MLB Parks Tour #16 – Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ – 2013

We’re all caught up…thanks for following along with all of these. We’ll get back to regular posts soon.

The day we visited Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona was a packed day to say the least. We woke up in Las Vegas, about halfway toward the final ballpark in our 3 park journey that took us to San Francisco, Oakland, and Tahoe before landing us in Sin City. Our plan for the day was to get out of town early, so we could make it to the Grand Canyon before trekking to Phoenix for our 6:40 first pitch. We hopped in the car and drove off to the desert, to see the sight I hadn’t laid eyes on since I was a boy, the Grand Canyon. The best word I could use to describe the place would be disorienting. I know that’s not the word most people would use, but it fits for me. I think it’s because it’s just so vast, it becomes difficult to judge distances and depth. The view becomes a sort of painting; a two-dimensional space in a three-dimensional world. It’s about as awe-inspiring as any natural wonder I’ve seen. (Now that’s the word most people would use.)

The final part of our journey led us from the Grand Canyon south another 200+ miles to the Arizona capital of Phoenix, and to Chase Field, the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Chase Field is an indoor oasis in the Sonoran Desert. Thank God for the invention of the retractible dome in sports, because it was a closed roof day.

Chase Field featured its first series in 1998, the first park of its kind to feature live grass in a retractible dome. When the temperature calls for a closed roof, it is left open for as long as possible to give the grass as much exposure to the sun as it can. In addition, the park’s design creates enough natural sunlight to promote the live surface without overheating the stadium. The stadium features a swimming pool suite, a massive HD video and scoreboard in left field, and the affectionately known “flag lady” in the third deck. Within three years of its opening, Chase Field hosted it’s first World Series in 2001, where the Diamondbacks defeated the New York Yankees.