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Clean Up That Litterbox!
Pictures Coming Soon!
© 2004
by Darryl Musick
There are baseball parks that have it all, such as PNC Park in Pittsburgh…as perfect a stadium you’ll ever find. There are close to great parks such as SBC Park in San Francisco and historic gems like Wrigley and Fenway.
Then there are the heartbreakingly mundane parks. The always contending A’s play in the mediocre Network Associates Coliseum. Toronto plays in the sterile Skydome. And the Padres play in the missed opportunity known as Petco Park.
This could’ve been a great park but by not going the extra mile, it languishes in the ranks of the also rans. But let’s start on the bright side and see what’s good about this brand new park.
Located in the historic Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego, the neighborhood around the stadium is fun and lively. There are many clubs, bars, restaurants, and shops to while away the time in. Come early & stay late, there’s a lot to do. There is trolley service close to the home plate entrance so you can skip the traffic mess if you’d like.
Inside, the park is a visual delight. One historic building from the Gaslamp Quarter…the red brick Western Metal Supply Building…has been incorporated into the stadium. Sitting in far left field, there are three terraces with seats jutting out from it plus some bleachers on the top reminiscent of the apartment-top bleachers in back of Wrigley Field in Chicago. One corner of the building also servers as the left-field foul pole.
Behind center field is a grassy knoll where fans can spread out a blanket and have a picnic while watching the game. Next to that is a small diamond where the kids can play. When there is no game on, this also serves as a public park.
Visit the team store 2-3 hours before the game (when it’s still open to anybody) and you can go to a small fenced in area that resides in the corner of left field. From there, you can get an up close & personal view of batting practice (during the game, the store is only open to ticket holders).
Sightlines are good from most seats. The lower deck seats are canted toward home plate for a better view although the upper deck seats are not (like they are at most newer stadiums). Our seats were in the fourth row of the upper deck (wheelchair accessible seating) and provided a great, unobstructed view of the entire field. We were even with third base, just above the visitor’s dugout. Again, as with most new stadiums, accessible seating is available in all areas of the park...from the front row to the picnic park.
Tickets are easy to get. This is a MAJOR plus for those of us needing accessible seating...Petco is the easiest baseball stadium I've ever encountered for getting tickets. The day we went, many decent seats were still available right up to game time, even though this was a special game. Accessible seats are among the easiest to arrange that I’ve ever seen. A link from the team’s web page sends a form to the ticket office. I sent it in and got a phone call fifteen minutes later from a gentleman in the office who arranged seating for us and our guests who we were meeting at the game.
Ticket prices are reasonable. Our seats, pretty good quality and at least 3 levels above the cheapest, were $12 each. Park passes (standing room only but you can picnic in the park with them) start at $5.
Parking was extremely easy and close, although the Padres would not like you to think so…more on this later.
We went on Saturday, September 4, 2004 on Mr. Padre day. This was a special day because the Padres would be retiring the jersey of number 19, Tony Gwynn, in a pregame ceremony.
It was a nice ceremony, interupted several times by standing ovations for the much loved Gwynn, and culminated a little late by the awarding of a new Mercedes to Gwynn and then the singing of the national anthem by his daughter.
The game itself was tight for a couple of innings and then some stupid errors on the Padres part got under their skin and they ended up losing to the Colorado Rockies. We did enjoy ourselves at the game and easily exited the park and the downtown area afterward.
So what keeps this park from rating higher? Glad you asked.
Notice I didn’t mention the food up above. Serviceable is an adequate description. Hot dogs, pizza, chicken sandwiches and tacos were the entrees available on our level. We had hot dogs, pizza, pretzels, and soft serve ice cream washed down with some beers, wine, and coke (yes, Coke!...not Pepsi). The pizza was greasy and the dogs kind of bland. We did get an order of garlic fries that topped the fries we had up in San Francisco and for less money too!.
Beer prices are in line with other parks, high. Depending on what you get, they’re six or seven dollars…however…we found a little café one block away (5th & K, across the street from the Old Spaghetti Factory) called PJ’s that serves pints of microbrew beer (Gordon Biersch, Yellowtail Ale & Hefeweizen) for two dollars! Drink before the game & save.
There are many gourmet restaurants and food stands listed in the concession guide. Unfortunately, all of them are on the club level and off limits to most of the fans in the park – unlike at their old digs in Qualcomm Stadium. I can’t speak to the food service at Oakland, but other than that, I can easily say that any other park in California…or any other ball park I’ve been too…has better food than Petco – at least for the casual fan not sitting in the ultra-premium seating. Fortunately, Petco does allow you to bring in food so you can get something from one of the many adjacent restaurants if you want something better.
Parking. Up above I said that parking was extremely easy. It’s reasonable at $10 and we were literally able to park within 50 feet of the gate of the stadium – not an easy feat at a downtown stadium (think of parking for Fenway or Wrigley for example). But why is it down here with the cons of the park? Simply because of the schizophrenic nature of the Padres attitude about it and the random way parking charges are incurred.
Call the Padres office or take a look at their web sit and they will tell you that parking is extremely tight and that you’ll need a pre-paid parking ticket that costs up to $17 dollars. We were told that there is no handicapped parking in the close in lots and would have to park about a half-mile away and take an accessible shuttle bus to the game.
With this in mind, I had made plans to park outside the downtown area and take the trolley in. Actually, I had made plans to stay at a hotel next to a trolley station but the hotel cancelled my reservation because they had overbooked so Plan B was to be put into effect.
We arrived about two hours earlier that expected so we took a gamble and drove over to the stadium where we found a new, clean, brightly lit, indoor garage with plenty of space (over a thousand spaces) – directly across the street from the left field side of the stadium – for $10. This garage never filled up the entire game. Two blocks away was a lot for $20. Four blocks away was an outdoor lot for $18. One more block beyond that was the “official” lot that the Padres wanted $17 for. If I had not literally stumbled upon this lot, I would have never realized good parking could be had for so cheap (many locals I talked to at the game were shocked that there was such a nice cheap garage across the street after they paid more to park farther away, so it’s not something they know about either). So for the weird pricing and the Padres scare tactics about it, the parking goes as another knock against the park – but if you know the secret plan (as outlined above), you can get great parking for a good price.
The ushers. They’re nice folks but they fail to enforce the no-standing area behind the accessible seats and people are leaning all over you. I should say they rarely enforce it because when our guests arrived and stood behind us to talk, they were shooed away but total strangers hovered over us with impunity.
The missed opportunity for a view. Petco Park sits just a couple of hundred yards away from the beautiful San Diego Bay. The Coronado Bridge arcs gracefully over the water as navy ships drift in front of incredible sunsets. Unfortunately, you’ll not see this stunning vista from inside the park. Petco faces away from the water towards empty lots, abandoned buildings and contruction zones. There is also a gorgeous skyline downtown that Petco could have utilized if it had just been turned a little to the left but most fans do not see it from inside the stadium.
The “Beach.” This is a sandy area right in front of the bleachers in center field where kids can play. It looked more like a sand box than a beach. In fact, with the name of the park being Petco, it seemed it should be called the “litter box” (by the way, this is the worst corporate name I’ve ever seen applied to a stadium).
The bullpens. I’ve said before that I don’t care for onfield bullpens. They distract from the game and can be dangerous for those warming up, but at least stadiums that have them are consistent with both bullpens on the field. Petco has one off-field bullpen (for the Padres) and an on-field bullpen for the visitors. One way or the other but not both please.
We’ve been to many different stadiums and up until now the newer “retro”
parks have been big hits. I was really looking forward to the game
here but San Diego booted this ball. What should have been a great
baseball experience in a beautiful park turned out to just be average.
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