Subject: Bank One Ballpark (BOB), Phoenix, Arizona Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 01:02:03 -0400 From: Don Dudley Organization: Sun Microsystems To: Don.Dudley@Sun.COM On Saturday, I visited my last new ballpark for the 1998 season, barring something totally unforeseen like playoff tickets out of the blue to the Jake. I was able to get to five new sites this year (Tiger Stadium, County Stadium, Kingdome, Camden Yards and BOB). BTW, this leaves just one NL team (the Marlins) for me to see play at home and six AL teams, hence the big push recently. I went to the game with my Dad's 83-year-old Brother. We got to the park very early, giving us plenty of time to observe this brand new, costly facility. More than any other park I've visited, even the Astrodome thirty years ago, I was struck by the engineering aspects of this complex. And that was _before_ I saw them open the roof. It looks like much more than just a mammoth building. We had to wait outside about 45 minutes for the gates to open. It was > 100 degrees in the sun. Over the gates, they have water jets putting out a fine mist to cool down people as they enter and those toward the front of the line as they wait. I happened to notice some of these on the players' benches on Sunday night's Arizona Cardinals NFL game, so apparently this is common, but I'd never experienced it before. Inside it was cool enough even for Norwegians. We took a lap around the interior, paying special attention to the dozens of memorabilia displays at the top of the lower level. In finest Dudley tradition, my Uncle brought enough food to the game so that we did not sample any of the concessions. I did notice one unusual stand, though, selling vegetable and fruit salads. The swimming pool patrons didn't really seem to me to be getting their money's worth, not that I know how they could -- I believe they charge something like $7,000 to rent the pool for a game! The Braves were in town, but I was able to give my Uncle enough advance notice to work his contacts and get us some great seats -- we were in the lower deck, right even with third base. Indeed the game was declared a sellout. The amount of Braves' gear rivaled Diamondbacks'. My Uncle (Rockies) and I (Red Sox) weren't exactly neutral. The outcome of the game was never really in doubt as the Braves took a 3-0 lead in the top of the 1st. The only real Diamondback threat came in the 8th after Atlanta had built their 5-0 lead. There were half a dozen truly outstanding defensive plays. One of the best was Arizona shortstop Tony Batista's tremendous leap to spear a line drive; the Diamondbacks extended their errorless streak to 73 innings. This was the Braves' 100th win (they're the first team to have consecutive 100-win seasons since the 76-77 Phillies). Tom Glavine went the distance for a six-hit shutout, becoming the major's first 20-game winner. I believe I've only witnessed this one other time, and I had to ride my bike across the country to do it. Before pedaling down to LA, Jim Hoburg, Joe Anthony and I took a couple of days of R&R in the Bay Area in August 1971 and saw Vida Blue win his 20th at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum. In May, Jim and I had seen him come to Fenway with a 9-1 record in a much-ballyhooed confrontation with Sonny Seibert who was 8-0. Local radio personality Jess Cain wrote "When Sonny Gets Blue" for the occasion, and sure enough Rico Petrocelli went yard twice to beat Vida. The field is natural grass, although I must say that the condition in many places, especially in foul territory, is the worst I've seen in any major league ball park. This made me wonder even more when they open the roof, thinking maybe they do it at night when it cools off a bit. Well, this night at least, they opened it about 15 minutes before game time. It turns out this was the first time the roof was open for a game since June 27th, a stretch of 40 home games. They made a huge production out of the whole thing, announcing it in advance, playing loud fanfares and displaying images from multiple angles on the scoreboard. Even though it was still in the mid-90s, it stayed quite cool in our seats at least. I'm not sure about those seats 50 or more rows up in the upper deck. After the game, it still felt like an oven when we walked back outside. The little scoreboards down the lines displayed the following statistics for each batter: AVG, G, AB. I've never seen those stats shown before and I'm sure most fans don't care that much about the G and AB of most players. Then again, I suspect most fans at BOB don't even realize these statistics are being displayed, especially those in the swimming pool ;-). So, we witnessed a good ball game in a somewhat strange setting. The Diamondbacks have had a decent second half, but I fear their fans aren't going to have the patience. It'll be interesting to check their status in five years. I'm back in New England and Fall is in the air -- it's going to dip down near freezing tonight. For now I have to "Wait 'Till Next Year." Regards, Don