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August 11, 2004
Riding Around America: Baseball in Seattle
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I approached Safeco Field with some trepidation yesterday at 5:00 pm to see my beloved Minnesota Twins take on the Seattle Mariners. The outside of the stadium with it's boring brick facade doesn't look like much but thankfully the inside of the park is another story. I entered at the home plate gate, my ticket was scanned by a friendly gate attendant and I proceed inside, underneath a giant bat (of the Louisville variety) sculpture, and up the stairs to the first level.
As I reached the concourse my eyes were immediately drawn to the field where I saw the Mariners taking batting practice and the Twins stretching and throwing in front of the dugout. I walked down and joined the crowd of Twins fans who were watching the team and looking for autographs and there they all were: Hunter, Koskie, Jones, Rivas, Guzman, Lecroy, Ford, Stewart, Santana. The whole team, standing right there, hanging out, joking around and clearly having a good time.
Soon the Twins were up for batting practice and I stayed down by the field, watching them spray hits all over the field. Corey Koskie launched several baseballs into the upper deck in left field, to ooohs and aaahs from the crowd.
Eventually the grounds crew started to clean up the field. The batting cage was pulled away, ground covers were picked up and water was sprayed onto the infield dirt to keep the dust down. There were still a few minutes before the game so I took a quick walk around the stadium. The right field concourse provides an interesting view due to the stadium's retractable roof. When the roof is open, it sits out beyond the confines of the park, over the railroad tracks. I noticed this when I arrived a few days ago when the roof blocked out the sun as my train rolled into Seattle. The roof is interesting from a technological standpoint but it's location above the tracks provide atmosphere as well. At several points during the game the roof made passing train whistles echo into the stadium and the trains could be seen beyond the right field bleachers.
Finally I walked up several flights of stairs to my seats in the upper deck behind home plate. Section 329, row 4, seat 10. For $24 the seat provided an excellent view of the field. The Seattle skyline loomed in the background, the sky was clear and the temperature perfect. A perfect day for a ballgame.
Before the game began a short tribute to Edgar Martinez was shown on the video board in center field. He had just announced that he would be retiring at the end of the season and the crowd gave him a standing ovation for a full three minutes. He was obviously moved as he stood out in front of the dugout tipping his hat to the fans who supported him during his 18-year career. During the first inning he showed why he's a fan favorite when he hit a two run homer to left field much to the crowd's delight.
Sitting next to me for the entire game was Dave, a Mariner's fan who knew a lot about baseball. Dave was a twitchy, analytical fan who had a laugh somewhere between a guffaw and a grunt that sounded like he was trying to clear his throat. He was a nice guy and our conversation covered the downfall of Kirby Puckett, the problem with the last place Mariners, financing for the stadium, September 11th, politics (he was a Libertarian) and education. The woman sitting next to him was Peggy, a friend of his brother's from Connecticut who was a social studies teacher and Yankees fan. Between the three of us we had a lot to talk about which was just as well considering the lack of excitement on the field after the Mariner's four run first inning.
The game ended in a Mariner's victory which wasn't too disappointing to me. I told Dave, "You guys have such a horrible record that we have to let you win once in a while." He smiled and nodded because he knew it was a lucky win, then we sat back down and continued talking until most of the other fans had left. Fwe shook hands all around, went our separate ways, and I was reminded once again why I love baseball.
Posted on August 11, 2004 at 2:00 PM