Thursday, April 25, 2013

Chase Field

I took Tuesday off of work.  It is the first day I have missed all school year, although I am working on Friday to make up for it so technically I still haven't missed a day.  I work 8 days a month so it's not like this is actually an accomplishment or anything.  I also get 0 hours for vacation time and sick time (I'm an independent contractor) so I have to make up my time if I want to get paid.  And I always wants to get paid.
 
Anywhoo.....
 
Tuesday was called "Phoenix Out and About".  Michael stayed home with the kids so that Cathy and I could go and be tourists.  Stop #1 was a tour of Chase Field, which used to be called Bank One Ballpark or BOB for short. Everytime I talk about that place I call it "BO...I mean Chase Field".  I still haven't been able to make the switch in my head.  I also still call US Airways Center by it's old name, America West Arena.  Apparently, in my mind, it is perpetually 2002.
 
So this is BO....I mean Chase Field.  I did not take this picture.  Google did.
 
Same with this one. 
I am not a sports person at all.  I would be just as happy going to get my teeth cleaned as going to any type of sporting event, but even I thought the tour was pretty cool.  I would definitely recommend it.  It was $7 each and lasted over an hour. 
 
The tour started in front of the administrative offices.
 
And continued in the rotunda.
 
The Diamondbacks won the World Series in 2001 and there is an entire display case full of memorabilia from that day.

 
 
 
The owner's private office 
 The pool. 
 A package of 35 tickets is something like $6,500.  Anyone want to join in?  We can reserve it now for a game in 2014. 
 
The field
 
In the tunnels underneath the stadium.  Those are air conditioning tubes. 
 
The locker room for the visiting team. 

This sign was hanging on the wall.  There was absolutely nothing in the hallway around it.  So, either #1.  People were not supposed to remove the sign and Russ Amaral will be proud that they listened, or
#2. Whatever should have been left there was removed and Russ Amaral is going to be incredibly pissed. 
 
The dugout 
 
In the dugout. 
The view of the field from the dugout.  The Diamondbacks created a new type of sod for the field and it has to use specialized lights.  Those are the lights right there.  Apparently it's pretty tricky to keep the grass looking good with the roof opening and closing and the AC blasting in there.  It takes something like 24 groundskeepers to keep it healthy. 
 
 
The players elevator 
 
The players parking lot.  There wasn't a single really fancy car in there.  I was kind of surprised. 
We saw this police car after we left the stadium.  It is my favorite thing, ever.  I would pay money to see this in a police chase on I-10.  Or any major freeway really.  Especially if it was chasing a Ford F-350. 
P.S. The head that you see is actually a guy squatting by the car on the outside.  There was a female officer actually driving it.  Just thought you should know that.

3 comments:

Cat said...

I love that you posted the do not remove sign. And of course I enjoyed this blog post too. :)

Jeannette said...

Random fact: Aaron's company worked on that whole sod/light predicament for BOB years ago (when it was still BOB).

Looks like a fun tour! :)

Maryellen said...

I would never have thought of touring the field until your post. Thanks for the great to do when we have company!