Tuesday, July 19, 2011

More Whatburger Field Pictures







Sunday, July 17, 2011

Corpus Christi Hooks & Whataburger Field (Dan)

Mandi and I have frequented Whataburger Field, home of the Corpus Christi Hooks several times now. The Hooks are a AA Affiliate of the Houston Astros.

First of all, I think the name should be addressed, especially for northerners who have never heard of Whataburger. While I typically hate how baseball teams are more and more frequently turning to sponsorships to name their field (thank God Yankee Stadium stayed "Yankee Stadium" and not something like Bank of America Stadium, or even worse: MET Life Stadium - not that I have a problem with the company, but the name would be unfortunate and ironic, no? But I digress), I actually like the name Whataburger Field. First of all, at least there's some roots in it - Whataburger, a regional fast food chain (with delicious burgers I might add), was founded in Corpus Christi, Texas. Secondly, the name "Whataburger" is just fun to roll off the tongue (it's pronounced exactly like it's spelled 'What-a-burger' - just say it faster), and finally, the logos around the stadium for Whataburger actually give it some character.

The stadium itself is of much higher quality than any other minor league facility I've been to. It's beautiful. It's clean. It has great views of the Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge and the USS Lexington in the outfield. You can walk around the entire stadium and get right up into both team's bullpens. All the seats provide excellent views of the field and are all reasonably priced. There are promotions literally every night, with several cap nights and jersey nights throughout the year and every Friday night they are home there is a spectacular fireworks show. The first time we went, they even had the Budweiser Clydesdale's take a lap before the fireworks. They really put on a good show every time we've been to Whataburger field. The stadium was designed to make a tribute to the local cotton-growing industry roots here (the stadium was built on land that were previously cotton warehouses). I can kind of see it in it's design, some of the exterior seems like a barn or something, but I would never have noticed any of it without having read about it previously. The one exception is left field where there is old (I'm not sure if its original) industrial machinery built into the design and a warehouse as well. There is a pool in right center, a rock wall, a little league field past the outfield, a basketball court and a playground among some other amenities that make the park unique.



We've witnessed some good baseball there too. One of the most memorable had to have been this one where we witnessed Xavier Cedeno pitch 14 K's, of which the first 9 were in a row. He was perfect through 5.2 innings. Sadly, the bullpen blew it and the Hooks lost, but still, very memorable.  

The food is good, and reasonably priced, though if I had to choose, I'd say the food is a little pricey for the minor leagues. Mondays are dollar hot dog and soda nights which is nice. There are several options - a BBQ pit, typical hot dogs/sodas/fries, and of course, there is a Whataburger within the stadium. As far as the minor leagues go, they surpass most places in terms of variety and as I said are maybe slightly above average in pricing. Figure it'll cost you about $12 for 2 sodas and 2 standard hot dogs on a non promotional night. There are some food promotions they'll do in game, like "if a Hook scores this inning Cracker Jacks are a dollar" which is always nice when they do get that run (and the Cracker Jacks bags are pretty large!).

The location is fairly good. It's close to downtown (probably out of walking distance for most people though) but is near the museum USS Lexington and across the parking lot is Brewster Street Ice House (which is a neat bar/restaurant that has lots of live music from some notable bands) and Concrete Street, another live music venue. As I mentioned, the view is beautiful and occasionally, if you're lucky, a Navy plane will buzz the stadium which always enamors the crowd.



The fans are mostly good. It's a pretty young crowd typically with some families as well. The fans really do love the team - it's not common to see "diehard" minor league fans, but they certainly exist here with the nearest major league team being 4 hours north (the Astros). It's also neat that the fans here are mostly Astros fans so they are seeing their own prospects. After every home run, some of the season ticket holders will go around and collect money for the player with some fans donating a few bucks for him. I've never seen anyone get rowdy but the fans are more enthusiastic about the team than the average minor league team for sure.

The weather in Corpus is typically pleasant for the games - it's warm, sometimes even too hot, but there is a constant coastal breeze and the games typically start late enough in the day that it's comfortable.

Onto the ratings!
Here's the breakdown:
Food:  6/10 - Good variety, mediocre pricing. Neat that there is a Whataburger within the stadium.  

Crowd:  7/10 - Better than the typical minor league fan base; the fans truly seem to care about the team. 

Cleanliness: 9/10 -This ballpark is extremely clean and it feels new.

Transportation to stadium: 6/10 - There is a bus system in Corpus but I couldn't tell you if there is a stop near the stadium. Driving is easy though; there's hardly any traffic here.  

Stadium Location: 7/10 -Better than average - there is an "entertainment" district. It's a 5 minute drive to downtown where there are some great bars and restaurants, and a walk across the parking lot to get to Brewster Street Ice House to get a beer some food and listen to a good band.
Stadium Appearance - 10/10 -As far as minor league parks go, this one blows the others out of the water. It's nicely constructed, has a pleasant exterior, left field has the cotton warehouse shout-outs, the center field has a wonderful view of the bridge and the USS Lexington and, to be honest, I enjoy seeing the neon Whataburger signs.

Cost: 9/10 - You can get a front row seat for $10 on a weeknight. Some promotional nights, if you bring in a receipt that you bought honey or Kraft cheese it's buy one get one free.

Entertainment: 7/10 - Decent baseball and some mid inning antics that are suitable for minor league baseball. Additionally, I have yet to find a game that does not have some sort of promotion.

Overall:  8/10 - As far as dates go, this is a great place to be. You can make a great evening by going downtown for dinner, get to the ballgame and have a blast, then head out to Brewster Street afterwards for some drinks and music. The baseball is fun, the crowd is pleasant, the stadium and weather are beautiful - have a great time!


Monday, July 4, 2011

And a little gift for you all...

I forgot to add these into the Petco Park writeup; here is a picture of the main entrance and some panoramic shots.

 


Happy Independence Day

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.


We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. 

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Petco Park - Dan

So, as Mandi promised and I previewed several weeks back, Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres is our next review. Once again, I'll have to apologize for having so long of a time between posts; work was getting crazy, I had 4 days off in 4 weeks (each Sunday) and was getting a little burnt out and even on those days off, I had to do a considerable amount of preparation for the next week.

With that said, ONWARD with the Petco Park review! 

First, a little history: 
Petco Park became the home of the Padres in 2004, replacing the dual-use (shared with the San Diego Chargers) Qualcomm Stadium. If I recall correctly (I can't seem to verify it), Petco was the first to introduce open concourses in a baseball stadium, which is very neat and becoming more common today (the New Yankee Stadium has this as well, for example). What this means is that if you leave your seats for the restroom or concessions, you just have to turn your head to still see the game. You're not missing anything and walking around the stadium does not make you feel like you're missing the game. There are no (or at least very minimal) walls that separate the seating from the shops, food and bathrooms so you can view the game and feel a part of the crowd the whole time. Certainly, it is a breakthrough in baseball from an architecture standpoint in my book. Below is a picture taken as we were just walking around the stadium getting a feel for it, and like I said, you can nearly walk around the entire stadium and still watch the entire game on the field. It's also pretty neat to be able to watch the game, at least for a little bit from a perspective of the more expensive seats, like right behind home plate. 


Apparently, Petco Park is broken into "neighborhoods" which, despite two visits in two different seasons, I still don't really get. They do have some neat exhibits like a World War II dedication to Naval Aviators and veterans (I can't recall exactly, but I believe the mannequin is designed to be George H.W. Bush, a WWII Naval Aviator) and this flows with many of the Padres promotions and claims of being America's "miltary team," obviously playing off the fact that San Diego is home to one of the largest Naval bases and populations in the world, not to mention nearby Marine Corps bases Miramar (yes, the one from Top Gun when it was a Navy base for all you movie buffs) and Pendleton.  

The stadium itself fits fantastically downtown. Getting there is as simple as hopping on one of San Diego's trolleys which should run you less than $5 round trip. The stadium is situated right next to the beautiful Gaslamp District, a revitalized downtown area full of trendy restaurants, nightclubs, bars, shops and other attractions. The Gaslamp district is very easy to walk around, and, while it may be more common on the West Coast (can a Californian or somone confirm this for me?), for East Coasters like Mandi and I, it was neat to see they had diagonal crosswalks so you don't have to wait for 2 crossings to get going in the same direction on the other side of the street. Also within a 3 minute walk is the Convention Center which always seems to have something going on, most notably perhaps in the summertime is the Comic Con convention, which if nothing else, is just neat to see all the people in elaborate costumes. Additionally, in building the stadium, the left field has the remnants of the brick "Western Metal Supply" building built right into the stadium, complete with seating on its exterior, which just adds a very neat touch to the atmosphere -which you can see in the three pictures below.





There's a "park within the park" too out in center field which includes a small baseball field for the youngsters and an open grassy area that seems more common to minor league parks but would make for a nice picnic on any one of San Diego's seemingly endless beautiful sunny and 78 degree days. 

The food in the ballpark is mostly typical ballpark fare - beer, hot dogs, fries, nachos, pretzels, etc.; I don't recall anything really sticking out to me. The Western Metal building has some higher end meats such as brisket and bacon-wrapped sausages, but nothing that's truly unique to a baseball stadium. They have some local chains like Rubio's and Oggi's Pizza as well. They do have some faddish "health" and gluten free options, but not as many as I would have expected going to the West Coast.

The crowd is pretty much what I expected for the West Coast - not as into the game as some of the more storied franchises around the league, but they did get into it pretty good against the Dodgers and at the time, the Padres were actually in contention for possibly winning the 2010 Western Division (they didn't end up winning, having a sad collapse towards the end of the year that coincided with a magical San Francisco Giants run). 

Most of the seats have excellent views and while I haven't witnessed it myself, apparently some of the left field seating has blocked views from the Western Metal building.

Here's the breakdown:
Food:  6/10 - Nothing groundbreaking as previously discussed.

Crowd:  5/10 - The Padres play off the military crowd in town for sure, which does probably bring in quite a number of additional fans, but with most of them not from San Diego, are not the most enthusiastic crowd for the Padres, with many of them just looking for a relaxing night at the ballgame and then going downtown. While we saw some liveliness and pep against the Dodgers while the team was in contention for a divisional title, I'm sure that nowadays with the Padres out of contention, the fans have probably gone back to the relaxed "West Coast" crowd.

Cleanliness: 10/10 -This is easily the cleanest ballpark I have ever been to. Literally everything about Petco Park felt clean and even after six years of use, when we visited in 2010, you could have told me it opened yesterday. While I'm sure that like all stadiums, there are some minor health violations, the overall feel of the stadium is spotless.

Transportation to stadium: 8/10 - The trolley system is easy to use and inexpensive. Should you choose to park, it is limited, expensive, and driving in and around the Gaslamp district is not the most fun thing to do. 

Stadium Location: 10/10 - This is how baseball stadiums should be located. It is easy to get to and in a great, fun area of town. There are plenty of things to do and see within walking distance and even more so within a couple minutes on the trolleys both before and after the games. On top of all this, the stadium feels like it is built into San Diego with the inclusion of the Western Metal building.
 
Stadium Appearance - 9/10 - I've already spoken about how clean the stadium appears; the overall design of the stadium is attractive as well. It's not the typical cinder block stadium and it certainly has quite a bit of added value with the Park within the Park as well as the Western Metal Building. I still don't get the "neighborhoods" built into the stadium, but that's easily made up for by the fact that they were innovators with the open concourse seating.  

Cost: 8/10 -Padres games are very reasonably priced for the Major Leagues. Furthermore, their ticket staff on the phone was extremely helpful in trying to get us the best deal, seats and promotions, even calling me back after a question couldn't initially be resolved.

Entertainment: 7/10 - Good baseball and some mid inning antics; additionally, there are often various promotions for each game and seating sections.

Overall:  10/10 - As far as dates go, I cannot imagine a better way to incorporate baseball into a date. Polite fans, a great downtown location, a beautiful stadium, inexpensive and nearly hassle-free transportation to the stadium and consistently good weather make Petco Park one of, if not the best place for a baseball date.