Bill's Journal Entry #15

Safeco Field

Date: July 27, 2002

Location: Seattle, Washington

Opponent: Anaheim Angels

Travel companion: Matt Glover, a friend

Link to my photos: http://cards.webshots.com/cp-30820525-HuEe-album/45278786DemZUB

Game Result: For the second straight Saturday, Matt and I got to see the Angels and Mariners battle, this time in Washington, with the teams tied for first place in the AL West. Anaheim definitely seemed to be the better team with the bats, getting nine base hits to the Mariners’ four, and having at least one player reach base in seven of their nine innings. The problem for them was that the bases they reached were first, second, and third ... only once did any of those runners reach home. On the other hand, of the four hits that Jarrod Washburn allowed the Mariners, one was Edgar Martinez’s two run homer in the fourth. Kazuhiro Sasaki’s perfect ninth inning save gave the win to Joel Pineiro and the Mariners, 3-1.

Stadium Summary: What do you do when you want to build a stadium in the same area that a railroad track passes? One option is to have the tracks run right through the middle of the outfield, as happens in the Hackensack Bulls home stadium in the movie “Brewster’s Millions”. Another, more practical option that the Mariners opted for is to run the tracks behind right field, under/through the portion of the stadium where the roof is stored when not in use. Not only do the trains passing under the roof make a very unique stadium view, but it also ties into the roof itself, which is moved in and out of place on elevated railroad tracks, running on the north and south sides of the stadium. And the occasional sound of a train whistle passing behind the stadium during the game is a fun reminder of this setup. But there’s far more to this park than trains. For one, there are great views to be found throughout the stadium, both of the surrounding areas, and of the field and the stadium itself. This stadium has very much the same feel as Coors Field in Denver.  In fact, it’s too much the same feel, and design, in my opinion. It’s as if the Mariners management looked at Coors, liked what they saw, and said, “Build me one just like it, but with a roof.” From that aspect, Safeco needs a bit more originality. But I guess that desire can be understood, when you’re copying something of the quality of Coors.

Best ways to make a retractable roof less intrusive: When designing this stadium and its retractable roof, the Mariners did a couple things right, that other retractable roofs don’t handle nearly as well. One thing they did was to make it only a roof. In other words, its intent is just to keep the rain out, but not the wind. Above the left field grandstand, when the roof is closed, there is no wall. There are no glass windows. It’s open to the elements. Seattle doesn’t have the temperature extremes that Milwaukee, Houston, and Phoenix do, that force them to close the roof and seal it shut to maintain a reasonable ambient climate, and Seattle properly took advantage of that fact. The other thing Seattle does better than those other three retractable roofs is that when the Safeco roof is open, it is almost completely away from the field. In the other three stadiums, when the roof opens, only parts of the roof are retracted. Stationary roof panels are still over a good portion of the stands, and even a bit of the field, reminding you that those are, indeed, indoor stadiums. But in Seattle, the roof is pushed almost completely off of the stadium. This results in the feel of a true outdoor ballpark!

Best pun-of-a-player’s-name stadium food name: The Ichi-Roll. This spicy tuna sushi roll was quite tasty, as were some of the other sushis I sampled, such as the American and California rolls. The only stand that sells this item is located a bit out of the way, behind the bullpens, and then down one level from the main concourse. Apparently this location isn’t well known. While I was walking back to my seat with sushi in hand, there were several times when a Japanese man or woman would approach me, point to my dinner, and ask in broken English, “Ichi-Roll? Where is?” With the amount of business I sent to that stand, I should have received a commission.

Most interesting translation of a team name: Yet another example of the strength of the Japanese population and culture in Seattle was the fact that there were many people in the stadium wearing caps embroidered with two characters of the Japanese language. When I inquired about what the characters mean, I was told that it’s an approximation of the word “Mariners”. There is no word in the Japanese language that is an exact translation of “Mariners”, so instead, the phrase on these hats literally means “Sea Soldiers”. Frankly, I like the sound of the “Seattle Sea Soldiers” better than “Seattle Mariners,” and I suggest that the Seattle ownership consider making this a permanent change, in both languages.

Best radio station giveaway: Mariners T-shirt from the 107.7 “The End” booth. This was the last stop on Matt’s and my week-and-a-half long West Coast tour. I had packed enough clean clothes for about a week, expecting to find time to do some laundry, somewhere. But sure enough, we kept running short on time, and the laundry kept getting postponed. One day. And then another. Finally, it was the day before our flight back home, and it no longer really made sense to wash much of our stuff ... but unless I found something clean, I was going to be ‘recycling’ a shirt on the flight home that would be pretty ripe. Luckily, “The End” came through for me (or possibly took pity on the rest of the people in the plane), and I had a clean shirt!

The new streak continues: Edgar Martinez’s home run marked the fourth straight home team on my tour to homer. I’m now fourteen-for-fifteen, with just one blemish to the perfect streak. @#$%ing Dodgers.

Stadium grade: B+  Great views, great fans, and a great park are causing no one to miss the Kingdome.

Overall grade of my experience at the game: B  Normally, I prefer quality pitching over tons of offense. But this game just went too quickly, and needed a bit more fireworks.

-- Bill Verkuilen  biggbill@hotmail.com 

Return to Bill's Journal Home Page