For the trip: 6 (already!)
Active MLB: 18
Overall MLB: 26.
Seat:
Section 127; Row G; Seat 6. About halfway up the LF foul line, the first row in the section, separated from the field by two rows of seats that were just off the visitors' bullpen and a 10-foot wide area which featured two 'lounge' seats, to which I figure two lucky fans got upgraded.
(Pic should follow, eventually.)
Result: Yankees 9 Rays 5, in a battle of two clubs I hate.
I was ready to really hate Tropicana Field. It is a domed stadium, which from seeing it on TV, looks dark and murky, with overhanging technical rings that often cause havoc with balls in play. And what I found was... a domed stadium, that is dark and murky, with a cream covered ceiling due to which I could not track fly balls (mind you, to be fair, it is a bit if an issue for me during day games in an outside stadium) with three technical rings that fly balls need to actively avoid in order to successfully complete their flight. So what we have lies clearly in the Big Owe aesthetic, minus the collapsing beams. And that's not a compliment (as big a place that the Big Owe has in my heart as the former home of the Expos and my first ballpark...)
But...
But...
Man, does the Rays organisation ever go out of its way to enrich fan experience. I do not think I have seen so many staff in any ballpark, seemingly all quick with a smile and a greeting. The concourse, which one would expect to look and feel like a concrete bunker, does not, in great part because the walls have been covered with red brick wallpaper. the concessions offer variety: several Poppa John's (I tried them for the first time: not great but better than one would expect; certainly better than what I had at Turner Field in Atlanta or at the culinary disaster that is the Skydome), an Outback concession, a BBQ joint and some Italian-themed counters.
The Rays also have several unique fan activities:
- they have a touch aquarium (it is exactly what it sounds like: you can touch the fishies), which seems very popular with the kiddies. The line-up was a bit too long for me.
- for Friday night games, they have a DJ who spins tunes before and after the game, as well as during breaks, I think.
- and, most amazingly, for I have never seen this before, they have, after Friday night games, the 'Centerfield Shuffle'. Once the game is over, after a short wait to prepare the field, fans are invited to exit the stadium via centrefield. With the afore-mentioned DJ, well, DJing, fans have 20 minutes to hang out in the outfield, dance if they want to (some were), and basically get the kick of being on an MLB playing surface. Yes, I walked on the Trop's carpet; yes, it was cool. (And BTW, the warning track is also artificial turf, brown instead of green; I cannot figure out how that gives a warning to OFers that they are approaching the fence when chasing a fly ball...) Major, major kudos to the Rays organisation for that one.
I do have to take away a lot of points for one major, major short-coming: the seats have no cup holders. That is a mortal stadium sin.
In a pure sense, the Trop will certainly not be the best stadium I will visit on this trip. However, it has been, and probably will be, the most surprising. Someone in the Rays' organisation clearly gets it; unfortunately, even given the on-field success the Rays have had and the superior ballpark experience, they still draw very small crowds.
Random observations:
- Former MLBer Oscar Gamble was signing autographs prior to the game. Of course, he was being featured as 'former Yankee Oscar Gamble'...
- They do not play 'God Bless America' before the seventh inning stretch. By my count, it has been played in three of the six stadiums on this (New Yankee Stadium; Nationals Park and, I think but may be wrong, Turner Field).
- Yankee fans are annoying. Very, very annoying.
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.
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