Return to Camelback Ranch

All photos of Camelback Ranch available on Flickr.

The 2019 season started a few weeks early for me as I just returned from Spring Training in Phoenix!  I went with my wife, daughter, and parents and we had a relaxing 3 days in the Valley of the Sun.  It was nice to feel the warm sun on my skin again after what has been a brutal winter in Wisconsin.  Our daughter did surprisingly well on the 3 1/2 hour flight and we landed in Phoenix around 10 AM.  After a quick stop at my parents' condo in Scottsdale we were off to our first game in Glendale nearly an hour away for a 1:05pm first pitch.

Not much has changed at Camelback Ranch, but that was just fine with me because I don't really think they needed to touch a thing.  Same sea of tan seats, same expansive home plate plaza, same beautiful grounds, and same shitty White Sox.  Even after this weekend and 8 years since my first visit, this is still my favorite Spring Training ballpark and complex.  Both the architectural and landscape design are simply gorgeous.  I don't know what it is about the Gabion walls throughout the complex, but they are always the first thing to catch my eye and I am fascinated with how they are used.  In some areas they are decorative, and others then are used as retaining walls.  They really serve to tie the large grounds and the interior of the ballpark together, which can be hard to do in a unique way in this area as everything tends to be the same color and material out in the desert.  Speaking of desert, as an human being I struggle with the wasteful use of water for these complexes, but as a designer and a baseball fan I can't help but fall in love with the place.  Parking was also remarkably still free which was a welcome surprise.  We sat in an all-you-can-eat section above the visitor bullpen in left field for $44, which out here for what you typically pay for concessions is a steal.  A couple of hot dogs and a bottle of water and you've more than recouped your money.  My child managed to get a ball thrown our way from the Brewers' bullpen catcher and we enjoyed a nice leisurely afternoon under the shade with lots of space for Molly to run around (and more importantly a quiet area to nap).  This area looks to have added some shade umbrellas since 2011 but otherwise about the same. 

The most outrageous difference from my 2011 visit - which would be a common theme at all the parks - was the sharp increase in vending prices, particularly beer.  I remember drinking 24oz cans of Modelo pretty much the entire week I was here with my friend Phil 8 years ago for maybe $7-8 apiece.  You're lucky to find a cup of soda for that price now.  Beers ran in the $11-14 range almost everywhere with a staggeringly low variety, for 16 or 24oz cans.  "Craft beer" consisted mainly of Leinie's Summer Shandy and a decent local beer called 805.  It was all the more reason to spring for the all-you-can-eat seats particularly if it's a hot day and you need to stay hydrated.  Maybe the hike in beer prices was a conscious effort for all of the teams colluding to keep fans from passing out drinking too much in the sun - and I'm sure that's what they would tell you - but likely it is just capitalizing on the gluttonous Spring Training tourism industry.

Thursday was the first of 3 consecutive days we would see the Brewers on our trip and they dropped this one to the lowly White Sox by a score of 9-5.  Zach Davies looked sharp in his start, giving up only 1 run and a couple of hard-hit balls in 4 innings.  With a 1-year old daughter it gets harder to pay attention to ballgames now for 9 innings, but that works out perfectly in Spring Training as the starters are all out by the 5th.  The rest of the pitching staff was pretty horrible, but thankfully all by guys likely not even making the 40-man roster.  There were however a few late-inning plays that were hard to ignore.  Troy Stokes Jr. hit an absolutely laser out towards us for a 3-run bomb that would have brained us were it not for the umbrellas.  Later in that same inning, Manny Piña hit a ball that looked like it would be a running catch for former Brewer farmhand Nicky Delmonico, but he ended up crashing into the wall and being carted off after watching the slow-footed catcher hobble around the bases for an inside-the-park-homer from his back.  Another Brewers farmhand also got into the game for the White Sox, Dylan Covey.  Technically he was never signed by the Brewers after being selected 1st overall in the 2010 draft.  His physical uncovered that he had Type I Diabetes and he ended up turning down a $1.6 million signing bonus to go back to college, and would later get drafted again by the A's 3 years later.  He now is looking pretty good out of the White Sox bullpen.

After the game, Megan and I were both exhausted after a 25-hour day on 4 hours of sleep. so we just hung out at the condo my parents are staying at.  We turned in early for what would be another full day of sunshine, beer, and baseball on Friday.

park rankings and statistics
(updated from 3/29/11):
aesthetics - 7
views from park - 4
view to field - 8
surrounding area - 5
food variety - 6
nachos - 8
beer - decreases to 2
vendor price - decreases to 5
ticket price - decreases to 5
atmosphere - 5
walk to park - 10
parking proximity - increases to 10 (adjacent lot for free)
concourses - 8
team shop - 6
complex - 10

best food - Sonoran Hot Dog
most unique stadium feature - practice field complex, mezzanine level bar
jumbotron - yes
best between-inning feature - giveaways

field dimensions - 345/410/345
starters - Zach Davies (MIL) v. Carlos Rodon (CWS)
opponent - Milwaukee Brewers
time of game - 3:05 
attendance - 4804
score - 9-5 W 
Brewers score that day - 9-5 L

2019 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 0
Peter - 3