Number 29…
AGAIN!
Yes, we know we have already reported on our 29th
ballpark.
But that was a bit misleading.
In reality, only 3 of us had been to every US ballpark. Until today.
When last the Belove Family was in Seattle, Robert was about
4 years old and Carter wasn’t even born yet.
But we also hadn’t even thought of the idea of touring all MLB parks,
let alone keeping a blog. So, today
Carter was treated to a game at his final US ballpark, and the rest of us got
to look at this park with fresh eyes. 
Safeco sports a “carport” style roof, which slides off the
back when open. Closed, it just covers
the top of the stadium, rather than enclosing it, acting like an umbrella to
protect from Seattle’s rain. It is worth
noting that the look and feel of the stadium is different with the roof open
and closed. It is similar to the
difference between daylight and twilight, even with the extra-bright LED
lighting. According to the stats we saw,
the roof is open 78% of the time.
Concessions and activities on the main level are generally
situated to allow great views of the game-in-play while standing in line (a
feature the Belove family agrees is a must-have!) Hallways are open and airy, and the park is
generally very well designed. We were
especially impressed with how easy it was to leave the park at the end of the
game. For the number of people
attending, we never felt stuck in traffic - walking to the car, exiting the
parking lot, or making our way back to the freeway.
Safeco has a pretty great variety of concessions. They, of course, have all the basics –hotdogs,
hamburgers, garlic fries, etc. They also boast a few things we have not seen
before. Grilled-cheese, anyone? And what
about a stand featuring natural, organic, home-grown food? We wondered why no one had thought of a self-serve
frozen yogurt and toppings bar before, and we know quite a few people who would
like a wine bar at their local park. The chocolate-covered strawberries on a
stick looked DELICIOUS! But the obvious
Safeco concession is the Ivar’s Seafood and Chowder booth. Jim especially liked the “Bottomless Soda.” Although $10 is a lot to spend on a soda, an
average ballpark will often charge $6.
If you generally buy more than one, your soda easily pays for
itself. And it comes with a lid!! –BONUS!
You would expect a ballpark in Seattle to be pretty
eco-friendly. And you would be
right. Although they can’t compare with Minnesota
in the water-reclamation department (the roof makes that unnecessary), they do
a fantastic job with the recycling. They
boast a 90% recycling rate, and all food is served in compostable
packaging. At the end of each game, food
scraps and packaging are removed to a site where they are turned into
compost. The compost is then returned to
Safeco, where it is used in on-site gardens to grow the food served in their
Hit It Here Café. Pretty great, huh? Safeco is also the first ballpark to install
LED lighting, with uses significantly less energy than the halogen that most
parks use. And, BOY is it bright!!!
Mariner fans seem to prefer quiet in their park. Except when a great play is made, the general
tone is a buzz of quiet conversation.
There is little in the way of “shtick” (motions, claps, yells, songs,
etc.) that fans of some parks prefer. In
between innings, fans were entertained by a small variety of the usual “cams”
and games, plus a couple of things we had not found in other parks, such as
Hydroplane Races- an animated race where fans root for the hydroplane of their
choice. One thing we saw several of,
were Lucky Row giveaways. In one case, each
member of the lucky “random” row received Dibbs, another time it was garlic
fries, and a third they were given bags of swag from MLB network.
We liked this ballpark so much that, as Jim says: “If we
lived up here, we would go see a game every time the A’s came to town!”
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