Rays Announce Tentative New Ballpark Deal

(rendering courtesy of Gensler and Tampa Bay Times)

After 3 years of almost nothing but hearsay on the MLB ballpark front, all of a sudden it's been a really exciting time to be a ballpark chaser.  The A's are supposedly still moving to Vegas and a vote is expected to take place in November by the MLB Owners group, the Royals are expected to announce a site for their new ballpark by the end of the year in order to get a financing referendum on the spring ballot, and the Brewers are still working through the details of a generational investment in American Family Field.  The Blue Jays are midway through a huge renovation of Rogers Centre, and the Angels at some point soon will need to decide on their ballpark future.  Among all of this chatter - particularly with the A's move - people kind of forgot about the Rays situation, just because it's been quiet for so long.  But as of last week, they have suddenly emerged as perhaps the top contender to be the next team to land a new stadium.  The Rays announced last week their plans to construct a new $1.3B stadium next door to Tropicana Field.  You can read about all of the financial details here, but the intent is for a combination of team ownership and private investors to pony up about half of that cost, and for the other half to be funded through some sort of hotel/resort tax from Pinellas County and the City of St. Petersburg.  The ballpark would be a primarily a one-deck ballpark, likely with a fixed roof, and would continue the trend of smaller ballparks within a larger year-round development.  Pending government approvals (which are far from a guarantee), the goal would be to open the ballpark in time for the 2028 season, which is a significant date as it is tied to the team's current lease at The Trop expiring after 2027.  This deal might represent the last hopes of Tampa Bay getting a new park built without some sort of lease extension or temporary home - or worst case, selling or moving the team.

All of the questions we always have about almost every new ballpark built in this century still apply to the proposed new Rays ballpark.  Why does a millionaire need a handout?  How is a 30,000 seat stadium economically viable for a public investment?  How does a professional sports team positively or negatively affect the average taxpayer?  What is the true amount of the total public money behind all of the smoke and mirrors - hidden infrastructure costs, who pays for cost overruns, sale cost of the publicly owned land to the team vs actual appraised value, etc?  I'm conflicted on these questions at best and won't rehash the topic of subsidizing sports venues.  It's a problem that is never going away as there is always going to be some city somewhere willing to shell out cash for a value that may be real or perceived.  The Rays also have the added layer of their ballpark location.  For the longest time, the team was pursuing a site in downtown Tampa as that is where the majority of the team's fans are concentrated, and studies have shown the huge obstacle of getting people to games over the bay as a reason for poor attendance.  But the team is going all-in on the battle-tested theory that "if you build it, they will come."  And in this case, I don't mean that the stadium is "it," but rather the development surrounding the ballpark.  It came down to the fact that the Rays have access to a seemingly infinite amount of land at the Tropicana site, and just wouldn't be afforded that luxury at the Tampa site, despite the perk of being closer to the population base.  The Braves forever changed the game when they constructed The Battery around their new ballpark 6 years ago, and we will be seeing every city in America moving this direction if they haven't already.  It just makes sense to capture as much revenue as you can from 81+ events per year, particularly for teams in a smaller media market like the Rays.

Am I excited that we have another case of a wealthy owner essentially blackmailing a city for a new ballpark?  Of course not.  Am I excited that I will have to go back to God's Waiting Room in Florida, probably in the peak of summer heat?  Hell no.  But will fancy renderings of a beautiful new ballpark blind me to all of that?  Absolutely.  The Rays deserve a new ballpark more than possibly any other MLB team because of how good they've been the last 15 years despite playing in a dump with no fans and a bare-bones payroll, so I'm excited for them and I hope this new stadium is, for once, more than hearsay.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 9/25/23

Brewers 88-65, +6.0, clinched playoff spot, division magic number 1; 3 v. Cardinals, 3 v. Cubs

Twins 83-73, +9.5, clinched AL Central; 3 v. Athletics, 3 @ Rockies

2023 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 4

Peter - 21

First Twins Games as a Minnesota Resident

I will always be a Brewers fan first and foremost, but I was excited to root for the Twins for the first time as a Minnesota resident this past weekend.  I went to the Saturday and Sunday games vs. the Mets with some friends visiting from out of town, and even though I've probably been to Target Field 20+ times in my life, these games held a little bit more special meaning for me.  I was a little bit more proud and felt more welcome at the park just from the sheer fact that I now live in Minnesota, and that might not seem like it should make a difference but it really does.  I love visiting new ballparks and I always will, but fandom is a special thing when it is your own team.  I still look back fondly at my 3 years in Cincinnati and how psyched I was to follow the Reds, how grateful I was to be a part of their history, and how quickly I got into following the team, and that lasted for many years after I graduated - until the Brewers and Reds both got good and I could no longer in good faith cheer for a Brewers rival.  Erik has been a Twins fan since the day he moved to Minneapolis for graduate school and he still is (granted he also worked for the team on two separate occasions so his situation was a little different), so I'm also excited to have one more commonality to share with my best friend.

The thing I enjoy most about the Twins and their fans is the sense of belonging from not just the Twin Cities, but all across the state of Minnesota and beyond.  They call Target Field "Twins Territory," and I'm not sure if they still do this post-COVID, but they used to do a bus tour all the way around the state in the winter and spring getting people hyped up for the season, sort of like a traveling fan fest.  They host themed fan nights for North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa residents/school alumni throughout the year and are always proud to highlight how far their "territory" stretches, which includes some western parts of Wisconsin.  The Brewers do have this to a certain degree as well as you could consider the Brewers Wisconsin's team, but I have not seen it to the devotion of Twins fans coming to watch games from all over the state.  Minnesota also has a functional government and does not push off "city problems" on the Twins like Wisconsin does with Milwaukee and the Brewers, but that's another story for another time.

I witnessed the Twins take two out of three from the lowly Mets, and the one game they lost was a dominating 8-inning, 14-strikeout performance by Pablo Lopez that the bullpen once again coughed up.  I'm now at a point where I have to debate which city I want to watch playoff baseball in - which is a good problem to have - but I have my brand-new Twins cap and Royce Lewis jersey ready just in case I end up choosing the Twins.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 9/11/23

Brewers 79-63, +3.0, playoffs magic number 14; 4 v. Marlins, 3 v. Nationals, 4 @ Cardinals, 3 @ Marlins

Twins 75-68, +7.5, playoffs magic number 12; 3 v. Rays, 4 @ White Sox, 3 @ Reds, 3 v. Angels

2023 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 3

Peter - 20

Northwoods League Launches Women's Softball League

(image courtesy of northwoodsleague.com)

The Northwoods League has never been a league that rests on its laurels, and has set its sights on becoming North America's premier summer collegiate league since its inception.  It has now spread its footprint to 24 teams across 7 states and 2 countries and a 72-game schedule, and it has shown no signs of slowing down its expansion.  Having just wrapped its 30th season, not even the baseball world is enough and now is attempting to conquer the softball world as well.  The league announced this summer that it will be starting a women's softball component in 2024.  It would be the same type of summer collegiate structure as the baseball league in which female college athletes with at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining will be able to play.  Teams have yet to be announced, but it is expected that the inaugural year will feature a 40-game schedule with host cities within the existing NWL Baseball footprint.  I think it's a pretty safe bet that Rosemont, IL will feature a team as they have one of the premier softball complexes in the Midwest next door to the Chicago Dogs stadium on I-294, which is no longer in use since the National Pro Fastpitch league folded in 2021, and I would guess that every current Northwoods League city that has a major university with a softball program will likely be in consideration for a team - Madison, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Cloud, Green Bay, etc.  I would also guess it's going to be 6 teams max to start.  These are all just speculations, but regardless, I am very excited for this and I would totally go watch a game.  I had been wanting to get to a Chicago Bandits game ever since I went to see the Dogs play in 2018, but then the pandemic started and the league folded, so it obviously never happened.  I would be excited to watch a live softball game for the first time, as I am perhaps even more amazed by watching somebody throw a giant ball 75mph underhand as I am watching somebody throw a ball 100mph overhand.

As an aside, Green Bay defeated St. Cloud to win the first ever championship for the Green Bay franchise.  I could not help but find myself rooting for the Rox as I watched the game since I cannot wait to become a season ticket holder next season following our move to the area.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 9/4/23

Brewers 76-61, +2.5; 3 @ Pirates, 3 @ Yankees

Twins 72-66, +6.0; 3 @ Guardians, 3 v. Mets

2023 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 3

Peter - 18

Tour Molly 2023: Jackson Field

All photos of Lansing and Jackson Field are available on Flickr.

I spent my final weekend before the big move to Minnesota on the 3rd installment of "Tour Molly" in Lansing, Michigan.  We left Milwaukee at 8:30am and it was about a 6-hour drive, which included a very important stop at IHOP in Michigan City to appease a 5-year old that was demanding pancakes for lunch.  We only went to a ballgame on Saturday, so Friday night was spent swimming at the hotel pool (a must-have on our trips) and spending some time downtown.  We had a delicious dinner at Lansing Brewing Company and some ice cream at the Lansing Shuffle, which is a super cool marketplace type of building right on the Grand River.  I had one of the best IPAs and some of the best ice cream I've ever had and this was definitely my favorite part of the trip besides the game.  

Saturday was a very busy but fun-filled day that started with a walk to the Impression 5 Children's Museum at 9:30.  As impressed as I was with the downtown and the stadium district areas on Friday night, I was equally disappointed with them on Saturday morning.  Lansing is certainly not a big city by any means but it's not small either - the population is over 100,000 and it has a major state university - so I was shocked to see it so quiet and dead.  Lansing is what I would describe as "gritty" and has many of the hallmarks of what an urban center looked like 20 years ago - nobody there before 5pm on a weekend, a concrete jungle, not pedestrian friendly, a river-walk that is disconnected and goes nowhere, and lots of one-way streets to get people out as fast as possible.  It reminded me a lot of living in Waterloo.  The ballpark opened in 1996 as the center of a major redevelopment district right in the middle of downtown, so the city is certainly trying, and the one-block radius surrounding the park is very nice, including some really cool apartments in center field that I will talk about later.  But outside of that immediate area and obviously Michigan State University to the east, it is kind of a sleepy and weathered city.  Anyways, I mentioned the children's museum - we spent a few hours there and was well worth the visit.  We probably could have spent almost an entire day there if we didn't have anything else to do.  By the time we got out around noon we were starving and walked to another local brewery for lunch called Midtown.  Still not seeing a lot of action downtown after lunch, we decided to hop in the car and drive to a beautiful park called Frances Park which featured a rose garden overlooking the river.  After another round of swimming back at the hotel, we did Molly's favorite thing of the entire trip - ran across the pedestrian skybridge to downtown.  I introduced Molly to shuffleboard back at Lansing Shuffle (hence the name) and then it was finally game time.

I'll start with what I did like about Jackson Field - site, location, and atmosphere.  This was one of the most urban and active ballpark areas I've been in all of the minor leagues, and probably 2nd to only Fort Wayne in the Midwest League.  Back when this stadium broke ground nearly 30 years ago, ballpark districts were not a thing, and building ballparks downtown was just in its infancy of becoming a popular concept.  So for Lansing to have the foresight to use this ballpark as a development catalyst - regardless of your stance of if that actually works or not - is quite commendable.  Certainly there are times I love being at the small, quiet minor league parks that serve smaller communities, but the urban ballparks are always my favorite and I love the life that they bring to a downtown on gameday.  There were a ton of people there on this night for a Big Lug Bobblehead giveaway that we unfortunately got there too late to receive, but it was not a novelty crowd just for the bobblehead.  The Lugnuts are perennially near the top of not just Midwest League attendance but all of minor league baseball, and have drawn in excess of 7000 people several times this season.  Besides being a downtown site, the block that the ballpark is wedged in also makes it very unique.  The park faces directly north on a very long and skinny block that runs north-south, so this causes the park to be pinched down the lines and shoehorned into the block, similarly to Dozer Park in Peoria.  When you walk down the lines near the foul poles at the widest part of the stadium, the only thing separating you from the public sidewalk is a fence.  This make the ballpark very active not just from the outside in, but the inside out as there is a direct line of sight from the street inside from many areas.  There were several times when I saw people just walk by the fence and stop for a moment to peer inside and catch a few moments of free baseball.  And speaking of free baseball, the coolest part of the site is the apartment building that was added about 10 years ago.  Known as the Outfield Lofts, it is a 4-story building that has balconies hanging over the outfield concourse and facing the stadium.  I have no doubt in my mind that if I was single and lived anywhere near Lansing that I would move into those apartments for the rest of my life.  The ground level of the apartment building has restaurants, bars, and retail that faces both the street on the north side, but also opens up into the stadium on gamedays.  I can't even imagine what this ballpark looked and felt like prior to these apartments being built - they really bookend the stadium and define the boundaries quite dramatically, in an area that is overlooked in the design of many minor league ballparks.  Between the narrow site and the apartments, and the proximity to the street, it all serves to give quite an intimate setting to the ballpark, and when you couple that with huge crowds on most nights, it was a very lively and raucous atmosphere to be a part of.

The large, raucous atmosphere does have a negative side effect however and leads directly into what I did not like about the stadium - the general operations of the park were a joke.  There were only two main concession stands (similar to the setup in Appleton) that literally had 30-60 minute lines for the entire game.  The only thing I could actually grab for Molly and I to eat without spending the entire night in line was popcorn and ice cream.  And it's not like these stands served like specialty items or things that were slow to cook, we're talking standard ballpark fare.  The team store was also WAY too small for a ballpark of this size and was uncomfortably crowded at all times.  I will say the congestion in the concourse was not as bad as I was expecting for the tight nature of the stadium footprint, so kudos on that.  And perhaps having only two concession stands alleviates some of that congestion, so I get that it's certainly a give-and-take.  The last thing I hated was that the entire park was cashless - and proudly stated as such on their website and all over the park - except for the kids area.  So I had to go all the way back to the overcrowded team store to buy "Lugnuts Bucks" with my debit card specifically to use at the bounce house for Molly.  That's not a symptom of a tight footprint, or poor design, or staffing shortage - that is just a flat out horrible oversight that can be easily rectified.

Molly has progressively been able to stay attentive to more and more of the game with each passing year of our trips, and we made it into the 5th inning on Saturday.  I think our first year in Green Bay she watched MAYBE 2 innings - and by watched, I mean was distracted with food.  So between the 4 1/2 innings from our seats and the bounce house being conveniently located directly behind the left field pole with full view of the field, I actually got to watch most of the game.  The Lugnuts defeated the Great Lakes Loons by a score of 7-5, and powered by an offensive barrage the likes of which I have rarely seen in the Midwest League.  There were eight extra-base hits in the game, including a 3-run homerun by 2B Brennan Milone, a 6th round pick of the A's last year.  That homer gave the 'Nuts the lead in the 3rd and the lead stuck.  Junior Perez also homered for the home team as part of a 3-hit night.  If he keeps that up, the A's will certainly come calling soon, or more likely trade him.  Yehizon Sanchez gave up 5 runs in 3 innings in his Midwest League debut, and Yeiner Fernandez and Chris Alleyne homered for the Loons in a losing effort.  We stayed as long as we could, but after a long day of activities, Molly was visibly exhausted by 9pm and we called it a day.

Following a quick round #3 of swimming on Sunday morning, and some breakfast across the street from the ballpark where some players were clearly there picking up coffee, we headed back to Milwaukee around 10am.  Once you have a second child, watching just one child is a breeze, and it was so nice to have a fun, relatively stress-free time all to ourselves and to spend some quality time together before our big life shift this week.

park rankings and statistics:

aesthetics - 8 (points are primarily for site layout)
views from park - 7 (apartments, downtown Lansing)
view to field - 9
surrounding area - 7
food variety - 1
nachos - 1
beer - 7 (bonus points for Labatt's)
vendor price - 7
ticket price - 6
atmosphere - 9
walk to park - 7
parking price/proximity - 6 (we walked but there are lots of street options)
concourses - 8
team shop - 2 (way too small)

kids area - 6 (this one is tough to rank - bonus points for proximity to field but points deducted for being the only thing in the park that requires cash)

best food - ice cream I guess?  didn't get to try any
most unique stadium feature - site, apartments in outfield
best jumbotron feature - Lansing Board of Water & Light "Flip the Switch" to turn on the stadium lights

best between-inning feature - Nutty Golf

field dimensions - 305/404/305

starters - Jerming Rosario (GL) v. Yehizon Sancez (LAN)
opponent - Great Lakes Loons
time of game - 2:37
attendance - 7780
score - 7-5 W
Brewers score that day - 6-1 W

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 8/21/23

Brewers 68-57, +3.0; 2 v. Twins, 3 v. Padres, 3 @ Cubs, 3 v. Phillies

Twins 65-60, +6.0; 2 @ Brewers, 4 v. Rangers, 3 v. Guardians, 3 @ Rangers

2023 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 3

Peter - 17

A Last Hurrah in Milwaukee

These last few weeks have been really difficult and emotional for me since we decided to move our family to Minnesota.  We aren't officially moving until August 23rd, but due to some pre-planned vacations, this past weekend was essentially our last full weekend living in Milwaukee.  We threw a going-away party on Saturday, and it really hit me the next day that it might realistically be the last time I see many of my Wisconsin friends for a long time.  I've also been trying to get to as many of my favorite haunts as possible before we move - festivals, parks, frozen custard, Lake Michigan, breweries, and most importantly, as many Brewers games as I can.  Erik coincidentally was in town this past weekend as well, and we attended our first Brewers home game together in over 6 years on Friday.  Colin Rea threw up all over himself and we were losing 3-0 before we even sat down (Rea has since been optioned down to AAA), but we had a blast, and it was fun showing him around the park once more.  It was hard to believe all that had changed since 2017 as we were walking around.  Unless the Brewers make it to the World Series at some point during my lifetime, this was probably the last game at AmFam Field Erik and I will ever spend together, and that fact made the game kind of heavy for me.  I was trying as much as I could to be in the moment and savor every minute with my friend that I don't get to see that much, and take in every little sight and sound, but it was hard not to think about the brevity of it.

I'm also going to the ballpark with my brother and parents this week, and Megan and I have tickets for one last hurrah the night before we move (which happens to be against the Twins).  We'll for sure be back to many more Brewers games in the course of our lives - in fact we have tickets for a game in September we're coming back for - and I sure as hell would rather drive 7 hours down here for Opening Day than sit outside in Minneapolis, but it's just not quite the same when you don't live in the city of your home team anymore.  There's something special about being proud of a team and the city they represent and sharing that passion and the daily trials and tribulations with other locals.  Even though I will bleed blue and gold forever, it won't ever be the same as this fleeting time when we live so close to the ballpark.  I'll miss driving by the ballpark and seeing the clouds of grill smoke, I'll miss being able to literally walk to the park for lunch, and I'll miss seeing Brewers logos and gear all around our neighborhood.  I'll miss being able to go to a game on a whim whenever I want (within reason - damn kids).  But I am also looking forward to our new chapter in Minnesota and following a new team along with the Brewers.  Ironically, with the move across state lines, we'll also be moving out of the Milwaukee media territory, which means I will finally be able to actually watch Brewers games on MLB.TV with no blackout restrictions.

I mentioned earlier we have some pre-planned vacations before we move, and one of those is my yearly baseball trip with my daughter Molly.  So I'll have one more super sentimental post in a couple of weeks, and then I will be coming to to you live from Cold Spring, Minnesota!

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 8/7/23

Brewers 60-53, +1.5; 3 v. Rockies, 3 @ White Sox, 3 @ Dodgers, 3 @ Rangers

Twins 59-54, +4.5; 4 @ Tigers, 3 @ Phillies, 2 v. Tigers, 3 v. Pirates

2023 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 3

Peter - 14

American Association All-Star Break

All photos of AA HR Derby available on Flickr.

This past week was the 11th installment of the American Association All-Star Game, and I attended the Home Run Derby portion at Franklin Field, home of the Milwaukee Milkmen.  A lot of baseball purists tend to shun the derby as frivolous entertainment and a publicity stunt, but I've long held the view that it is the most exciting part of any baseball league's all-star break.  A lot of fans tend to agree with me as the numbers bear out that these events draw way better, both in terms of attendance and television ratings, than the actual All-Star Game.  Many years in fact I will only watch the HR Derby and won't even watch the ASG.  I've attended all sorts of homerun derbies, from the 2014 MLB version at Target Field, to the Northwoods League Derby at Kenosha Harbor in 2016, and even an impromptu exhibition derby featuring Jose Canseco in Madison, and these were all some of my most vivid baseball memories outside of the Tour.  So I of course jumped at the opportunity to see a derby in my own city.  It was not a promising forecast for the evening when I approached the gate to find people buying walk-up tickets with ease, but I pressed on and met a group of my friends inside.

We had tickets in the first 3 row of a section in right field.  It was evident pretty soon after we sat down that about 90% of the fans would be sitting in the outfield, which was a super weird juxtaposition particularly in a smaller independent league ballpark.  The format was very similar to the MLB version of the derby, in which participants faced off against each other based off of seeding, rather than just taking the highest totals of the group.  It was also the same timed format as MLB - each batter got 2 minutes and could take one timeout per round.  When you remove the "bonus time" and all of the TV timeouts, it makes a big difference, because the entire 3 rounds with 8 batters took barely over an hour.  The hometown participant was Cam Balego of the Milkmen, but given where we were sitting, the only batter we really cared about were the two lefties - Conor Panas of the Lincoln Saltdogs, and Chris Herrmann of the Kansas City Monarchs.  The majority of their homeruns launched well over our heads and landed on the concourse and tents behind us, as there are only 3 rows of actual seats in right field.  But by the later rounds when the batters started getting more tired, our prospects of snagging a homerun grew - and I caught one!  On the fly!  I should probably remember which of those two men hit me the homerun, but sadly I don't.  I almost caught a second homerun as well - I leapt and it hit my glove, and fell down into the row behind me (which means that at least somebody in our party got the ball).  It was much more difficult to track the baseballs than I thought it would be.  For almost the entirety of the first round, the sun was setting directly into our faces, and also there were many times when multiple balls were in the air at the same time, as the pitcher does not wait for a ball to land before throwing the next pitch due to the timed format.  I'm sure most dads would probably give a ball they caught to a kid in the stands or to their own kid at home, but screw that - it is proudly sitting in a baseball display case at my house.

Zach Nehrir of the Cleburne Railroaders ended up taking home the hardware.  He put on quite an impressive display and his round totals actually grew as the event went on.  Most of the batters struggled to get into the double digits in the first round, but after that, I think the remaining participants knew not to worry about any strategy and just swung as hard as they could, as many times as possible.  Zach defeated the aforementioned Panas in the final round, so it was exciting that we got to see at least one lefty make it through to the end.

I had a blast at this event and I'm glad I went, especially with the impending move to Minnesota.  But I have to say that I was pretty disappointed with the fan turnout and the lack of energy in the ballpark.  The Milkmen consistently put out a great product - they won a championship in 2020 and also produced a back-to-back MVP in Adam Walker - but the few times I've been there, the general lack of atmosphere was a common theme.  I hope that the lack of attendance at this major event is not reflective of the fan support and appetite for baseball in suburban Milwaukee, because indy baseball is just the best, and Milwaukeeans should be very blessed to have multiple professional ball options in a market of our size.

HOMERUN DERBY PARTICIPANTS: 
East Division
Cam Balego, Milwaukee
Josh Altmann, Chicago
Zach Nehrir, Cleburne
Hill Alexander, Cleburne

West Division
Connor Panas, Lincoln
Chris Herrmann, Kansas City
Nick Anderson, Lincoln
Vince Fernandez, Sioux City

winner - Zach Nehrir
score – 16-14 final round, 43 total
stadium - Franklin Field

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 7/23/23:

Brewers 55-44, +1.5; 3 v. Reds, 3 @ Braves, 3 @ Nationals, 4 v. Pirates

Twins 52-48, +2.0; 3 v. Mariners, 3 @ Royals, 3 @ Cardinals, 3 v. Diamondbacks

2023 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1

Peter - 13

Wrigley Field Renovation

All photos of Sturtevant, Wrigleyville, and Wrigley Field available on Flickr.

I crossed another baseball item off of my "Pre-Move to Minnesota" checklist on Saturday with my dad, as we made the trek down to Chicago to see the newly restored Wrigley Field.  This massive 5-year undertaking is known as the 1060 Project (referring to the address of 1060 West Addison) and cost the Ricketts family over $600M.  This multi-year renovation certainly did have a lot of aspects to it that were solely built to increase revenue, but I also don't think it's hyperbole to say that this renovation's primary goal was to save Wrigley Field from ruin.  I was last down to Wrigley Field in its 100th Anniversary Season of 2014, and I noted at that time that I was not coming back until the stadium was repaired.  There was falling concrete, rust and chipping paint, out of date plumbing, huge accessibility issues, structural vulnerabilities, and just general disrepair, and I was saddened that such a historic park was allowed to crumble this badly.  I hate to say this as a Brewers fan, but my dad and I were both very impressed with Wrigley Field and the surrounding area now.  I would dare to say that the ballpark is even - gulp - NICE now.  It made a huge leap in my rankings from this visit and strictly as a baseball fan, I left very happy to see that such a huge part of baseball history was not only properly restored to preserve the character of the stadium, but also brought in many amenities and gameday experiences that baseball fans in the 21st century expect.

My dad and I took the Amtrak down to Union Station and it was an easy hour long ride down, with a 20 minute ride up to Wrigleyville on the subway.  We emerged from the Addison stop on the Red Line at about 10:30, and we had a lot of walking to do before gates opened.  Immediately getting off of the train platform, the entire neighborhood was a night and day difference from what was there during my last visit 9 years ago.  There is a huge new apartment building on Addison that spans the entire block between Sheffield and Clark.  The building is lined with ground floor shops, including a Baseballism store which unfortunately we did not have time to stop in.  Across the street from this building, we noticed the new sportsbook addition onto the stadium.  Wrigley Field was one of the first if not the first stadiums in the country to allow sports betting inside the ballpark, and this is a massively popular space that is accessible from both the stadium and the outside.  It's designed very appropriately so that it looks new and glassy, but also respects the scale and color of Wrigley.  As we made our way towards the corner marquee, an entirely new gameday area emerged, all owned by the Cubs.  There is a new hotel across the street on a site that was formerly just a McDonald's and a bunch of rinky-dink temporary team stores (don't worry, the McDonald's has been relocated into the hotel building).  Thankfully, with all of the changes, the Cubby Bear still exists, so we first popped our heads in there for a beer.  I am now in my 40s and beyond the time in my life where I want to deal with massively crowded bars with loud music, so we quickly left and instead started our pregaming at Swift & Sons, which is a new bar on the ground floor of the hotel.  From there, we walked down to Gallagher Way, which is the other huge new addition by the Cubs to the Wrigleyville area.  This is a public plaza that is reserved for ticketed fans on gamedays, but otherwise is open to everyone when there is not a game.  It is bookended by the new 6-story Cubs office building, which features some team stores, a golf simulator, the Budweiser Brickhouse Tavern, and a massive 2-story television mounted onto the side of the building.  All of the team statues have also been moved to this plaza, with the exception of Harry Caray who is still prominently displayed on Clark & Addison as he should be.  We grabbed another beverage from one of the outside beer tents in the plaza and hung out until gates opened.  Outside of the game itself, this was my favorite part of the day and I thought the coolest new addition to the stadium.  We then walked in just before noon to see if the inside renovations were as good as what was done to the outside.

Upon entering, one immediately noticed the restored brick walkways, the crisp new concessions stands that are orderly and well marked, and most importantly - repainted, clean, and repaired.  We both were amazed by how quick and easy it was to order concessions as compared to AmFam Field, and I think that ease made us forget that we were paying $15 for Old Style.  Even later on in the game as the narrow concourses cramped up a bit more with the crowd, we never waited more than 5 minutes for anything, and I never felt like I had to shove my way through a sea of people.  Besides the obvious refreshing of the interior and the concessions, one can't help but notice how many new team stores have been added.  With what the Cubs are doing on the outside, as well as adding a huge extent of merchandising on the inside, they are really trying to capture more revenue for the team rather than losing it to neighboring bars and stores, and they are doing this quite successfully I might add.  I can't speak to how this may or may not be affecting other neighboring business, but it's pretty smart on the Cubs' end.  The only failure to me by the Cubs inside the park is that there used to be a bar above the marquee on the 2nd level that was accessible to all fans and is sadly now a private area called the Catalina Club.  That used to be my favorite part of Wrigley, but I can understand that the Cubs are trying to capture a few private areas, which before the renovation they had almost none.  There is at least a new standing area with bars that overlooks Gallagher Way from above that I really enjoyed.  They need to put some tables or drink rails up there and I would have hung out there much longer.  After confirming that yes the pee troughs do still exist in the men's rooms, we made our way back down to the first level.  We sat pretty close to the bleachers, and we noted that you are now able to walk a little bit underneath the bleachers, which is really cool since you are only separated from Waveland Avenue by a 2' thick brick wall with a few apertures, but unfortunately there is still the rule where only fans with bleacher tickets can access the bleachers.  The partial walkway underneath the bleachers dead-ends with some new Cubs history and Cubs Hall of Fame display areas.  We checked those out and then turned around and headed back to our seats, which were the 6th row of the 100 level, between 3rd base and the foul pole.

The most obvious part of the extensive renovations that slaps you in the face right when you emerge into the seating bowl are the two jumbotrons.  The hand-operated scoreboard still exists in dead-center, but there are now added jumbotrons in left-center and down the right field line.  These were hotly contested by the rooftop owners across the street when they were first proposed because they were afraid they would block views into the ballpark, so they are certainly not as large of jumbotrons as most teams have, but they are much better than nothing.  The Ricketts family alleviated any problems by settling a few lawsuits out of court and proceeding to buy up about a dozen of the rooftops for themselves.  Another significant change to the field is that the bullpens were moved underneath the bleachers, sort of like how the Madison Mallards did it.  The areas down the foul lines that formerly held the bullpens in the field of play were of course infilled with more seating.  Arguably some of the biggest parts of the renovation we did not get to see and probably will never get to see, and those are all of the work done underneath the stadium.  Clubhouses were expanded, batting tunnels were added, and several private clubs were added including the Makers Mark Barrel Room.  This operates sort of like the club tickets we had in Texas or the Champions Club in Minnesota, in which fans with a particular ticket have access to a club beneath the grandstand and then a private seating section close to the field.  I think this type of seating is a fantastic trend going up in ballparks now as it is a way to add private areas without compromising usable space above ground.

The game itself pitted two of the most storied franchises against each other, as the Cubs played the Red Sox on this day in an interleague matchup.  You wouldn't know from how the Cubs played that they are a sub-.500 team as they walloped the Sox 10-4.  Boston was somehow only charged with 1 error in the game, but they had some of the worst defense at the major league level I've ever seen.  There were a couple of quick scoreless frames to start the game, but Chicago put up a 6-spot in the bottom of the 3rd that was capped by a Cody Bellinger grand slam, and they never looked back from there.  I was actually shocked to see that Belly is having a pretty decent season as I assumed he was still horrible - him and Christian Yelich must have worked with the same coach in the offseason.  Staff ace Marcus Stroman picked up his 10th win and gave the Cubs 6 solid innings.  One of the few lone highlights for the Red Sox was Tristan Casas' 2-run homer in the 7th.

As I mentioned earlier, all in all we were both very impressed with Wrigley, and it takes a lot for me to say that for as much grief as I've given this park over the years.  It was so cool to be there in front of a packed house in this historic ballpark.  I went on this trip expecting this would be my last hurrah at Wrigley before we moved to Minnesota, but I left convinced that I absolutely need to return with Erik and/or Molly someday on one of our future ballpark trips.

park rankings and statistics
(see most recent post from 8/14/14): 

aesthetics - improves to 6
views from park - 7
view to field - 4
surrounding area - 10
food variety - improves to 6
nachos - 8
beer - decreases to 5 (very expensive but bonus points for Old Style and souvenir bat cups)
vendor price - 7
ticket price - decreases to 1
atmosphere - improves to 10
walk to park - improves to 10
parking price/proximity - 2
concourses - improves to 5
team store - 10
kids area - n/a didn't see one

best food – Chicago style dog
most unique stadium feature – hand-operated scoreboard, ivy on outfield wall
best jumbotron feature – American Airlines player interview segment
best between-inning feature – celebrity leads crowd in "Take me out to the Ballgame"

field dimensions – 355/400/353
starters – James Paxton (BOS) v. Marcus Stroman (CHC)
opponent – Boston Red Sox
time of game – 2:35
attendance – 40,224
score – 10-4 W
Brewers score that day – 3-0 W

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 7/17/23:

Brewers 52-42, +2.0; 3 @ Phillies, 3 v. Braves

Twins 48-46, +2.5; 4 @ Mariners, 3 v. White Sox

2023 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1

Peter - 12

Another A's Update

(Athletics new Las Vegas Ballpark rendering per Oakland Athletics)

I was hoping to be writing today about a visit to Joseph P. Riley Park in Charleston, but alas the weather was working against us on a family vacation this past week, so unfortunately I did not get to go.  So what better topic to talk about in a pinch than the baseball story that has been in the news all year - the pending Athletics move to Las Vegas.

Just about all of the logistics of the proposed new A's ballpark and move have changed over the last 3 months, including the site, the timetable, the financing, and the design.  Here is a brief timetable of what has transpired so far:

• April 20:  Athletics announce a "binding agreement" to purchase 49 acres of land for a $1.5B stadium on the site of the former Wild Wild West Casino, across the interstate from T-Mobile Arena, which I wrote about in May.  The A's would own all 49 acres and develop a "ballpark district."
• May 4:  Governor Lombardo announces legislative package for said ballpark with intent of getting the legislation passed during the regular Nevada state legislative session.  The public financing portion at this time was proposed to be $500M.
• May 9:  Athletics shift proposal to a site on the Strip, at the current home of the Tropicana.  The plans would call for Bally's (owner of Tropicana) to demolish the current casino, lease 9 acres to the A's to build a 30,000 seat ballpark, and maintain the rest for a new casino/hotel.
• May 26:  Preliminary renderings released by Schrock KC Architecture
• Memorial Day Weekend:  A's officials in town to discuss ballpark package
• May 29:  New financing legislation introduced, this time for about $380M.  A's are a no-show at a joint committee meeting of Senate and Assembly members.
• May 30:  New ballpark opening announced to be no sooner than 2028 (originally 2027)
• June 6:  Financing package is not voted on during regular legislative session as the state budget was deemed to be a priority over ballpark financing, of which some polls reported up to 80% of citizens were against.  At this time, the state leadership announces no intention of bringing this to a vote in a special session.
• June 7:  Governor Lombardo calls for a special session to reconsider ballpark funding
• June 15:  Legislation passes in a special session and is signed into law by the governor

It was surely a grind for all parties just to get to this point, and arguably the public subsidy is going to be the easiest part of all of this.  Now the Athletics have to basically start all over with a ballpark design (which includes how to magically fit a stadium and a roof on 9 acres), find a shady financial institution that will finance John Fisher's portion of the ballpark, gain all necessary building approvals, and not to mention convince 23 of the other owners to approve this move - which, for how much shared revenue the A's have been gobbling up the last few years, is anything but a slam dunk.  There is also the matter of finding a suitable temporary home for the A's for at least the 2025-27 seasons after their lease at the Oakland Coliseum expires.  The Las Vegas Aviators ballpark has been floated a lot and seems to make the most sense since they are the current A's AAA affiliate and they do not intend to move their AAA team from Las Vegas even after the major league team moves there.  However, it also regularly hits triple-digit temps during summers in Las Vegas and this is not a covered stadium, and it obviously does not currently meet MLB standards, so the MLBPA would surely have a say in any move to a non-MLB ballpark.  All bridges might be burned to do something as simple as extending a lease at the Coliseum.  So this will definitely be a significant hurdle.

Commissioner Manfred has publicly stated that the A's will cease receiving shared revenue payments if a concrete plan is not in place by January 1st, 2024.  So the clock is ticking and this saga is far from over.  As I have stated before and I'll state again - I will not believe this move is actually happening until all financing is in place and there is a shovel in the ground.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 7/10/23:

Brewers 49-42, -1.0, -0.5 WC; 3 @ Reds

Twins 45-46, -0.5, -5.0 WC; 3 @ Athletics

2023 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1

Peter - 11