Ballpark

When you’re retired you have time to do things you would never think of doing while you were working. One of the guys in our weekly golfing group had the idea to take a tour of the Citizens Bank Park. We were set up for a 10:30am tour on Friday. Our natural instinct is to avoid weekends when the rest of the world does stuff. Five of us piled into one car and headed down to the ballpark. We parked right outside the entrance to the Majestic Store, where they sell all the Phillies gear. It was strange to be there in the middle of thousands of empty parking spots. We went in, and paid our seven dollars. We were joined by a couple from Los Angeles who were big Dodger fans. George our guide met us right on time, and we were off for a behind the scenes look at an American institution.

In the early days, most of the venues were called “park or field”. Two of the oldest, Fenway Park and Wrigley Field, remind us the pastoral nature of the game. When the more modern parks were built in the 1960s and 1970s, they were called stadiums. It sounded bigger and better. Veterans Stadium, Riverfront Stadium, Three Rivers Stadium, Shea Stadium, and of course, the Astrodome which sounded out of this world. They even doubled as football stadiums. But they were big concrete ovals with rock hard artificial turf that didn’t feel very pastoral. Ground balls would shoot through the infield  picking up speed with each bounce. When the new cycle of stadium building started in the 1990s, it was back to the roots of the game. The first was Oriole Park at Camden Yards. A cozy, old style ballpark build around the Inner Harbor with green seats, real grass, the quirky features like the restored warehouse behind the right field wall, and smaller seating capacity. It was a big hit, and every team wanted one.

Now we have Citi Field, Petco Park, AT@T Park, Sun Trust Park, Comerica Park and many others, including, of course, Citizens Bank Park. They are all smaller and have real grass, quirky features, all kinds of food options, combined with the latest high tech scoreboards, and even places for kids to play. Notice they all have corporate names, which helps pay the bills. Citizens Bank paid the Phillies $95 million dollars for ten years of exclusive naming rights, and you won’t see any other bank signs in the ballpark. This was one of the many facts we learned from George.

George guided us around for an hour and a half. We went into the Phillies plush clubhouse. The long oval shaped room lined with open lockers, each with its own comfortable black easy chair and personal safe to lock up valuables. There were big screen TVs all around, a ping pong table, a seating bar and lounge pits in the middle of the room. The players have their own dining room, but that was off limits. We went by the Phanatic’s lockeroom. It was closed, but we were told he’s the only major league mascot with his own lockeroom and shower. And, there’s a separate room next to his lockeroom for all his stuff. We went through the indoor batting cage, the dugout, the media room, the broadcast booths for TV and radio. We checked out the luxury boxes and the Diamond Club and Hall of Fame Club. We learned that the best seat in the Diamond Club behind home plate went for about $20,000 for a season ticket and parking pass. That included all the food and drink you wanted. You could be served at your seat, or in the big sports bar area right behind your seats. George told us this and other spaces in the park were also rented out for business meetings, weddings, and parties. You need a revenue stream to flow all year.

We saw the Phillies Wall of Fame. We also saw the wall with 16,000 Rawlings baseballs. George told us workers will walk along the wall after every game with white out in case some fan decided to put his autograph on one of the balls. There is plenty of history and tributes to the Phillies greats. There is giant mural painted by an Australian artist that shows Phillies greats through out history all together in that same Phillies lockeroom. Some are holding the two World Series trophies. George pointed out that Pete Rose was not pictured. Because of Rose’s lifetime ban from baseball for gambling, his image is not allowed in any major league park. But if you look closely, the artist paid tribute to Rose with a single rose in a vase on a table shedding some of its petals symbolizing his downfall.

The last stop on our tour on this windy, sunny day was at the Harry Kalas statue on a plaza at the end of Ashburn Alley. The long time voice of the Phillies is standing with his feet crossed leaning on a bat with a microphone in his hand. George told us it was paid for with $80,000 in fan donations. Harry died suddenly in the broadcast booth in Washington before opening day 2009. The Phillies got their World Series rings the next week at the home opener. Of course, there was one for Harry. The artist asked his family if he could could replicate the ring on the statue to show Harry finally got to wear his ring.

Baseball will always be part of the American soul. Some say football has take taken over as America’s pastime. More kids may be playing soccer and lacrosse on those perfectly measured, rectangular, uniform fields. Baseball fields have precise distances from base to base and pitcher’s mound to home plate. But those different outfield distances and features like the Green Monster in Boston, the Warehouse in Baltimore, McCovey’s Cove in San Francisco, Monument Park in Yankee Stadium, and the Ashburn Alley at Citizens Bank gives every park its own personality, something every homeown fan can call their own. Even on a brisk November day, under a coating of snow, you could still appreciate baseball is the eternal game played on a gleaming green diamond set in a ballpark.