By Kim Harmon

 

SAN FRANCISCO, California – I have stood on the outfield grass at Yankee Stadium, touched the monuments behind the wall, and heard the echoes of a thousand games from the past 80 years (the stadium opened on April 18, 1923).

The cathedral.

It gave me chills.

Yeah, the old dinosaurs (like Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park) still hold their appeal to the fans of the game, but I am ready to admit this is a new era for baseball. No longer is it just about the game. Now it is about the experience.

All these new ball parks (like The Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Minute Maid Park in Houston, PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Miller Park in Milwaukee and Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco) are offering more than just the game and I had a chance to get a glimpse of that earlier this month.

Back on Sunday, July 6, my two sons (Benjamin and Tyler) and I toured Pac Bell with about 30 other people. I got chills that day, too, and not just from the wind whistling in off the bay. Sitting up in section 212 of Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco, California, I had a view of one of the newest stadiums in baseball – complete with the Coca Cola bottle in left field, the light stanchions in centerfield, and McCovey Cove over the fence in right field.

It was awe-inspiring.

As majestic as the new stadium is, its signature feature is the right field wall (the Old Navy Splash Landing wall). Hundreds of people will roam the wall during a game, waiting for a baseball to drop out of the sky, while dozens patrol the cove behind the wall waiting for that rare Splash Hit.

Since the stadium opened in March of 2000, only 33 balls have cleared the wall (and the concourse) and landed in the water. Only five have been hit by visiting teams and of the 28 coming off the bats of Giants players Barry Bonds – since this is the House That Bonds Built – has 24 of them.

Sitting up in section 212, we also had a great look at the 80-foot Coca Cola bottle sitting in the middle of the playground (the Fan Lot) behind left field. That day the Giants were in St. Louis taking on the Cardinals and the playground was teeming with people.

The Fan Lot features the Coca Cola Superslide (with a 56-foot-long curving slide called the Guzzler and two 20-foot slides called the Twist-Off), Little Giants Park (a replica of Pac Bell where kids from  ages 3 to 7 can hit softballs or wiffle balls), a base race, a giant baseball glove, and interactive exhibits.

Plus superb views of the Bay Bridge and San Francisco Bay.

The Fan Lot is open all year. On game days, it is open only to those people with tickets, but when the team is out of town the Lot is open to everyone.

The experience.

The team offers tours just about every day and it takes fans throughout the inner levels of Pac Bell Park – from the locker rooms and dugouts to the magnificent seats and luxury boxes upstairs. It was such a great experience I hope my travels would someday take me to Houston, Cincinnati or Arizona so I could get a chance to see the new cathedrals of baseball.

With a cost of some $306 million Pac Bell Park – the only stadium other than Dodger Stadium that is completely privately funded – officially opened on March 31, 2000, with an exhibition game between the Giants and the Milwaukee Brewers. The following day the Giants hosted the New York Yankees in an exhibition game – the first trip to San Francisco for the Yankees since the 1962 World Series.

The regular season opened on April 11, 2000, with the Giants battling the Los Angeles Dodgers. Devon White of the Dodgers singled off Kirk Reuter in the first official at-bat of the season as the Dodgers went on to defeat the Giants, 6-5.