Baseball Park #15: St. Louis Cardinals Busch Stadium

 

My granddaughter, Clio, is bored with this project so she wants me to move it along. Instead of taking a week highlighting this work trip to St. Louis in 2017, when I finally got a chance to visit Busch Stadium when the Cardinals were in town, I am going to do it in just two days. These shots are taken from outside and around the stadium as this is a great area to visit if you can get to the stadium early before the game. An area called Ballpark Villa was developed around the stadium, similar to what has been done at many of the newer stadiums around the league. Ownership or the city or just outside developers have expanded the footprint of the stadium to capture pre and post game activities and for times when the team isn't in town. St. Louis is one of those cities that has done that and it is a great place to visit. That is one of the major drawbacks for the White Sox stadium as it is just surrounded by parking lots. St. Louis has done it very well.

Ball Park Pano #15: Colorado Rockies

 

Colorado Rockies pole-to-pole pano from a vacation trip back in 2001. Liked this stadium a lot. Felt a little like the White Sox stadium as you could walk all the way around the field from the bottom bowl. Lots of food options and, as you all know, the ball flies out of the stadium a lot. 

Baseball Pano #14: Miller Park

 

Tough lighting for the old 2017 Samsung cell phone. Have to go back and do better but this is Miller Park, under the lights with a closed roof. Gives a wonderful place to watch a ball game. 

Baseball Stadium #14: Miller Park

 

Miller Park is very impressive when you walk up to it. The sliding roof is quite the engineering marvel. The other side of the park has parking lots were you can tailgate, also a nice feature. All around, a very fun park to visit. Only been there twice. Have to visit more often. 

Baseball Pano #13: Anaheim Angles

 

Angles Stadium is a bit on the older side, being built in 1966. I get the feeling that you are a bit farther from the field as a result. Still a nice place to see a game. I'm sitting in my favorite seat, up high in the bottom bowl (so close to the food and bathrooms), easy in and out and down the first base line. Always a nice seat. This is from a work trip back in 2017. 

Baseball Pano #12: Minnesota Twins Pano

This is Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins, taken from a trip back in 2016. I wonder if another visit would get a shot without so much of the screen visible. I think the newer screens to protect the fans are not as visible. Oh well, another excuse to visit this ballpark!!!

Ballpark Pano #11: Nationals Park

 

I got a chance to visit the Washington Nationals park after a day of meetings in 2016. If I remember correctly, the park was within walking distance of the tourist/hotel area, but it was a bit of a hike. Nice park and a very open park with only a few seats in the straight away outfield, where they have some indoor club seats. I think this is one of those stadiums where you are not allowed to walk around the whole park and I am not a fan of that design. Anyway, got my pole-to-pole pano from a seat down the third base line.  

Ballpark #10 (cont): Great American Ball Park

Way back in 2011, I did get to see a game inside the Great American Ball Park with the kids, family and coworkers at Flagship Financial. I wasn't taking ballpark panoramic shots back then, so just got this shot of the outfield. While a huge White Sox fan, you have to cheer for the "other" Chicago team when they come in as a visitor. 

Ballpark #10 Great American Ballpark

 

My only shot of the Great American Ballpark is from this office building across the street from the stadium. I had been to one or two games at the stadium but not since I started trying to get pole-to-pole panoramic shots. This shot does give a great view of the park, which is located at the edge of downtown and right along the Ohio River. Looking forward to seeing a game inside the stadium in the future. 

Globe Life Park--Texas Rangers circa 2015

 

Pano #9 in this series is the old Globe Life stadium for the Texas Rangers that wasn't old but it has been replaced anyway with a new stadium right across the street. Too much Texas sun in this stadium so it was replaced, although the old stadium still stands and supports concerts, pro soccer and high school football (of course--this is Texas). I wish I got this exact view for every stadium as it is sometimes hard to get directly behind the batter. Give a nice panoramic shot from this viewpoint. This stadium reminds me a lot of where the White Sox play, now being called Great Rate Field (or White Sox park as many hate that name). You can walk around the bottom bowl as with Great Rate and we initially had a very small roof overhang, which has since been expanded to give more shade and a nicer ballpark feel. Now I am going to have to get back to Arlington sometime to see the new stadium. That is the problem with taking so long to do this pano series. A lot of the parks have already been replaced!!! This shot is from 2015. 

A (couple of) little black spots on the Sun today

 

Another round of Canadian wildfire smog brought us a deep red sunset, visible while camping in Monticello, Indiana this weekend. That also made several sunspots visible and if memory serves, each of those are about the size of the earth. Amazing to see. At least 4 sunspot groups are visible. Also caught two presumed Common Swifts in the shot as well passing the Sun. So, yes, I did see a little black spot on the sun today....

The Old Texas Ranger Stadium; Ball Park #9

 

This is a shot of Globe Life Field back in 2015, home of the Texas Rangers. When I heard they were closing this stadium in 2018, I was quite confused. This is a beautiful and fairly new stadium and yet, by 2020, the team was playing across the street in a new Globe Life Field. The other surprise is this stadium still standing. Normally, teams tear down the old stadium as they build the new one. This one is still standing and is now called Choctaw Stadium, with the team having no plans to tear it down. Choctaw hosts concerts, pro soccer and high school football, which in Texas, we assume, means that they can sell the place out. Now, as to why a new field was built to replace this fairly new field, blame it on ex-president George Bush Sr and former team owner Tom Hicks, as neither liked stadiums with roofs on them. Unfortunately, for the team, fans didn't like to sit in the hot Texas sun. Therefore, the new stadium, which I haven't been to yet, has a retractable roof. So that solves the mystery of replacing a new stadium with an even newer stadium. I think something like that can only happen in Texas, where everything is bigger than life!!!

Baseball Park Panos #8 (continued): A reverse outfield pano?

 

Technically, this is a pole-to-pole shot of PNC Park in Pittsburg, taken from the bridge outside the stadium while the game is still in progress. (No surprise, I rarely make it to the 9th inning---although with the faster paced game with the new pitch clock, the game moves along much better.) Anyway, this is sort of a reverse pano with the pole-to-pole shot from behind the outfield view. Again, even from this vantage point, the PNC stadium gives a wonderful view keeping it at or at least near the top of my favorite stadiums visited so far. 

Baseball Park #8 (cont) PNC Pano

 

As I noted in yesterday's blog, PNC Park in Pittsburg is an excellent place to watch a game. Great use of the downtown area as a backdrop to the outfield. Fairly unique from the parks that I have been too. Easy walking distance from most of the downtown hotels. This shot is from a trip back in 2015. 

Baseball Park #8: PNC Park Pittsburg

 

PNC Park in Pittsburg wins the award for best use of downtown as a backdrop to the outfield. The park is just across the river from the downtown area and is one of my favorite parks to watch a baseball game. It is a smaller park being one of 7 that seat less than 40,000 so you are close to the action. When you catch an early evening game you get great lighting as the sun sets behind the stadium and then the city lights up at night. Cool place to see a game. 

Baseball Pano #7: Petco Park, San Diego

 

Petco Park in San Diego is a wonderful place to watch a baseball game. It is close to downtown, in fact, there is a downtown Marriott that overlooks right field (see below), that gives a small view of the game. It is a smaller park and very open. From center field, the concourse is at street level and the bowl is set down a bit, meaning you walk in and then down to your seats in the first level. Been to the stadium a couple of times since it is easy to walk up and go to a game if I have no dinner meetings that evening. This shot is from way back in 2015. 

Here is the view from the Marriott, shooting at almost exactly the location from which I took the first shot from inside the stadium. 

Baseball Pano #6: AT&T San Francisco

 

Pano #6 (after correcting my count and locations over the past few posts) is from AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, taken from a game back in 2014. That park is now called Oracle Park. Hard to keep the parks and name changes together. I need to go back to this park as this shot is a bit challenged with the lights which got overexposed when I tried to exposed correctly for the field. Failed on both. Need to go back and try again. I do remember having a bowl of Chinese food at the ballpark and thinking how strange that was compared to the hot dogs, sausages, hamburgers and pizza in Chicago. Now you can get all kinds of food at all the stadiums. Compared to most parks it is strange not having a lot of outfield seats and during day games, you can see the San Francisco Bay right out there beyond the right field wall. Interesting. 

Ballpark Pano: Boston Flag

 

It is not a panoramic shot but while going through my baseball stadium shots, I did see this wonderful flag presentation at Boston's Fenway Park when Cheryl and I were at the game way back on Memorial Day in 2011. I think she has been to two, maybe three games since then. However, we got to go to this game on our 30th anniversary trip and had a great time. Since the 4th is tomorrow, I thought this flag shot would be appropriate to present in the series. Have a safe and happy 4th of July everyone. 

Ballpark Panos #5: Yankee Stadium

 

Caught a game at the new Yankee stadium back in 2014 vs the White Sox. Nice place to watch a game but I don't like that you can't walk around the whole stadium. There are sections that are connected and some, like in the outfield that are seperate wedges and you can't move around the stadium much. Not a fan of that design. Great day for baseball, however. They were honoring Joe Torre that day. 

Ballpark Pano's #4: Boston Red Sox Fenway Park

 

Fenway Park. Like Wrigley, an old time stadium. Seats are a bit tight. Rows are narrow. All the food is underneath the lower section, but you sit right on top of the field and the stadium offers lots of unique views. A must see if you are a baseball fan. This game, back in 2011 was a particularly fun game as I got Cheryl to go to a baseball game (not her thing) on our 30th anniversary trip to Boston. Even got to see the White Sox win an away game in Boston. Fun times. 

First pitch, I think.