Fr. Nicholas Donnay Park

All photos of Fr. Nicholas Donnay Park available on Flickr.

Back to reality from my wonderful time in the Pacific Northwest means back to watching town ball in the boonies.  On Sunday, I made it out to my 4th different Town Ball park of the year in the miniscule unincorporated community of St. Nicholas.  Remember what I said about Lake Henry - that there's always somewhere smaller and more remote you can go?  Well, St. Nick made Lake Henry look like Minneapolis.  It's so small that it hasn't even been visited by the Google Street View car.  This community literally consists of one intersection at County Roads 21 & 165, around which are situated a couple of farms, about a dozen houses, and - you guessed it - St. Nicholas Church.  Behind this church is School Lake, which features lovely St. Nik's Park along its southern shore.  This park consists of two playing fields, one of which hosts the St. Nicholas Nicks.  There was already a haphazard array of vehicles filling the grass and gravel parking lot when I arrived, and I managed to wedge my car precariously between two trucks at the top of a drainage ditch, just barely out of reach of any errant foul balls.  I had Molly in tow with me once again on this adventure, as well as a couple of lawn chairs and a bag full of snacks and water bottles per usual.

The MBA website tells me that the Nicks' playing field is named in memoriam of a former priest at the parish down the road, and whose support was instrumental in the construction and improvement of this park.  The parking lot for the most part is positioned directly behind home plate, and the ballpark is wide open to that parking lot with the exception of a puny 4-row bleacher section, so you get a very clear view of the field when you approach from your car.  Honestly, we probably could have seen more of the field from the parking lot than from where we sat inside.  It was so unencumbered that I was shocked people did not park their cars directly behind home plate and watch, as people are apt to do at town ball games.  Instead, select patrons chose the left field corner as the designated "watch ball from your truck" zone.  This left field area also contained a very odd hay wagon with a ladder that was either a sorry excuse for a party deck, or equally likely, somebody just towed it there themselves to watch from.  Moving around to the outfield is a hand-operated inning tally.  Like clockwork, at the end of every inning, a guy on an ATV would ride out to the scoreboard and post the top and bottom half numbers, and then disappear down a hill beyond, almost as if he was listening to the game somewhere else on some weirdly low-bandwidth radio station.  The two permanent structures for the ballpark flanked either side of home plate, next to the dugouts.  The building next to the 3rd base dugout was your typical storage/clubhouse building, and the building next to the 1st base dugout was the concession stand, which featured a very nice and much appreciated covered pavilion.  This is where almost every fan sat, minus the hay wagon folks and a few brave fans baking on the metal bleachers.  The mercury got close to 90°F on Sunday, so we gladly sacrificed a view of half of the field in order to sit in the shade and closer to the guy selling ice cold beer and 25-cent freeze pops.  This pavilion featured half a dozen picnic tables and a couple standing rails in lieu of traditional seating, and really reinforced that town ball experience that is more of a community gathering than actually caring what is happening in the game.  There was also a small playground area near the bullpen in right field which Molly obviously loved.  Between chasing after foul balls to exchange for free freeze pops, sliding down the slide, running around on the adjacent field, and talking to the players in the dugout five feet away from us, it felt like there was more to entertain her here than at most other games we've been to at a fraction of the cost, and I loved that.  I'll also add that Fr. Donnay Park sold the same delicious hot dogs and $25 twelve-packs of beer that still always surprises me, but at the same time, I'm also growing to expect at every town ball park.

St. Nicholas is a part of Luxemburg Township, and that's who they happened to play on this day, so it was kind of a rivalry game of sorts.  These teams play in the same league and there was actually a far larger contingent of Luxemburg fans there than St. Nick's fans.  Even the guy running the concession stand seemed to be friends with some of the Luxemburg players and ran into their dugout a few times for high fives.  This is the 3rd or 4th time I've seen Luxemburg play, and I've sort of adopted them as my favorite town ball team outside of Cold Spring since they are called the Brewers and very clearly ripped off Milwaukee's ball-and-glove logo.  Completely by accident, I always seem to be wearing a Brewers cap whenever I go to a game that they're playing, so people assume I'm a fan and I just go with it.  The final score was a 5-1 victory for the Nicks over the Brewers, and as usual I can't tell you many specifics I remember, nor do they exist on the internet.  It was hard enough to keep track of the number of outs let alone what was happening in the game.  There wasn't even a PA guy.  I do vividly recall the Luxemburg pitcher gutting out about 6 or 7 innings with a severe limp, and also had a hit in the game, and I will always remember seeing the St. Nick's first baseman that weighed at least 300 pounds and got "courtesy run" for every time he reached base.  Let's just say the tight horizontal striped uniform was not flattering on him.

The town ball regular season is wrapping up in the next couple of weeks, and this was likely my last new town ball park of the year.  It has been so fun exploring these surrounding towns, particularly with Molly, and it's been one of the highlights of my first full summer as a Minnesotan.

park rankings and statistics

(for purposes of amateur/town ball rankings, some categories are changed to just yes/no questions):
aesthetics - 2
views from park - 4 (would be nice if you could see the lake behind the trees)
view to field - 1 (could only see half the field from where I sat)
surrounding area - 1 (unincorporated community)
concessions - yes
nachos - no
beer - yes
vendor price - 10
ticket price - 9 ($5)
atmosphere - 8
walk to park - 5
parking price/proximity - 10
concourses - 3
team shop - no

kids area -  yes

best food - 25-cent freeze pops
most unique stadium feature - covered pavilion
scoreboard - yes (manual inning tally only)

lights - no

best between-inning feature - chasing down foul balls earns you a quarter

field dimensions - 305/358/338
teams - Luxemburg Brewers v. St. Nicholas Nicks
time of game - 2:10-ish
attendance - 40-ish
score - 5-1 W 
Brewers score that day - 9-3 W

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 7/19/24:

Brewers 55-42, +4.5; 2 @ Twins, 3 @ Cubs, 3 v. Marlins, 3 v. Braves

Twins 54-42, -4.5, +0.5 WC; 2 v. Brewers, 3 v. Phillies, 3 @ Tigers, 3 @ Mets

Orioles 58-38, +1.0; 3 @ Rangers, 3 @ Marlins, 3 v. Padres, 4 v. Blue Jays

2024 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 7

Peter - 25

Tour 2024: Cheney Stadium

All photos of Olympic National Park and Cheney Stadium available on Flickr.

Typically, the last day of our trips is a bit somber, which is normal for any vacation.  We're kind of just going through the motions by this point and sad that we've only got one day of ball left, and the anxiety about the travel home starts to build.  But it felt like each day of this year's trip was more jam-packed and exciting than the day before, and I woke up on Monday as energized as ever and pumped for our final day of activities: a day at Olympic National Park and closing out with a game at the venerable Cheney Stadium in Tacoma.  We came ashore back to America a little after noon and had to spend a few minutes washing the seagull leavings off of our rental car that we left in Port Angeles.  The main visitor center for Olympic Nat'l Park was only a few minutes from the ferry terminal, so we started there and picked up a map, and decided on Sol Duc Falls as the area of the park we would explore.  We really wanted to see the Hoh Rainforest (the largest and wettest rainforest in the US and the most visited attraction in the park), but it was a pretty long drive towards the coast that would have surely made us late to the Rainiers game that evening, and ball always takes priority.  Sol Duc was a beautiful consolation prize, if you can even call it a consolation.  The drive there was just as gorgeous as the hike itself - an hour west on US-101 that was almost entirely along the coast of Lake Crescent.  Once we arrived, it was about a three-quarter mile hike to the falls through a lush, tall, evergreen forest that looked nearly untouched by man despite thousands of people going there every summer.  I've enjoyed the hiking component we've added to our repertoire the last few years, and compared to Pilot Knob in Lake George and Papago Park in Phoenix, this was relatively easy even for somebody as out of shape as me.  Once we arrived at Sol Duc Falls, it instantly made the hour of hiking and 5+ total hours of driving worth it.  It's impossible to put the park and the falls into words, so I won't even try to describe it, but I felt so blessed we got to experience this on our trip.  I've always viewed the baseball aspect as just a way to see the country, and I'm grateful that I have a friend in Erik that feels the same.

We were back in the car by 3:00, and we rolled into the parking lot at Cheney Stadium just as gates were opening, a little after 6:00.  It was admittedly not a great start to our Tacoma experience.  We were tired from a long day of travel - by 3 modes of transportation! - and it was for some reason $10 to park in this lot.  Then we were forced to circumnavigate all the way to the opposite side of the stadium from which we parked to purchase tickets, even though there was a ticket window right by the gate we parked at, but for some reason it was fenced off.  However, once we got to the main gate and got inside, our moods instantly changed, and we had an awesome time.  Cheney Stadium was famously built in just 3 months and is locally referred to as the "100-Day Wonder" in tribute to that feat.  The San Francisco Giants were looking to relocate their top farm team from Phoenix in 1959, and promised Tacoma that they would move there if they could get a stadium built before the start of the 1960 season, and they delivered.  As you can imagine, the haste in which it was built meant this was never a stadium that was meant to survive a long time, and by the turn of the century, it was starting to fall into disrepair, and there were ownership changes and threats to move the team.  The community and local leaders never waivered in their support, and a massive renovation was approved and completed in time for the 2011 season.  

I hesitate to even use the word "renovation" as that implies some of the original structure was kept; it was really more like a complete reconstruction.  I looked at some photos of the former stadium before I started writing this post, and it is almost unrecognizable compared to what stands today.  Wooden grandstands and concrete structures were replaced with steel and wood.  The signature element is a 4-story tall entry building constructed of wood and faux wood as an homage to the forested region.  This building also faces the field on the back side, and contains luxurious suites, team offices, and the press box.  The press box is actually off-center which allows a suite/club area to be directly behind home plate where the press would normally be, and I thought that was a subtle but really unique gesture that provides a fan experience and viewing angle you can't really get many other places.  The Rainiers' concessions game inside was on point and a major aspect of the reconstruction.  You can get everything from fish & chips, to BBQ, to wagyu beef burgers, to the Ivar's chowder that seems to be a Pacific Northwest ballpark staple.  I went with a brisket sandwich and Erik went with the burger, and both were finger-licking good, particularly since neither of us had eaten all day.  As is also customary at ballparks of this region, there are no shortage of beer options here, particularly West Coast IPA's.  My favorite part of the park was the "R Bar" in left field.  We had seats right behind the 1st base dugout, but we moved over to the bar just before last call.  It's a super cool all-fan space that was kind of a cross between the Nashville Sounds bar and the Hohokam Stadium bar/fan area.  Besides being able to belly up to the bar and co-mingle in an open setting, the allure of going up there is that on a clear day, Mount Rainier is visible in the distance.  At over 14,000 feet tall, it towers over the Tacoma skyline and is obviously the team's namesake.  Sadly, we could not see it despite it not being very cloudy (and from what I'm reading it's only visible about half the time), but I did get a very clear view of the mountain on both my arrival and return flights.  We could overhear the local phrase of disappointment from folks at the bar - "mountain's not out tonight."  Despite this, Cheney Stadium was my favorite non-MLB park of the trip, and it's in my top 5 in all the minor leagues.  I loved the vertical scale of the park particularly the entry, I loved the energy and that it felt compact despite its tall sections of seats, and it had an above average variety of food and beer compared to most MiLB facilities.  The R Bar and the setting put it over the top and it's amazing how much those simple things make a difference in one's experience.  If this ballpark was in the middle of a cornfield and had no social spaces, it would have been a dud even if nothing else about it was different.  I can't emphasize enough that there is just an unquantifiable feeling at ballparks in this region of the country that you have to experience to believe.

In Everett, we were excited to see some of the rising stars for the Mariners organization, but here at the AAA level, we took note of the number of fallen ones.  There were certainly a few top prospects that were shuttling back and forth to Seattle - Jonathan Clase and Tyler Locklear to name a couple - but by and large, both rosters were littered with guys that had us saying "I didn't know he was still playing."  Jake Marisnick led off for the visiting Salt Lake Bees, and I legitimately thought he was out of baseball.  Once a promising young player with the Astros, he is now with his 8th organization in the last 5 years since leaving Houston.  Former Brewer Luis Urias has found his way to the Mariners organization via Boston, and was recently outrighted to Tacoma after hitting below .200 the last two years.  But the player I was most excited to see was another former Brewer, Keston Hiura.  He was possibly the most heralded hitting prospect to come through our system since Ryan Braun, and after a stellar rookie campaign in 2019, his complex swing could no longer keep up with major league pitching.  He was eventually outrighted in 2022 before electing free agency this past fall, and he was released from the Tigers AAA team last month.  He was quickly scooped up by the Angels and has been raking in Salt Lake, hitting 12 HRs in his first 19 games there, and he had an infield single on this night.  I'm really rooting for him to figure it out - mostly because I still have his jersey.  If the Angels of all teams don't have a spot for him, then I think his career might be over.  The Rainiers hung on for a 7-3 victory on Pride Night, in a rare Monday minor league game.  I could not believe how much the ball carried in Tacoma and I'm amazed the score wasn't higher.  Every outfielder seemed to be playing a couple steps in front of the track the whole night.  The Bees starter, Ryan Langford, must be on a strict innings limit because he was pulled after 2, and that's when the wheels fell off.  The Rainiers smashed 3 long balls off the Bees' bullpen, including a homer by Jake Slaughter that easily cleared the 29' tall wall in dead center marked at 425' from home plate.  He is only the 3rd player to ever accomplish that feat in the 65-year history of the stadium, and just goes to show that you never know what you'll see at the ballpark on any given day.  Salt Lake made it interesting with 2 runs in the 9th off of Carlos Vargas, but otherwise the game was in hand for Tacoma from the very first inning.

After our final game, we then decided it would be a good idea to return our rental car that night, and then take a shuttle to a shady hotel near the airport.  We thought this would afford us some more sleep by not having to worry about returning the car the next morning before our early flights, but we had to wait so long for the shuttle at 11pm on a Monday that I don't really think it did us any favors.  Oh well, lesson learned.  Another year and another great trip!  Next year is looking like we'll watching the A's play in a minor league stadium in Sacramento, and I'm already anxious for the 2025 schedules to be released.

park rankings and statistics: 
aesthetics - 8
views from park – 8 (wooded area and Mt Rainier)
view to field - 5 (good where we sat, but grandstand is very tall)
surrounding area – 2
food variety - 10
nachos - n/a
beer - 8
vendor price - 5
ticket price - 7
atmosphere - 9 (Pride Night)
walk to park – 2 (not sure why we couldn't use the gate closest to parking lot?)
parking price/proximity - 3 (adjacent lot for $10)
concourses - 7 (bonus points for intermediate concourse within grandstand)
team shop - 7
kids area - 5

best food – fish & chips
most unique stadium feature – main entry structure
best jumbotron feature – Pride Night tunes
best between-inning feature – Lucky Dice game

field dimensions – 325/425/325

starters – Ryan Langford (SL) v. Blas Castano (TAC)
opponent – Salt Lake Bees
time of game – 2:35
attendance – 3355
score – 7-3 W
Brewers score that day – 8-7 L

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 7/5/24:

Brewers 52-36, +6.0; 3 @ Dodgers, 3 v. Pirates, 3 v. Nationals

Twins 49-38, -6.0; 3 v. Astros, 3 @ White Sox, 3 @ Giants

Orioles 55-32, +2.0; 3 @ Athletics, 3 v. Cubs, 3 v. Yankees

2024 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 7

Peter - 20

Tour 2024: Royal Athletic Park

All photos of Port Angeles WA, ferry to Canada, Victoria, and Royal Athletic Park available on Flickr.

You didn't think we'd travel this close to Canada and not see a game there, eh?  Having already been to Vancouver in 2007, we set our sights instead on attending a ballgame in Victoria, which is the capital of British Columbia.  Victoria is located on Vancouver Island off the coast of Vancouver, and as far as I could tell it is not accessible by road, so we opted for the 12:45pm MV Coho ferry liner out of Port Angeles, Washington as our means of conveyance.  There are ferries that run directly from Seattle to Victoria through the sound, but driving the 2 1/2 hours to Port Angeles allowed us to be right at the mouth of Olympic National Park upon our return.  It was a surprisingly smooth ride that did not make us regret gulping down hot chowder before boarding the boat.  After we were confident we would not be getting seasick, we each brought a beer out on the deck for awhile and enjoyed the stunning views to the mountains in all directions.  I even saw a few whale spouts!  The ride covered 20 nautical miles and took about 90 minutes, and we rolled into the harbor (or "harbour" as Canadians say) by 2:30pm.  Once we were docked and passed through customs, I could officially say that I have now traveled to Canada by land, air, and sea.  Our way-too-classy hotel - the Grand Pacific - was directly across the street, and we again took some time to appreciate how far we've come in our travels that we were staying at a hotel so stunning and with so many amenities.  We got unpacked and cleaned up a bit, and began the 2.4km trek towards the ballpark, however long that is.

We chose to take a little less direct of a route, and walked down Wharf Street along the inner harbo(u)r.  This area was not surprisingly the busiest part of the city, even more so on Canada Day Eve.  Wharf Street was lined with restaurants and bars, and we stopped at a couple to break up the walk.  At our first stop, we sat on the water and watched sea planes land while enjoying a margarita.  Our second stop was a little livelier featuring a DJ, and we enjoyed some Canadian beer whilst watching 4pm Sunday Night Baseball on one TV and some CFL action on another.  As Erik explained the rules of Canadian Football to me, I couldn't help but wonder aloud if this was the craziest thing we've ever done to see a baseball game.  But the answer would have to wait, as we needed to finish our walk to the ballpark for a 6:30pm first pitch.

Royal Athletic Park may be the oldest stadium I have ever been to, as baseball on this site dates all the way back to 1908.  The park underwent a major restoration in 1967 after a fire consumed much of the original grandstand, and the intricate and raw concrete forms at the gates and press box certainly harken back to that era of architecture.  Various minor league affiliated teams inhabited the park on and off through the 1980s, and even a short-lived team in the ill-fated Golden League, and the current team we were there to see - the HarbourCats - took up residence starting in 2013.  They play in the summer collegiate West Coast League, which consists of teams located in Washington, Oregon, and Western Canada.  One of the many unique things about this ballpark is how long it's also survived as a successful civic multi-purpose facility.  The Cats still share the field with various soccer and football teams to this day, and this is quite evident in the rectangular shape of the site that has a temporary outfield fence arcing through it when used for baseball.  Rifflandia Music Festival and the oldest beer festival in all of Canada are among the other major events hosted at this park on an annual basis.  We were there as part of a sellout crowd for the Canada Day Fireworks Extravaganza and Salsa Dancing Night, and it was very clear that most folks were just there to be out celebrating the holiday and watching the fireworks.  And that's not a bad thing - much like the ballpark in Everett, I loved the energy at this facility, even moreso for a place as old and weathered as Royal Athletic Park.  I didn't get the sense that Erik was a huge fan of this ballpark, but having been to the large number of summer collegiate and town ball games that I have, I know that the atmosphere and crowd at these types of games is enough to overlook the very obvious signs of age and disrepair at the ballpark.  If it was a sparse crowd, I probably would have shared Erik's sentiments and would have grumbled a little bit more at the chipping concrete, or the uncomfortable plywood benches, or the impossibly long lines through cramped concourses at disjointed concession stands, or the section of bleachers we ended up sitting in that was so far down the line that they were probably used primarily for soccer matches.  Being a part of the Canada Day celebration put me in a good mood that couldn't be shaken by any of this.  I appreciated the effort the team rolled out by bringing in a glut of food trucks set up behind the bleachers, from which I had a turkey & cranberry panini, and Erik of course had a Canadian cuisine staple - poutine.  Again, it showed a pride that you want to see out of smaller city teams.  Is it going to be at the top of any ballpark lists for me?  Certainly not.  But I got to see a ballgame in a country I love visiting, with an ice cold Molson, followed by independence day fireworks, and it was one of the more perfect parts of the trip that I'll never forget.

This game was our first and only home team loss of the trip, as the HarbourCats were destroyed by the Nanaimo NightOwls by a score of 13-4.  The Owls are a relatively new team in the league that plays up the coast and across the strait from Vancouver.  Neither starter lasted too long - only 4 and 2 innings respectively - and the cavalcade of relievers for the Cats could not keep the Owls at bay either.  Tate Shimao was the player to watch for Victoria.  He was a recent signing that has been killing it since his first game, and he went 1-4 on the evening and is hitting .438 as of this post.  Every single Nanaimo starter had at least one hit in the game, and 6 of the 9 had at least one RBI, including Nevin Noonan who crushed a salami.  We went into this game not expecting to recognize a soul, so we were both shocked when we saw that two of Manny Ramirez's sons were in the starting lineup for the HarbourCats.  Lucas played RF and had a hit out of the 5-hole, and Manny Jr. grounded out in a pinch hit appearance late in the game.  He wore #99 and looked and batted just like his dad, so that was the moment that I realized that these kids with the name "Ramirez" must be Manny's kids, and sure enough I googled them and I was right.  Following the game, we were treated to a spectacular fireworks display, the likes of which Victoria could be proud of on a holiday.  It started off kind of sketchy as it was the "flatbed o' explosives" variety of show that was lit off in the outfield by hand, but it ended up being amazing.  It was a lovely walk home through downtown and past the British Columbia Parliament building lit up at night, and we enjoyed a couple tall boys on our hotel balcony overlooking the inner harbour.

The following morning, I grabbed some coffee and went for an early morning stroll around the causeway while Erik had to attend a stupid virtual work meeting, and the holiday preparations and road closures were already out in full force.  After a quick dip in the enormous and luxurious hotel pool, we were back in line at the ferry terminal for a 10:30am departure.  By this time, a local band was already blaring some CCR at one of the Canada Day stages, and it was the jolt we needed to get us excited to return to America.

park rankings and statistics: 
aesthetics - 7 (points for uniqueness, not niceness)
views from park – 4 (trees and houses)
view to field - 3
surrounding area – 5 (residential and hockey arena)
food variety - 7
nachos - n/a
beer - 3
vendor price - 4
ticket price - 3 ($35 CAD in main grandstand)
atmosphere - 10
walk to park – 9 (through downtown/harbour)
parking price/proximity - 6 (looked like ample street parking)
concourses - 2 (cramped)
team shop - 5 (bonus points for beer bats w/ lid)
kids area - n/a (parents make their kids actually watch the game in Canada)

best food – poutine
most unique stadium feature – on a city block within a football field/park
best jumbotron feature – local RE/MAX ads
best between-inning feature – MV Coho Ferry Boat Race featuring players

field dimensions – 308/400/310

starters – Joshua Torres (NAN) v. Malik Harris (VIC)
opponent – Nanaimo NightOwls
time of game – 3:38
attendance – 4156
score – 13-4 L
Brewers score that day – 7-1 W

Tour 2024: Funko Field

All photos of Funko Field available on Flickr.

It was a quick 30-minute jaunt north up I-5 for game #2 of our trip.  I had assumed before we got to Everett that it was just a small bedroom community for Seattle, but it actually has a population of over 100,000 people and is the largest employment center for its county, due in large part to Boeing's enormous aircraft assembly plant located there and the Funko toy factory for which the field is named.  We didn't get to see really any part of the city other than the ballpark, but just in the few blocks leading up to it off the freeway, we got a sense of that strange juxtaposition between commuter town and industrial enclave, with libraries, schools, restaurants, and single family homes on one side, and then a block away from the ballpark where we parked, nothing but a concrete jungle filled with gloomy warehouses.  We arrived just as gates were opening and were treated to some "free"/mandatory donation tickets from some volunteers for the American Cancer Society.  We were grateful for the tickets, but in lieu of sitting in a crowd of old women, we took that opportunity to meander around the park for awhile.

Funko Field originally opened as Everett Memorial Stadium in 1947.  However, I'm uncertain how much of the baseball stadium, if anything, dates back that far, as there is also an adjacent football stadium and track that still uses the old moniker.  So it's very confusing Googling the place, because the overall complex is called "Everett Memorial Stadium" but it's actually two fields.  My guess is the property itself dates back to 1947 but the majority of the structures are much newer.  Regardless, the AquaSox have been the only permanent tenant of the ballpark since their inception 40 years ago, and due to a number of major renovations, it has a very eclectic Warner Park vibe to it.  The outfield wall may very well be the part of the ballpark that is still original, as it is primarily constructed of wood, laden with advertising, and still has an old hand-operated scoreboard which is famously laden with autographs on the inside from all the Mariner prospects that have passed through over the years.  There is a gorgeous view of the Cascade Mountains beyond most of this wall, with the exception of the right field corner that contains a small berm and a giant Funko bobble-boy.  The press box structure is a behemoth concrete masonry building, with metal bleachers and grandstands spawning out from it in either direction, and some concession stands and a team store underneath it facing backwards to a plaza and concourse below.  This plaza and concourse is shared with the neighboring football field.  Here you'll find a large social gathering area with lots of beer and food tents and a kids area, and it's the organic nature of this plaza where I really felt the Warner Park comparison.  The park certainly has a lot of shortcomings and is not in the best of shape, but the plaza area gives the back of the stadium a life that not a lot of parks have, particularly not the type where the concourse is hidden from view of the field as Funko Field is.  There was a real civic pride here that Erik and I were excited to be a part of for one night.  

Everett barely made the cut during the minor league takeover and contraction by MLB a few years ago, and was granted a promotion from short-season ball to full season high-A ball on the promise that they would have a plan in place to bring Funko Field up to standards, or else find a replacement.  That deadline is supposedly this summer, otherwise six-figure penalties will be incurred for every season they are not compliant.  Due to its proximity to Seattle, I imagine the Mariners and ownership are very motivated to get this done, and by what Erik and I saw on Saturday, I get the sense that the community will back this effort at any cost.  But it's also for these reasons that I'm not super critical of Funko Field.  I can understand why they wouldn't want to pump a lot of money into piecemeal upgrades such as new seats, or an adequate amount of protective netting, or adding more than one fryer per concession stand, just because they're not sure what the future holds.  MLB could very well impose their will at a moment's notice and say "you're out."  Either way, it's entirely possible that Erik and I may have attended one of the final seasons at Funko Field, and I'll be sad that I never got to try a "Frog Dog" that nobody there seemed to know how to make or what was in it.

The game pitted the AquaSox against the Spokane Indians, an affiliate of the Rockies.  I'll reserve the story of how Spokane worked with local tribes to keep their name for if I ever get to Avista Stadium, but I will say that their jerseys in the Spokane Native American script were pretty sweet.  The highest Mariners prospect at this level at the time we were there was Michael Morales, and we were lucky enough to get to see him pitch on this night.  He was a 3rd round draft pick in 2021 and gave up 1 run in 5 innings on this night.  It looks like he has since been called up to AA-Arkansas since that start.  Lazaro Montes and Michael Arroyo were another two prospects in the Mariners' Top 30 that happened to be promoted to Everett in time for Saturday's game.  They are currently hitting .350 and .400 respectively in a week's worth of high-A games, and Montes actually crushed a 3-run bomb in the 8th to put the game out of reach.  Montes' homer was part of a 3-homer night for the Sox as part of a 12-2 bludgeoning.  Dyan Jorge was the highest Rockies prospect who played in the game.  He is a shortstop currently ranked #7 in their system and went 1-5 with a steak.  The Indians' starter Connor Staine did not fare too well, lasting just 2 innings with 6 earned and 3 walks.

Following the game was the first of two consecutive fireworks nights on our trip, and shockingly the most safe looking of the two (see Victoria BC post later this week).  By that time it was starting to rain, so the fireworks did not get up in the sky too high, but the show provided another 5 minutes for us to finish our beers before we got in the car and drove back to our Seattle hotel.

park rankings and statistics: 
aesthetics - 3
views from park – 8 (mountains in distance)
view to field - 8 (dangerously short netting means better view)
surrounding area – 3 (mostly industrial but not dangerous)
food variety - 4 (points deducted for them not being able to make everything on the menu)
nachos - 2
beer - 7 (bonus points for beer bats)
vendor price - 5
ticket price - 9 (donated)
atmosphere - 8
walk to park – 3
parking price/proximity - 9 (one block away for free if you don't mind shady warehouse area)
concourses - 8
team shop - 7
kids area - 8 (pretty darn good for this size of park)

best food – chowder or chili with breadstick
most unique stadium feature – concourse shared with adjacent football field
best jumbotron feature – Dwayne Lane's car race
best between-inning feature – PA guy reads people's Capital One credit cards

field dimensions – 325/390/329

starters – Connor Staine (SPO) v. Michael Morales (EVE)
opponent – Spokane Indians
time of game – 2:49
attendance – 2069
score – 12-2 W
Brewers score that day – 5-3 L

Tour 2024: T-Mobile Park Renovation

All photos of Seattle and T-Mobile Park available on Flickr.

Erik and I just returned from our whirlwind trip to the greater Seattle/Olympic Peninsula area, and what an amazing trip it was!  I was going through all our years of ball trips in my mind at the SeaTac Airport on the way home, and this was probably my favorite trip of ours since New York way back in 2009.  Not only did we see some great games and cool ballparks, but the scenery in that region is unmatched to anywhere else in the country, and the perfect 70° weather was a welcome change to most of our trips that are unbearably hot.  Seattle was also a super fun city to get to explore for a couple of days, and still one of my favorite spots in the US.  I landed about 3 hours before Erik on Friday morning, and after unsuccessfully trying to find a sit-down coffee shop near the airport, I resorted to reading my book in our rental car at a Safeway until I picked him up at around 1:30pm.  We exchanged pleasantries and got our usual "wow being a Dad is hard" conversation out of the way at Perihelion Brewery in the North Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle.  We were both starving from the time zone change, and our long days of travel did not stop us from tossing back a couple flights and the first of our many delicious meals there.  We then took a quick drive-by snapshot of the site where the former Sick's Stadium stood (now sadly a Lowe's) enroute to our hotel, the Arctic Club.  This hotel was one of the nicest and fanciest (i.e. expensive) we've ever stayed at in all our travels, and was truly a defining moment for us in how far we've come in our careers and lives that we can afford to (or even want to) stay at a place like this now.  It's been quite the transition from staying in the most dirt-cheap option we could find as recently as 5 years ago, to now staying in hotels with things like valet parking and balconies and a bar that served smoked old fashioneds.  I will say that staying in such a dense city as Seattle certainly played into that, and it was nice that we were downtown and could walk everywhere.  It was only about a 15 minute walk to T-Mobile Park for our first game of the weekend.

We arrived in what we thought would be plenty of time to get in line for a 4:40pm opening, but I guess I had forgotten how popular bobbleheads are since I stopped collecting them.  This would be just the first of many long lines and crowds we would stand in at this park and it became a common theme for the evening.  It also did not help that the Mariners only open one gate 2 hours prior to first pitch and they seem to have so few gates in general.  Having to wait an extra half hour to start drinking was not the end of the world and we got in eventually, and made our way down to the T-Mobile Pen for happy hour.  This is a large bar area/gathering space in center field near the bullpens (hence the name) that has happy hour pricing and apps for a certain period of time prior to the game starting.  It is also nearest to the one gate that opens prior to the rest of the stadium, and it is all that is open for awhile, so you truly do feel like you're at an exclusive happy hour if you're there early enough.  We took down a couple of ice cold Rainiers in the 'Pen and then walked around the lower level a bit more.  The obvious thing anyone will notice when visiting T-Mobile Park is the large and diverse food selection, almost to the point of being overwhelming.  Seattle itself is a very cosmopolitan city with a heavy Asian influence, and the food scene at the ballpark certainly reflects that.  There were several grab-and-go "Walk-Off Markets" added since our last visit in 2007, and also a Japanese establishment called the Tamari Bar at section 133.  This was right above our seats and the line there was so insanely long that we knew it must be good and made it a point to return there in the 7th inning when it finally died down.  It's not hyperbole when I say the Katsu Curry Rice was probably the best food I have ever eaten at any ballpark in my entire life.  So, if you're a fan of Asian cuisine and/or curry, do not be deterred by the line and just go there, you will not be disappointed.  I also appreciated the "value menu" sections that have been added since our last visit.  The Mariners are conscious that it is not super affordable for a family to go to a game together these days, and do their best to counteract this by lowering the cost of their "traditional" ballpark fare at some stands - dogs, popcorn, soda, 12oz cans of macro beer, etc. - as well certain "value" seating areas.

The main reason we chose Seattle for this year's trip, besides the fact that it's just a beautiful and awesome city, was to see the $50+ million renovations that were set in place leading up to hosting the All-Star Game last year.  There are aspects of this renovation that we didn't see and will likely never see (expanding the Diamond Club, updated press box), and aspects that aren't particularly sexy but needed (ADA upgrades, sound system upgrades), but the main improvements we were there to see were the fan upgrades.  A new area called the "Trident Deck" in the left field corner was installed, in a common move by teams nowadays to blow out a section of seats that doesn't sell and make it a social space.  They do rent this space out to groups for some games including the night we were there, but we managed to sneak in for the last inning, and it was very reminiscent of The Rooftop at Coors Field on a smaller scale.  There is also now a very popular gathering space above the rotunda gate, which is the main entry of the ballpark at the southwest corner.  This area reminded me of the fan space that Wrigley used to have above the marquee, in that you're looking outward to the city from up here and not able to actually see the field.  Staring at Puget Sound and the Seattle skyline was certainly a nice consolation prize and it was a prime spot for photos, selfies, and crushing our curry dinners.  It is called the Rooftop Boardwalk and it is generally closed to private groups before games, but then open to all fans after first pitch.  The Mariners also gutted part of their Terrace Club level on the first base side and turned it into more of a social area with an open floor plan and view of the field, sort of like the ones in Cleveland and Minnesota that offer a variety of seating options, instead of regular seats that happen to have a bar like the Milwaukee club level.  This area did require a special ticket so we were unfortunately not able to access it, but it does look super cool from the renderings and photos.  I think the next logical step for the Mariners would be to blow out some of the 3rd deck in right field and turn that into a Rooftop/Trident Deck type of area.  Friday happened to be a sellout for J.P. Crawford Bobblehead Night as well as Filipino Heritage Night, but I can't imagine at most games that many people are clamoring to sit 500+ feet away directly facing the sun.

Our seats were 5 rows behind the visitor dugout, which happened to be our hometown Twins on this night.  The Twinkies lost 3-2 in 10 innings, which was of course the only game they lost in the series.  Seattle got on the board first with a Josh Rojas double in the 5th, but Minnesota came right back in top of 6 with a 2-run homerun by the reviled Carlos Correa.  Fan favorite Julio Rodriguez beat out an infield grounder in the 8th, which allowed Luke Raley to score from 2nd on a throwing error to tie the game.  After the Twins embarrassingly came up empty in their half of the 10th, Cal Raleigh walked it off in the bottom half on a fielder's choice to the pitcher.  Cole Sands would have thrown the slow-footed Raleigh out by a mile, but he had no choice but to throw home due to the ghost runner, and the Mariners were able to steal the victory.  It ended up being a fantastic pitching matchup that lived up to its billing.  Bailey Ober gave up one run and struck out 9 over 6 innings of work, and Logan Gilbert gave up just 2 over 6.  Following the game, we had a night cap at our hotel bar, and I tried the aforementioned smoked old fashioned.  I was not prepared to inhale a campfire at a bar, but it was a wonderful experience and a great end to our first night in The Emerald City.

I had T-Mobile Park as 3rd best on my list before this visit, but I had to drop it a couple notches due to the exacerbating lines we experienced the entire evening.  Crowds are a good thing at a ballpark, but it just seemed more like a failure of traffic management.  I know that the M's recognize this because they overhauled their POS system as a part of the remodel, as well as added a ton more small concession stands and grab-and-go stands, but the food variety is so diverse that almost nothing is duplicative, so you end up with a situation where people stand in line for an hour for that one item they want.  They also need to figure out the entry situation by adding another gate or changing how they admit fans.  However, despite these issues, I still have this park in my top 5.  It's just too cool of a city and such a unique baseball experience that it would take a complete catastrophe for me to ever lower it much more than that.  Baseball in the Pacific Northwest is just so chill and a different vibe than anywhere else in the country, and it's something that every fan needs to experience.

Day 2 began with dominating the complimentary hotel breakfast and then hitting the two quintessential Seattle tourist spots: the Space Needle and Pike Place Market.  We decided against going to the Space Needle in 2007 for cost and time reasons, and even though those two things have only gotten worse in the 17 years since, it was so worth it and I'm glad we went.  We took the monorail north (another tourist trap) to the Seattle Center and spent a couple hours walking around there before our 11:45 admittance to the Needle.  This area contains a lot of the buildings and structures that date back to the 1962 World's Fair, including Climate Pledge Arena.  When it was finally our turn, we took the 520-foot elevator ride up to the observation deck, and it was simply stunning.  I could have spent hours up there, but instead settled for one lap around the revolving bar with a $20 cocktail enjoying the panorama.  We had our first of many delicious seafood meals at Pike Market for a late lunch and stopped at nearby Cloudburst Brewing, then headed to Everett for our Saturday evening game.

updated park rankings and statistics

(see original post from 8/2/07): 

aesthetics - 6
views from park – 9
view to field - 5
surrounding area – improves to 9 (the team now own bars across the street)
food variety - improves to 10
nachos - n/a (still have not had nachos there and did not see any!)
beer - improves to 8
vendor price - 7 ("standard" fare and beer is reasonable but specialty stuff is pricy)
ticket price - 3
atmosphere - improves to 8
walk to park – improves to 9 (not sure why I ever had it that low)
parking price/proximity - decreases to 6 (area has built up considerably since 2007)
concourses - decreases to 4 (this is the category i'll account for the long lines)
team shop - 10
kids area - 7 (new category - appears to be multiple areas geared towards different ages)

best food – Katsu Curry Rice!
most unique stadium feature – Rooftop Boardwalk, barn door roof
best jumbotron feature – "Hey Computer" game
best between-inning feature – Salmon Race

field dimensions – 331/401/326

starters – Bailey Ober (MIN) v. Logan Gilbert (SEA)
opponent – Minnesota Twins
time of game – 2:38
attendance – 44924
score – 3-2 W
Brewers score that day – 4-2 W