Padres Stadium Is State Of The Art

Barb and Pam recently organized a tour of Petco Park for a group of Newcomers. There were 19 interested women, and we learned a lot. Five minutes into the tour I was sorry I hadn't brought paper and pencil to take notes, but I used the NOTES feature on my IPhone to write as much as I could. We were lucky to be there on a day when they were allowing season ticket holders to come enjoy some batting practice and a catered lunch, all in the hopes of enticing them to upgrade their Padres tickets. Our tour guide, Timothy, was informative and so enthusiastic about the Padres and baseball in general. He was a wealth of information. Here is some of the interesting stuff I learned in our 1 1/2 hour tour. Petco Park is a modern retro ballpark. It has features of retro stadiums (older stadiums) and some features of newer, more modern stadiums. It's the best of both worlds. The stadium is open on the sides, as opposed to stadiums that are entirely enclosed. Seats are all slightly angled toward home plate, to give you a better view of the park. This is something most people would never notice unless it was pointed out to them. The ballpark opened in 2004. Did you know there are precisely 19 sprinkler heads in the outfield to water the beautiful lawn? That's a tribute to Tony Gwynn, number 19 for the Padres, and one of their most popular players ever. Around the outside of the actual playing field is a warning track. The idea of the warning track came from 1926 Yankee Stadium. At that time Yankee Stadium doubled as a track and field stadium, and the warning track area was for track. Although the warning track is never used for events anymore, the idea of the warning track stuck. At this time 70% of Petco Park is owned by the city of San Diego, and the rest is privately owned. Within the next decade the entire park will be owned by the city. (I'm referring to the property and building, not the team). We were lucky enough to see the luxury boxes and corporate boxes. The corporate boxes, all 53 of them are sold to corporations who use them for entertainment. They cost $150,000 per year. There are other luxury boxes that individuals can rent on a game by game basis, for around $2,000 per game. If you get a group of 20 together and rent one for a game, it's only $100 per person, which includes your food and drink. Not so bad for an amazing experience. Do the numbers 6, 19, 31, 51, and 42 mean anything to you? They are posted out in center field on a big sign as a tribute to the greatest Padres ever. Figure out who they are. All in all it was a great day, with a wonderful group of friends. Thanks, Barb and Pam for planning this wonderful event. Petco Park is an architectural delight and a culinary delight (thanks to some wonderful new restaurants). Now if they'd only get a team worthy of playing there. TODAY IS MY SON DAVID'S BIRTHDAY! HAPPY, HEALTHY BIRTHDAY, I LOVE YOU.