it was just so damn hot outdoors. A sensible person would probably not have been walking around outside as much as I did.

The point I knew I was in trouble was right after I ate this cheesesteak:

It was from Geno's, which is a famous cheesesteak place. I had been planning on getting another one from Pat's, which is another well-known place just across the road. However, I started to feel really overheated and lethargic and just damn greasy after finishing the sandwich. I forgot to get napkins and couldn't be bothered to go up to the counter and ask for some. So I just wiped the grease that was settling in on my face on my t-shirt. I think I can actually pinpoint that moment as the lowest point on my baseball tour, where I was just so lazy and slow that I couldn't even ask for a fucking napkin.

I should also point out that I had been walking around in the hot sun for about an hour trying to find the place. It seemed like it took twice as long for me to stagger back to the hotel and get into bed. At this point, I was seriously contemplating not going to watch the game. I just had no energy at all. But, an hour or so of rest in my air-conditioned room managed to revive me enough to order a ride on Uber to the stadium (Uber is awesome to use).

I got to the stadium and stayed for 4 innings. Here is an action shot to show that I did attend:

I think that was Jose Bautisita up hitting. I don't really remember, but let's say it was, and that he hit a 500 foot dinger (Edit: on closer inspection, the batter looks nothing like Jose Bautista). The 2015 Blue Jays were very good, so even if it wasn't Jose, chances are that it was another badass hitter like Edwin Encarnacion or Josh Donaldson. I mean there is only a 1 in 9 chance that it was Ryan Goins (Edit: it's not Goins, he bats lefty). He is terrible. The Phillies were/are terrible too, so I imagine Toronto won that game.

I didn't eat anything at the stadium. Nothing seems appealing when you are sweating grease. All the yummy junk food I was piling in at other stadiums suddenly seemed repulsive. I was craving fresh vegetables, but unsurprisingly, they were in short supply at the ballpark. I had to head out and find something more palatable.

Here is a picture of the roast beef wrap I got from some posh healthy food store after the game:

Here is a picture of the vegan buckwheat noodle meal I ate for breakfast the next day:

It was amazingly delicious.

I used to think that if I lived in the US, I would become really fat eating all the delicious junk food. It is good to know that my body has an in-built mechanism to avoid consuming too much crap.

So yeah, what to say... this stadium ranked 8th and last. It's not really a fair ranking, but the stadium didn't seem particularly interesting in any case. What I saw of Philadelphia itself didn't tickle my fancy either. So now that I have ticked off Citizen's Bank Park, I will probably never go back.

Ballpark experience number five: Baltimore

Wow, it's been some time since I wrote one of these. I suppose I'd better box on and try to get them finished, if only for some small sense of accomplishment. It would be nice to have a written account of this stuff before my memories fade.

The baseball stadium in Baltimore is called "Oriole Stadium at Camden Yards". I really liked this stadium. The main distinctive feature of the stadium is the brick warehouse on the right field side. I'd always assumed that it was right up against the right field bleachers, but as it turns out, there is a street in between.

You can walk off the street straight into the outfield bleacher seats. It is really quite cool. I also appreciate that Camden Yards is located in Baltimore, within walking distance of the CBD and harbour area. This is much better than stadiums that are located in the middle of fucking nowhere...like Angels stadium.

I hadn't bought a ticket on Stubhub before I arrived in the city. I figured there would be plenty of seats for a weeknight game against a non-contender. So here is my paper ticket I got from the stadium ticket line:

Here is the view of the stadium from just down the road. Walking straight ahead gets you to the same point as in the first photo (but facing in the opposite direction).

How was the food? Pretty good actually. Camden Yards has a concession stand called "Boog's Barbecue", which was founded by a former Oriole player. It serves barbecue that is passable by regular standards but terrific by ballpark food standards. I got some beef which came with a roll/biscuit and some crisps. I particularly liked the horseradish sauce you could dollop on.

What about the baseball? It was okay. The game was a low-key meaningless late August game. The Orioles probably weren't going to make the playoffs (and they didn't). The A's certainly weren't going to make the playoffs at that stage. The whole event felt like a relaxed casual nice thing to do on a Monday night, without there being any tension or pressure. The crowd was pretty good and the atmosphere was pleasant. It wasn't quite as laid back as Anaheim, but it wasn't quite as charged as Fenway. My seat wasn't the greatest, so I couldn't see much detail of what was going on:

I wasn't too concerned though. It was a lovely Summer's evening. I didn't even bother spending some time standing in the walkway area behind home plate to catch more of the action.

There was one cool baseball thing from the game. I got to see the only ambidextrous pitcher in the majors, Pat Venditte. He isn't particularly good (basically mediocre to bad with either arm), but it was freaking awesome to see him pitch. He has this custom-made glove that he can swap from hand to hand, depending on what arm he is throwing with.

Watching baseball at Camden Yards was a thoroughly decent and enjoyable experience. It was the 3rd best time I had watching baseball on my trip. The stadium is beautiful, the food was nice and the crowd was good. I would go back.

Ballpark experience number four: Boston

This Boston post is holding up my progress. So I will just write whatever comes to my mind. I didn't really like Boston or Fenway Park very much, so there is no point putting much effort into the post.

My trip to Boston was the start of the most hectic part of the tour. I would be visiting 4 ballparks in 4 different cities in 4 days. I spent a total of 10 hours in Beantown, so I didn't get the full experience. I do get the general feeling that I wouldn't have really liked it even if I had spent more time there.

Fenway Park opened in 1912 and is the oldest MLB stadium. It is supposed to be a historic place and there have been many wonderful players play there over the history of this great franchise and yadda yadda yadda...whatever. I don't give a fuck about that. Frankly, I prefer watching baseball in stadiums that don't have seats designed for the average 1912-sized person. No matter how I positioned myself in my seat, I was unable to avoid thigh to thigh contact with the burly douchebag college kid seated beside me. I didn't sit there for super long, considering him and his friends announced their intentions to sink several beers. I had already been the target of some choice comments (based on wearing a cap supporting the opposition team that day).

For what it is worth, here is the view of the field from the cheapest seat I could find on Stubhub (still really expensive).

It was baking hot as well. I moved to a standing area near the concession stands behind home plate. This place allowed me to experience another great feature of an old baseball stadium...obstructed views!

I didn't get anything to eat at Fenway. I did buy a giant souvenir cup of diet coke (with unlimited refills). It was a much larger vessel than the tiny bottles of water that were also on offer. I learned from my Anaheim experience that drinking lots of water is a good idea on a hot day. 

So what were the positives? 

1) My favourite team was playing and they won

2) I didn't get sunburnt 

What were the negatives? 

1) The stadium is old and uncomfortable

2) The fans were annoying (even the ones who weren't in the cheap seats)

3) The food didn't look particularly appetizing

Fenway Park ranks a very distant 6th on the list of my ballpark experiences. I really enjoyed visiting all the stadiums ranked above it.

There, all done. 

Ballpark experience number three: Queens, NY

Stadium number three on my baseball tour was Citi Field, home of the New York Metropolitans. I had just arrived that morning on an overnight flight from LA, and hadn't had much sleep or rest. Check-in time at the Y was 3pm, so I had heaps of time to wander around...and wander around I did. I spent most of my time is a slight trance (only partly attributable to the dehydration caused by 30+ degree heat). I was in awe of the tall buildings in Brisbane...so the skyscrapers in New York blew my mind. I won't bore you with paragraphs and paragraphs gushing over how awesome New York is. I will bore you will a baseball stadium trip report!

I decided to visit Citi Field that night, despite very little sleep the night before, because Jacob DeGrom was pitching for the Mets. He is young and very good and on my fantasy baseball team. Yay! Plus, the Mets were playing the Rockies (who aren't very good), so I expected some pitching domination and a valuable boost to my team ERA and WHIP for the week.

I took the subway out to Queens and managed to find my way to the stadium (New York's subway system is pretty easy to use). I took this photo while waiting in the security check line to get in:

Yes, I suck at taking pictures, but you get some sense of the scene. Citi Field is a relatively new stadium (opened in 2009), and it looks pretty... it doesn't have a lot of character, but it looks pretty. I had a wander around before I ascended up to my seat in the nosebleed section. I wanted to check out what was on offer food-wise.

Citi Field has a Shake Shack concession stand! Shake Shack only has the most delicious and perfect fast-food burgers known to man. I wanted to get one, but the queues were ludicrously long... I did actually want to see some baseball that evening. I didn't end up getting anything to eat at Citi Field, because I had eaten this pizza for lunch:

It was excellent.

Other than Shake Shack, there wasn't anything particularly compelling to sample at Citi Field. This is New York, there are so many great places to eat. I thought it would be a shame to fill my belly with crappy ballpark food (memories of the Dodger dog were still lurking in the back of my mind)

So I went to my seat and took in  the view:

Not as close to action as my seat in Dodger stadium, and the sun setting in my eyes was slightly annoying (didn't bring my hat cause it was a night game). It was pretty cool sitting there though. There was a family (mom, dad and at least three adult children) sitting behind me, and they had the most awesome accents. They were really getting into the game as well. The mom sounded exactly like Kyle's mother off South Park and she kept exclaiming that she wanted to see the big apple. That is literally a giant apple that rises from an area beyond the centre field fences every time a Met hits a home run (unfortunately we didn't see it that night). You can see where the apple emerges from in this picture:

But yeah, back to the family...I just thought that their conversations and interactions were very sweet; and I sat there with a big grin for most of the night.

The stadium atmosphere was pretty good, but as with the Dodgers, this is to be expected because the Mets are good this year. The singing of "Take me out to the ballpark" was a little disappointing. I think this is because the Mets didn't even replace their name for "home team" in the song (I guess it doesn't work out very well syllable-wise). The crowd in LA yelled "Root root root for the DODGERS!" very loudly, whereas I didn't hear much singing at all from the Mets fans.

I left shortly after the seventh inning and managed to find my way back to Manhattan safely. The Citi Field experience ranks 4th on my list, largely on the strength of the stadium atmosphere (and cute family). It would have been nice if there had been a better selection of food (and shorter queues), but all in all, there was nothing really to complain about. Citi Field was pretty solid in all departments.

Ballpark experience number two: Los Angeles

The day after my ill-fated trip to Angels stadium, I visited the home of the real baseball team of Los Angeles. Fortunately, this game was an evening game, and I wouldn't have to deal with the ravaging California sun. I had spent all of that day lying uncomfortably in bed, dealing with some nasty sunburn; and recovering from what I suspect was a case of heat stroke.

I did manage to eat this for lunch:

Kimchi Carbonara! Me gusta mucho!

Good thing I ate a substantial lunch, cause it was quite the trek to get to Dodgers stadium. The place where the bus dropped me off was pretty far away from the actual stadium, and it was basically all uphill. Also, I really needed to go for a piss for most of my walk. There is always that big decision about whether to walk faster (but intensifying the feeling of needing to urinate), or walk slower in a zen-like state (attempting to mentally block out the feeling of needing to urinate).

With a stadium of this size, getting there is only the first half of the challenge. The second half involves trying to make your way to a toilet and then to your seat. A wrong turn can mean walking around aimlessly for nearly half an hour. Not that I know this from personal experience or anything like that...*cough* *cough*.

I got myself sorted and went in search of food. I spent about 30 minutes in a queue to get some barbecue from the Think Blue BBQ concession stand. While waiting to order, the national anthem came on. Pretty interesting to see everyone stop what they were doing (even if they were in the middle of receiving a big tray of food), turn to face the flag and take their hats off. When the anthem comes on, everything stops.

I got a beef brisket sandwich, I think. It had some pretty decent smokey barbecue flavour to it. The potato salad was pretty ordinary though and the blue cheese coleslaw was nasty (and I love blue cheese).

I also got a Dodger dog, which was pretty mediocre.

Yeah, it was probably the worst ballpark hotdog I had on my trip.

The game itself was pretty good. I was sitting facing right field, and two of the best young right-fielders in baseball were on display that night, Bryce Harper and Yasiel Puig. In the picture below, if you look past the curly-haired gentleman's head, you can see Harper chilling out in-between pitches.

I was pleasantly surprised during the seventh inning stretch that: A) most of the crowd hadn't left yet; and B) they were really getting into singing "Take me out to the ballpark". This was a much better atmosphere than the seven inning stretch in some other stadiums. I suppose this is a result of the Dodgers having a good team this year.

All in all this was a good ballpark experience. I had been a little weary after hearing a friend describe the last time he visited Dodger stadium. Apparently there were Mexican dudes yelling at each other and throwing up gang signs late in the game (after a bit of alcohol no doubt). I saw no such evidence of that, and everyone seemed to be happy and engaged.

So out of the 8 ballparks I visited , I would say that my Dodgers stadium experience ranked 5th. The stadium is not easy to get to, and the food options weren't all that great, but the crowd and atmosphere were pretty good. I didn't rank Angels stadium in the last post, but that came in 7th.

Ballpark experience number one: Anaheim (most definitely not Los Angeles)

I recently went to the USA to do a bit of a food and baseball tour. I tried to combine the two for a little bit, but quickly realized that baseball stadium food is almost always overpriced and mediocre. I will write some posts about this trip!

So Anaheim is home to the Los Angeles Angels, who were formerly the California Angels and then the Anaheim Angels. I think they did some kind of naming deal with the city of Anaheim to get their stadium there, so for a while they were the bizarre "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim". But whatever they are called, their ballpark is a concrete monstrosity very, very far away from downtown Los Angeles. This is what it looks like from the carpark:

So I needed to take the subway to get to Union station, so that I could take the train (a proper train, like an Amtrak train), so that I could walk for several hundred metres through carpark, so that I could finally arrive at my seat and sit down...only just over two hours later. 

I did grab a beef short rib grilled cheese sandwich on the way to my seat. A bit of google research showed that this was one of the best things on offer at Angels Stadium (which apparently is not one of the better MLB stadiums for food). Here is what it looked like:

You know what? It was actually not bad. It could have done with more beef, but the cheese was nice (proper cheese). I washed it down with a red coloured lemonade drink:

This was pretty refreshing.

The main problem I had was that I was sitting in an uncovered area in the outfield seating. I was not wearing sunscreen and the sun was pretty darn fierce. 

I did manage to (perhaps foolishly) gut it out for 4 innings. This doesn't sound like much, but Jered Weaver was pitching for the Angels and each inning was taking an interminably long time. I don't think there were many people staying out there to watch every pitch. I suspect Angels fans are on the whole, a lot less hardcore about baseball than the fans of some other teams (this is not necessarily a bad thing...I hate you Boston).

So my trip started off with me travelling two hours each way to watch an hour and a half of baseball while getting burnt to a crisp. I would say that the overall experience was slightly negative, but I am going to put that on me. It was a bit idiotic to buy a cheap bleacher seat and then sit out there without sun screen. Madness... I will probably never return, because Angels are the hated division rivals of my beloved Seattle Mariners...and because it is such a pain to get to.