Bill's Journal Entry #32

Estadio Hiram Bithorn

Date: April 15, 2003

Location:  San Juan, Puerto Rico (2003 home of the “Serie De Los Expos De Montreal”)

Opponents: Expos versus Atlanta Braves

Travel companion:  none

Link to my photos from the game   Link to other photos from my trip

Game Result:  A classic pitchers’ duel that went scoreless into the seventh. With two out in the bottom of the seventh, Orlando Cabrera hit a solo homer, giving Los Expos a 1-0 lead that looked like it might just stand up. But in the top of the ninth, Montreal brought in their closer du jour, Dan Smith, (their regular closer, Rocky Biddle, had pitched three straight games before that and was given the night off), and Smith immediately gave up a game-tying homerun to Gary Sheffield. That set the stage for Marcus Giles, who led off the tenth inning with another solo shot, and the Braves won, 2-1, giving the Expos their first loss in six Puerto Rican games.

Stadium Summary:  It’s difficult to be critical of a stadium like Estadio Hiram Bithorn, even though it clearly doesn’t measure up to many Major League standards. It feels like judging a photography competition among mostly professional photographers, but with one photo entered by a cherubic child who took a photo of her pet with a disposable camera. Sure, it doesn’t measure up with the competition, but you absolutely have to admire the effort and enthusiasm, and it’s difficult to say anything negative to that smiling face.

And without a doubt, NO Major League city smiles about their baseball like the people of San Juan do when they talk about the games they’re hosting!

As for the stadium itself, it’s not great, but it’s acceptable. With a capacity of roughly 17,000 fans, it isn’t large enough to be a regular home for a Major League organization. The turf is artificial, and is not quite dark enough green to look right (especially when viewed from the air, as I did on my flight into Puerto Rico). There are sliding pits that look like those at any other artificial turf park, and acres of foul territory-I’ve seen farms in Nebraska with less land. Behind home plate and extending down both lines are about 40 rows of permanent seating, with roughly the back two-thirds of these seats covered by a roof with a corrugated zig-zag appearance, reminiscent of the outfield roof at Dodger Stadium. Four sets of lights extend upward and angle forward from the back of this roof. Down each line, in front of the main seating (consuming a small bit of the foul territory expanse) are temporary “luxury boxes”-flimsy plastic lawn chairs on metal risers behind a plywood fence. Aisles and especially entry tunnels are quite narrow-even moreso than Fenway’s inadequate entries. Under the stands is a fairly wide concourse, and restrooms that were larger than expected, but which could have used a visit from the Orkin man.

The homerun fence is a consistent height all around, with no angles or jogs-315’ to left, 399’ to center, 313’ to right. Behind the fence in left and right fields, temporary general admission bleacher seating has been erected.  The first row starts roughly eight feet in the air, and all the bleachers are on thin tubular steel which did not look structurally adequate for the load of fans using it. A dark batter’s background and four sets of light standards (each supported by three long, slim, white poles) for some reason reminded me of a fountain-less version of Kaufmann Stadium. Above the background are the four flags of the game-United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, and San Juan. Just to the right of the batter’s background is a video board, a temporary screen set up on more lightweight tubular scaffolding. And to the right of that, behind and above the right field bleachers, is the scoreboard, a tiny one that is far inferior even to minor league standards, and had many lights out and other problems through the night. It was important to study this scoreboard before the game started, as once the sun set, it was impossible to see the labels that indicated which number was for "balls," "strikes," “home," "visitors," etc. Worst of all, it was the only place in the entire stadium that displayed that information, as there are no secondary scoreboards, nor was it ever shown on the video display.

But none of these qualify as this stadium’s most significant feature. That honor definitely goes to the Puerto Rican fans in the stands. The atmosphere in the crowd in San Juan was the best non-playoff baseball enthusiasm I ever remember seeing! The fans cheered loudly for every play made by both teams ... especially for Latin American players, and ESPECIALLY for the Puerto Rican players. They cheered Youppi, the Expos mascot, and another mascot that I suspect was for a local team. They chanted like soccer fans, and did the wave. They waved Puerto Rican flags. They cheered announcements made in Spanish, and cheered again when they were repeated in English. They went nuts when Puerto Rico’s Miss Universe contestant threw out the first pitch. (Side note:  perhaps not unexpectedly, she "throws like a girl.")  In general, the fans were there for a celebration ... a celebration of baseball, of Puerto Rico, of life -- and it was a blast!

Most anthems performed before a game:  Three. First, the Canadian anthem, performed entirely in English (I thought they might have done the half-English, half-French version, to be even more multi-cultural), then the Puerto Rican anthem in Spanish, and finally, the American anthem in English.

Most unusual combination of really bad and really good concessions:  First the bad part: the food. The only food concessions in the park were Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Pizza Hut. They all only served a few items of their standard fare, plus each offered hot dogs. No local cuisine, no other choices. Blech. But that was made up for by the good part: the beverages. This is Puerto Rico, so of course there were pina coladas, and of course there was rum. Vendors carried trays of virgin pinas in the stands. And they used no “mix” to make them-these were made the old fashioned way, with pineapple and coconut juice. Other wait staff went through the aisles taking orders for mixed drinks and bringing them to your seats. (This service wasn’t just in the pricier sections, but throughout the park!) “Rum and Coke” hardly seemed the right name for the drink they brought me -- most places don’t mix them with 100 parts rum to 1 part Coke. No wonder the crowd was in such a good mood.

Largest variety of baseball caps:  I can’t think of a single major league team that I didn’t see represented in the headwear of the fans. Yes, the three most common hats were the Expos, Braves, and the “Serie de Los Expos”, but there were tons of others-I even saw a St. Paul Saints hat! I’m not sure why (they weren’t sold at the park), but lots of people were wearing throwback hats -- in fact, the most common Expos hat was the one with two white panels in front, a red panel on each side, and two blue panels in back. I also saw throwback Mariners, Padres, Brewers, Orioles, Astros, and (California) Angels caps.

Worst reason for a pre-game traffic jam: The stadium is near the main San Juan post office. And this was April 15. So not only was there traffic in the area for the baseball game, but there were tons more cars squeezing into the area trying to drop off their income tax forms.

Most surprising ‘reunion’ at a game:  Before the game, I was hanging around the beach at my hotel, when I met a couple guys from LA, Alex and Kevin, who had noticed my Expos hat and wondered if I, like them, was going to the game. We talked for a while about baseball, this website, and more, and as we parted, Kevin jokingly said, "See you at the game!" Sure enough, at the stadium, of all the seats in the park, theirs were in the row right behind me. And that wasn’t the last time we met -- at breakfast at a nearby restaurant the next morning, in the rainforest (we were on separate tours that happened to intersect), and other times, we were frequently running into each other. (Alex and Kevin, I know you’re reading this, be sure to see the picture of the two of you at the game on my photos page!)

Worst next-door eyesore:  Immediately adjacent to Estadio Hiram Bithorn is a building that I was told (in one of those broken conversations between someone who knows only a couple words of Spanish and a local who knows only a couple words of English, so I’m not sure I got things 100% correct) is the main basketball arena in the area. With its aging concrete architecture and rapidly rusting roof, it looked like some of the abandoned buildings I saw on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay last year.

Sharpest looking stadium they could have (maybe even ‘should have’) used for this series:  While driving out to a tour of El Yunque (the rainforest), we went past Estadio Roberto Clemente in the nearby city of Carolina-basically a San Juan suburb. Although I didn’t get more than a few seconds view of it, it looked like a beauty, designed to be a miniature version of the Ballpark at Arlington. I was told that the two main reasons that the Expos series didn’t use this park is that it’s smaller-only around 13,000 seats-and it’s not quite as centrally located as Estadio Hiram Bithorn.

Most surreal San Juan baseball-related experience:  Sitting in a hotel casino after the game. Playing blackjack. With Greg Maddux.

Best website bragging rights:  With visits to Great American Ballpark and Estadio Hiram Bithorn, I’ve now been to two more current big league parks than our webmaster, Joe Mock! You know, REAL baseball stadium fans would have found a way to visit those two by now… (Just kidding, Joe!) Also, in the last twelve months, I’ve now seen games in 32 different major league parks-a mark that will be tough for anyone to top!

Stadium grade: C   This is not a Major League caliber park ... but when compared to many minor league and independent league stadiums, it’s rather nice, and it’s far better than Olympic Stadium!

Overall grade of my experience at the game: A   With fans like these, and an extra inning game, it would be impossible to not have a great time!

-- Bill Verkuilen  biggbill@hotmail.com