home links The Benefits of Living 8 Blocks Away 2004.03.11 - San Diego, CA First Game at Petco Park and Largest Attendance at a College Baseball Game      Tonight I came home and saw that Petco Park was open for the first time.  The sign on 10th Ave said that the event was sold out, but I knew that like every city ballpark, there would be scalpers.  There were no known spots where scalpers could be found, because this is the first night that the ballpark had an event, but I talked to some people to see if they had seen any in the area.  Without success I continued toward the park.  I knew the "it's sold out" comments I got as I walked were either warnings that the ticket would be expensive, or a sign that these people had never bought a scalp in their life.  Of course I was able to find a scalper on the way to the park, and got in for 15 bucks, face value.  In the area behind center field is currently very open and still under development and happened to be the way I entered the park.       Six dollars for 20 oz of the Yellow Fizzy, and a 15 minute wait in line for it as well.  The only food I got was French Fries which, besides being undercooked, were like any other ballpark fries.  Compared to another new stadium on the west coast, Safeco Field, this one had a more open air feeling, even with the roof off.  This feeling of it being more like a field might be due to the light color of the stonework, instead of the dark green metal of Safeco.  One thing that gives the park character is the Western Metal Supply Co. building that was incorporated into it.  In left field, the foul pole is the corner of this building that was built in 1909.  There are sky boxes hanging off that are in fair territory, and on top of the building is unassigned seating.  In rightfield they have built in the west coast Pesky's Pole.  There is a section of seating that juts forward, making a nice little homerun bucket.  Fenway's many elements will be seen in much of the new ballparks, such as the mini-monster in Baltimore's rightfield, and the hand drop scoreboard in Seattle.  In areas, the seats in a row do not have the backs on the same line, which I suppose creates a more comfortable viewing posture.      The only thing I could find that I disliked about this park was the location of the main scoreboard.  It is in leftfield and is rather high, which makes it unseen by a large portion of the seats on the third base side.  All in all, a game at Petco is sure to be a pleasant experience, and it's good to see the ballpark in downtown. PHOTOGRAPHS The following photos were taken with the built-in camera in my Samsung i700.  Click the small images for the full version; photos will open in a new browswer. I started the night sitting in upper lower box behind third base.  Those are the seats on the first level but under the seats above.  Sitting here you could see the field of play quite well, but had no view of the main scoreboard.  I have no photos from these seats.  This shot of the main scoreboard was taken from the lower boxes behind first base.  In it you can see the Western Metal Supply building just to the left of it; the skyboxes are in fair territory.  Here is another angle of the main scoreboard from the third base lower boxes. This image was taken standing by the Western Metal Supply Co. foul pole in left field. Across the field you can see the seats jutting into the field to create the homerun pocket.  This makes the right field line drive a homerun poke, much like Johnny Pesky used to hook the pole in Fenway.  To the left of the pocket you can see the wall is also a scoreboard which I assume will show league scores during the major league season.  This photo of the league scorebard was taken one row back at third base. And now just some more pictures to give you a feel for the park: From Left Field Vertical Stands Seats Palm Trees