By Jefferson Krogh
Of the four ballparks I've been to, Pac Bell Park is by far my favorite. (If you're wondering, the others are Candlestick Park, the Oakland Coliseum, and Yankee Stadium.) Much better writers than I have already sung its praises, which are well deserved. The San Francisco Giants website has a lot of good information on the park. As much as I want to write another paean to the place, I'd like to concentrate on something more useful to the fans. I mean, in all those love letters about Pac Bell Park, there's still stuff they don't tell you.
You know, the warts. The inside info. The weird stuff.
I've been to about twenty games at Pac Bell Park, in a variety of seats. So far, I've just bought whatever seats were available each year, and didn't worry too much about the details. But next year, I want to get the best seats I possibly can, because I'm greedy like most people. What do I mean by "best seats," though? Best for what? Well, there are a number of categories….
Some people like sun. I don't, and it doesn't much like me either. I prefer the shade. For shade, you want seats on the first-base side of the stadium. Even for day games, the upper half of the upper deck (aka "the view level") over there is almost always in the shade. That's roughly Section 301-310. Section 302 gets a lot of shade very early. The second deck (aka "the club level") is pretty well shaded all along the first-base side, too. I haven't had any lower-deck seats on the first-base side, but I would guess that rows 25 and back are probably good for early shade.
Giants baseball is usually pretty exciting. I mean, every day Barry Bonds is likely to do something amazing and historic and breathtaking. The Giants always seem to be in the thick of a pennant race, too! The yard, though, is so nice, it's easy to get caught up in the views that have nothing to do with the game.
For the greatest views, look at the shady seats in the upper deck, Sections 301-310. From that vantage you can see the Bay Bridge and Treasure Island. The further you are down the right field line, the better the view. You can see the ferries cruising up behind right field, see the Bay stretching out there. Just some amazing stuff. Bring your camera. (I wish I had one!) Oh, and up there is probably the best place to watch Barry Bonds launch one into the Bay. On Giants TV broadcasts, they have this camera that follows the entire arc of a Bonds homer from left to right, over the arcade and into McCovey Cove. If you've seen that camera angle on TV, you know how spectacular the view is. That camera is in Section 301, at the edge of the upper deck. Sitting up there will get you that kind of view.
The view from the third-base line isn't bad--you see the docks, cargo ships, a smokestack, and the parking lots, framed by the ridge and San Bruno Mountain. For my money, though, it's not as nice as the first base side.
If you end up in Section 318 or so, you'll be behind home plate, up high. That's a nice angle up there. You're right on top of the action. You can't see the Bay Bridge from up there, though.
I'm still working on this one. Yesterday (Sunday, September 8, 2002, Giants beat Arizona 3-1, Bonds hits #609 into the Bay) I got closer than ever--5 yards! I was in section 128, row 28, if you're wondering.
I think the best place to get a foul ball might be the second deck right behind home plate. A lot of balls seem to end up there, but there aren't many seats in that section. Between the press box and the rail might be ten rows.
You might have heard that there are no bad seats at Pac Bell Park. Don't believe it! There are four entire sections with terribly obstructed views. If you ever watch the Giants on TV, you might be able to guess which ones--on the nights that aren't quite sold out, you'll see that block of empty seats in the upper deck, near left field. Those are it. Sections 333-336. The way that deck is built, the lower corner of Section 336 cuts off your view of most of left field and a big chunk of center field. Last time I was in Section 335 (Saturday, September 7, when the Giants beat Arizona 4-3 on Santiago's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth), anything between the Giants bullpen and the fence, all the way out to the 399 sign in dead center field, I could not see. I couldn't see the Jumbotron without standing up, either, which is especially irritating. finally, the foul pole blocks a decent chunk of the infield view. The view reminds me of the one time I tried to watch an A's game from "Mt. Davis," the towering football stands at the Oakland Coliseum. If you like blazing sunshine, though, that's a good spot for it.
In 2002, those seats cost $17 for a midweek game, $19 for a weekend or a Friday night. The bleachers are much better seats and are only about $10. Frankly, the Giants should charge that little for Sections 333-336 too. Maybe less.
Candlestick Park was infamous for its near-arctic night games. Cold temperatures, colder winds off the Bay, whipping and blowing up dust, could make the 'Stick a torturous place for a baseball fan. They even gave out awards to anyone who stayed until the end of an extra-inning night game! Pacific Bell Park is supposed to be a big improvement in that regard.
Don't believe that either. Night games at Pac Bell, especially in the bleachers, can be just as cold as they were at Candlestick. In the bleachers and the arcade, the wind is just as bad. Bring your heavy coat, by all means. Seating in the reserved sections is often less windy; just beware of stepping out into the concession areas in the upper deck, where the wind blows especially hard.
Day games, on the other hand, are beautiful.
Pac Bell is such a nice place, overall, that the Giants sell out nearly every game. The games that don't sell out only miss by a few percent. This leads many people to assume that it's next to impossible to get Giants tickets. I'm happy to say this is not true.
Sure, the absolute best time to buy tickets is in February, when they first go on sale. But if you don't mind going to weeknight games, or sitting in the bleachers, you can usually get tickets even after the season begins. Weeknight games are always slower to sell out; this year, many of them aren't selling out at all. Single tickets are especially easy to get.
You can even get tickets the day of the game, if you don't mind bleacher seats. One of the Giants' better moves has been reserving 500 bleacher tickets for each game, and selling them only the day of the game. Just show up about 2 or 3 hours before the game, and you should be set.
Finally, you can always show up and watch most of the game for nothing. That's right, free. Out in right field, there are three chain-link "knotholes." They're about fifteen feet across. Just walk behind the stadium onto the portwalk, and you can watch three innings of the game for free through the fence! If you time it right, you can catch the first three innings AND the last three innings this way. (In between, walk around the corner to the Acme Chophouse and have some oysters.)
If the wind at night is worse than they told us it would be, the parking situation is much better than they say it is. When the stadium opened in 2000, the Giants put so much emphasis on public transit that everyone assumed there wasn't enough parking. I've never had any trouble driving to Pac Bell, though. Even on weeknights, if I leave about 90 minutes before the game, I can get to a 7:05 game on time, and park close to the stadium. There's a good chunk of parking behind the stadium (for $15-$20), and if you're willing to walk a bit, there are numerous private lots downtown.
Nonetheless, public transit is a nice smooth way of getting there, and it ought to be your first choice. It's usually cheaper and less stressful. (What I always worry about, though, are those night games that run late, or into extra innings. That's when having your own car nearby is a relief.) The Giants' website does a good job of telling you how to use it to get to the game.
The Giants have done a great job with the stadium, but there are still a few things that are bound to confuse the first-time visitor.
There's only one escalator to the "view level." I mean, the upper deck. Those names are one of those weird things, and I'll talk about them more in a minute. The upper deck is about eight stories up. There are two sets of ramps, if you like hiking, but only the one escalator, which is on the promenade behind the press box. The fastest way to get up there is to enter at the Willie Mays gate, where his statue is, and follow the crowds to the escalator. Otherwise, it's a long walk.
If you have an upper deck ticket in rows 1-4, you're going to be confused. Every section in the upper deck seems to have two of "row 1," two of "row 2," etc. There are four rows down at the edge of the View Level, numbered 1-4, behind which is the walkway. Above that is a larger block of 20-30 rows, starting from row 1 again. Or row 00. This blew my mind at least twice before one of the ushers explained it to me. The View Level is divided into "View Reserved" and "View Box." I think View Box is the lower four rows, and the better seats. Or maybe it's the View Reserved. Recently they stenciled some labels onto the steps to clear that up, but they're easy to miss.
Who came up those names for the decks, anyway? It's crazy. To get to the lower deck, head for "The Promenade." The middle deck you reach by going into the "Club Level." And the upper deck, as I've noted, is the "View Level." Those are a bit too cutesy for me, but now we're at the level of quibbling, and really, Pac Bell Park deserves better than that.
Well, there's one last thing you have to know when you go to the stadium. When you're there, looking around, remind yourself that the taxpayers of San Francisco, unlike every other major league city in the last 40 years, did not have to foot the bill. Peter Macgowan and the Giants ponied up the cash, along with their corporate partners, to build it themselves. So the schools, the roads, the police, and all the other city services didn't suffer to bring you that incredible view. That means you can enjoy your experience completely guilt-free.
How great is that?