My review of Chase Field -- Tom could you please link to the "Out of Town Ballparks" master thread when you have a chance?
Officially my 15th modern MLB park and 25th professional park overall. It's a really weird place, but I guess when you're talking about living in the desert and trying to play baseball there, "weird" is the baseline.
Getting there: easy. There is a light rail that drops off right out front and loads of parking lots nearby ($12 at the convention center 2 blocks away, unless there is a big convention in town). We walked about 10 minutes from the Kimpton Palomar Hotel (definitely recommended, especially if you can get one of the suites with soaking tub, although the hotel does have a little bit of a "pretentious hipster" vibe going on). If you're walking along Jefferson Street, stick to the side opposite the stadium if at all possible; the row of bars/restaurants on the stadium side all have misters over their patio, and when big groups of people walk down the street, they slow down to enjoy the misters, causing a super annoying accordion effect traffic jam.
there is a huge plaza area outside the stadium entrance. Around the corner from this section, it opens up and there's restaurants/bars, overhead fans, and live music.
The concourse is a little bit of an Oakland Coliseum vibe: narrow, dark, low ceiling. It feels very cut-off from the game. The traffic flow is really bad when it gets crowded, as the concession lines can get messy and intrude into the traffic areas, then some Mascot comes along for photo ops and all of a sudden there's a traffic jam.
Not sure if they have graphics department issues or are just fully immersed in the "20th Anniversary" theme but the scoreboard has got me looking for my leg warmers and shoulder pads, like, omigod. In general I didn't like the arrangement of the scoreboard-- it took me 3 innings to figure out where the pitcher's pitch count was, and another inning to find the pitch type/speed. It's not very intuitive. I did like the placement and management of the Rest of League scores though.
One night of our trip was STEM night, and they had a robot throw out the first pitch, which was super cool (although not very effective at reaching home plate, but since it was some high school kids' first robot, I won't judge).
Both nights, we sat in the Home Plate Box sections. This view is from Section J which is almost directly behind home plate. We got the tickets for $95 on stubhub; face value is closer to $150. The leg room in these sections is FANTASTIC and the seats are a little wider than a normal stadium seat, with a little padding. Great view and comfy seats. These seats also have waiter service from a limited menu. Everything is a la carte. There is also an a la carte club-style restaurant underneath the section which we did not visit.
Home Plate Box Seats menu. Chase Field also has in-app ordering everywhere in the ballpark, with the selection varying depending on where you're sitting, but it's mostly the more common ballpark fare and none of their really wacky signature items. The pricing on their traditional ballpark fare is similar to what I've seen in other ballparks, maybe a bit cheaper (which is expected when you're in Arizona and not in DC or SF or NY). Beer selection was honestly underwhelming, with the usual InBev stuff dominating, Firestone Walker 805 and SanTan Moon Juice representing the local craft beers, and stuff like Lagunitas IPA, Leinenkugel and Jalisco Estrella rounding things out. $11 for a 14-oz InBev "craft" beer, $13 for a bomber bottle or big can of something like Kilt Lifter, Goose Island, or the yummy yummy Moon Juice.
BTW you can bring in as much bottled water as you want, as long as it's sealed.
On the subject of food and drink....
This ridiculous thing is the $28 Carne Asada Dog, with an iPhone 8 Plus (the big iPhone) for scale. It's a chewy roll with a giant hot dog inside, queso sauce, guacamole, pico de gallo, french fries and chunks of carne asada on top. We figured why the hell not. I had about 8 people stop me and ask me questions about it, just between the concessions stands and the seats, so the DBacks marketing people sure know their crap. They turned me into a walking billboard for their wacky hot dog.
Now the important part... this thing was definitely an experience, but I have to say honestly, it looked more exciting than it tasted. It didn't taste "bad" or anything, just not the outrageous taste adventure you'd expect after looking at it and having strangers ask you about it (and paying $28 for it). It wasn't awful, and I'm glad I tried it, but I don't feel the need to have another one.
On our other visit, we tried the bratwurst with peppers and onions which was really really good (the brat itself was top notch), and shrimp and chips which were fantastic (and unexpected). Overall, they seem to do a pretty good job with food here.
The view from Section G where we sat the second day was equally awesome, although I felt like it was easier to track the ball in the outfield from Section J. But Section G was a very good place for a visiting fan to get some photo ops. These are zoomed a bit.
Bullpen cart!!!! Seriously we need this at Nats Park.
They had the roof closed for both of the games we attended, thankyouverymuch because it was frickin hot outside. Man was not meant to live in the desert. But they opened the roof each day after the game ended, and we sat a bit and watched it open. It's a real difference-maker in my opinion, as the stadium is really dark when it's closed. It's like being in a Vegas casino--- you can't tell how much time has passed or what time of day it is when the roof is closed. If I ever return, I'd like to do it in early April for a chance at seeing a game with the roof open. I was super bummed that Sunday's weather was nice enough for the roof to be open while I was flying home (btw I was on the same flight as the Mrs's Scherzer and Zimmerman).
Observations about the crowd: Everyone is drunk after about the 4th inning, they heckle a lot, and they boo a LOT. They boo'ed the slumping Goldschmidt three times in those two games and boo'ed Avila every time he came up to bat. They boo'ed Bryce for being Bryce, they boo'ed Stras for hitting Pollock with a pitch, boo'ed mound visits, and probably boo'ed the beer guy for giving last call. They also are really low on the Baseball Etiquette scale, with a whole lot of walking around while the game is going on, standing up randomly to take selfies (perhaps inspired by that insipid Marlins Man, who was there on Saturday, doing everything other than watching the game), and talking on the phone throughout the game. Maybe that is all related to the level of drunkenness? Dunno. There were also a remarkably high number of people at the game in no team gear at all, not even a hat, and while it's certainly not a requirement to wear team gear to the ballpark, most people at least put on a hat or a t-shirt. So that was noticeable and weird. There are a lot of people in third party gear, like the Braves guys we sat next to or the Blue Jays guy a few rows in front; it's generally not really unusual to see someone in third party gear (I've worn my nats gear to see cards-cubs, A's-dodgers, and padres-giants), but the number of them was what got my attention. SO yeah, weird crowd on a few levels.
Bonus tip: if you stay in the area and want a place for dinner, try The Arrogant Butcher, which we picked for dinner with non-baseball-watching friends just because it was close to the hotel and smelled nice, but couldn't have asked for better. Great service, fun cocktail menu, awesome steaks, awesome charcuterie, and since we are used to paying DC prices for everything, it was easy on the wallet.
