Question about baseball

[Third rate Leszno]

Ok, I'm hoping for a bit of help from the OTF baseball devotees here.

I've realised that Mrs AbB and I can take in a Major League Baseball game while we're on holiday this summer, so I was thinking of booking tickets over the internet before we leave (I don't know if these things sell out quickly or not).

My main problem is - knowing nothing about baseball, I don't know where is the best place to sit in the stadium.

Is it behind the batter, behind the pitcher, side on to them, at the far end of the stadium, low down, high up... or what? Price isn't a major factor in my choice, though I wouldn't want to pay over $100.

Any tips welcomed - and feel free to patronise my lack of knowledge, I won't take it personally. Now, off to wikipedia to try and figure out what the hell the game is all about.......

[Wyatt Earp]

Question about baseball

The section behind the batter, if you can get tickets. Like watching the whole game from first slip.

[ursus arctos]

Question about baseball

If you are close enough, sitting behind the batter is by far the best way to get a sense of the different pitches that are being thrown. That said, the two most common complaints about seats behind home plate are 1) that they are behind a screen (to protect the punters from foul balls) and 2) that it can be difficult to judge the flight of balls hit into the air. Given that the closest seats directly behind the pitcher are usually a minimum of 400 feet away, the view from the "two ends of the ground" isn't really comparable.

The most expensive seats in the stadium are usually those closest to the field between home plate and either first or third base (including those next to and above the teams' respective dugouts). Unfortunately, it is increasingly the case that those seats are being turned into "club/VIP" sections that come with ridiculous (to me) bells and whistles like waiter service and cost an arm and a leg (when they are available).

An advantage of sitting higher up (in addition to saving money) is that one gets a better sense of how the fielders move depending on the situation.

Availability will depend a lot on what team you are going to see and the opposition. It is much easier to get good seats for the Oakland Athletics, for instance, than it is for their Cross-Bay rivals, the San Francisco Giants.

Where are you going to be?

[ursus arctos]

Question about baseball

As far as understanding the game goes, this comparison between baseball and cricket was written to introduce cricket to those who know baseball, but might be useful in any event (though you would obviously have to "read it backwards").

Coming to cricket from baseball, I found this to be a good summary of the most telling differences (there is a longer list in the link):

Runs are hard to score. In cricket, runs are much easier to score. The average score for one innings of a Test match is about 320 runs.

Batters are easy to get out. In cricket, batsmen are much harder to get out. In six hours of play, you would expect to see an average of about 8 batsmen get out.

Batters can strike out if they don't hit the ball. In cricket, you don't have to hit the ball if you don't want to. If you swing and miss, there is no penalty.

Batters who hit the ball must run. In cricket, the batsmen never have to run. They can choose when to run, and usually only do so when they are certain they can complete the run safely. This, and the previous difference, contribute a large portion of what makes the batsmen so hard to get out.

Batters can't hit the ball into foul territory. In cricket, there is no foul territory. You can hit the ball in any direction you like. This means the fielders have a much wider area to cover. Again, this makes it easier to score runs and harder to get batsmen out.

Pitchers must try to throw the ball in the strike zone, on the fly. In cricket, bowlers can bowl the ball pretty much as high and wide as they like, and usually bounce it on the pitch before it reaches the batsman. This gives them a lot more variety in attacking the batsman and trying to either stop him scoring runs or get him out.

[Third rate Leszno]

Question about baseball

Thanks Ursus and Wa ayat. I'd sooner avoid the VIP type areas and have to sit a little further up or to the side to be honest, but somewhere behind home plate sounds like a good plan.

I'm assuming most stadia have that civilised policy of being able to take beer back to your seat?

I'll have a read of that site when I'm not in the office - oh, and I'm hoping to be here, Safeco field.

[ursus arctos]

Question about baseball

If you go to this page on the Mariners' site and click on the "magnified view" option, you can get a "representative" view of the field from each section in the ballpark.

Unless you are in an alcohol-free "Family Section" (most clubs have one), they should be vendors selling beer in the stands (at least until the 7th inning or so).

Safeco is supposed to be a very nice park, and an infinite improvement over the Kingdome, which was my personal choice as the worst major league venue in North America. Tickets should not be terribly difficult, as the Mariners no longer sell out regularly (the Yankees and Red Sox are always tough tickets).

[Wyatt Earp]

Question about baseball

abdullah bin bewaldeth wrote:

I'm assuming most stadia have that civilised policy of being able to take beer back to your seat?

Very, very much so. That's even the case in Toronto these days, I believe, though I think they had to change dozens of old temperance laws to allow it.

Unlike "down the cricket", there are even vendors that bring the beer to you. However, if there's decent beer to be had in the ballpark (you can get Goose Island at both Chicago clubs, for example) then it will almost certainly only be available at fixed bars, and not even at all of those. The vendors are strictly Bud and Miller operations.

[ursus arctos]

Question about baseball

To the extent that any other visitors are tempted to try this, I would strongly suggest that you also consider "Minor League Baseball" alternatives.

The stadia are much smaller, so you are much closer to the action (and the players are generally much more friendly); tickets are significantly cheaper; the atmosphere is considerably less serious (bizarre promotions abound) and the quality of play isn't bad.

Within 30 miles of Seattle, for instance, you can choose between the Tacoma Raniers (the Mariners' most senior "farm club") or the Everett AquaSox of the Northwest League, but there are hundreds of minor league clubs all over North America (even two in New York City; the Brooklyn Cyclones and the Staten Island Yankees.

[Reed John]

Question about baseball

Unless you are in an alcohol-free "Family Section" (most clubs have one), they should be vendors selling beer in the stands (at least until the 7th inning or so).

Except at Fenway Park. For reasons nobody but the Mayor understand, they don't have beer vendors in the aisles. You're allowed to have a beer with you in your seat, but you have to go get it from the stalls under the stands.

I'd like to see a Mariners game too. I've heard that's a great park. Team isn't up to much lately, so tickets shouldn't be too hard to come by.

[edit: UA already got to this before I hit submit, but I'll leave this anyway]

Also, if you want to see a game up close for cheap, you could try a minor league ballpark. They're all over the country and even the seats right behind homeplate are pretty cheap (although often not available). The standard of play is still pretty high, especially at the AA and AAA levels. There's a bit more of the gimmicky "fun for the whole family" crap, but there's a lot of that in major league parks now too.
web.minorleaguebaseball.com

[Third rate Leszno]

Question about baseball

I'd consider the minor league baseball (I went to watch Cape Cod summer league on a previous holiday but hadn't a clue what was going on), but as this is a very brief visit (just a couple of nights before getting on a cruise ship) and I'll be without rental car I think the lure of the big stadium will win out - this time.

Definitely something I'll consider next time I'm in the U.S. though, cheers for all the info.

[ursus arctos]

Question about baseball

Ah, in that case you are definitely right to go for the Safeco experience.

The Cape Cod League is ace. It has a counterpart in Alaska, where they play at midnight without lights at midsummer.

[Reed John]

Question about baseball

There a bunch of those summer wooden-bat collegiate leagues all over the country, but Cape Cod is considered the best as far as the quality of prospects that are invited to play. The idea with all of them is to give college players, who are used to metal bats, a chance to play competitive games with wood bats before they transition, possibly, into pro baseball. My understanding is that the batting averages tend to be pretty low in those leagues.

Here is the most famous bit of footage from the Alaska league.

[jason voorhees]

Question about baseball

I've never been able to afford anything other than the bleachers, and they're not too bad.

Minor league, I like the 3rd base line. You get to see the machinations of the infield, and with a baseball being a diamond you can see the entire action of everything.

[jason voorhees]

Question about baseball

I've never been able to afford anything other than the bleachers, and they're not too bad.

Minor league, I like the 3rd base line. You get to see the machinations of the infield, and with a baseball being a diamond you can see the entire action of everything.

[jefe]

Question about baseball

The upper deck behind home plate should give you a great view of both the pitcher/batter interaction and the whole field of play, at a significant fraction of the cost of downstairs behind the plate.

[Incandenza]

Question about baseball

Yeah, I always liked upper deck behind the plate. At Dodger Stadium, the way the topography and the parking is, you can park your car right in the lot there and get in and out (well, out to your car, not out of the lot) more quickly than other places.

[Reed John]

Question about baseball

The upper deck behind home plate, especially close to the front, is often the best overall value in the park and are better than being in the back of the lower deck because you can see high fly balls.

[Anton Gramscescu]

Question about baseball

I always check to see who's pitching. If it's no one special, I'll sit pretty much anywhere (behind home plate is a treat). A good left hander, though, and I sit on the first-base side so I can better see what he's doing. A good right-hander, and I'm on the third-base side.

On a completely unrelated matter, I just learned that Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run in Toronto, playing triple-A ball against the Maple Leafs. Apparently, there was a baseball stadium on Hanloin's Point, where the Island airport now stands. The ball landed in the bay.

[Cavalry Trouser Tips]

Question about baseball

Ooh, excellent thread. I'm hoping to catch a Yankees game when I'm in NY in mid-April.

I was going to see the Knicks, but I've been reliably informed that they 'suck'.

[Wyatt Earp]

Question about baseball

The Yankees also suck, but not as ballplayers so much; more as symbols of all that's sick, twisted and wrong in American life. And this isn't a matter of opinion.

But the Bronx Experience used to be unique in US sports, and infinitely more atmospheric than anything you'd get at Shea. Whether that will continue to be true at the new joint remains to be seen.

[Wyatt Earp]

Question about baseball

No advice from me re the Knicks, by the way. I've never been tempted by a basketball game for some reason. I once had the chance to catch MJ late-career and didn't. I do regret that now, but at the time I just wasn't up for it.

[ursus arctos]

Question about baseball

The Knicks are better than they were during the absolute disaster that was the Isaiah Thomas Experience, but still aren't worth what they charge for tickets.

Yankee tickets for the first series in the new ballpark are going to be very difficult. CTT's best bet is likely the midweek series against Oakland on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd, but even those are the 5th, 6th and 7th regular season games in the new stadium (they open against Cleveland the previous weekend).

[Reed John]

Question about baseball

Basketball generally doesn't interest me, but I enjoy it if I can sit up close like I did at a Penn State game right before Christmas. Because the students weren't there, they really have a hard time drawing to those semester break games, so all seats were only $5.

My other really good basketball experience was getting to sit in a luxury box (my friend who worked at Capital One got a few tickets for free) at MCI Center when Jordan scored 40 during his ill-advised comeback with the Wizards.

The more I think about it, the more I'm inclined to encourage people to go to minor league baseball games. That really is the "soul" of the game, isn't it?

[Amor de Cosmos]

Question about baseball

Or any game.

[caja-dglh]

Question about baseball

You can get to the Knicks for about $13 with a free beer and a burger. You have to pick the opposition though, because you certainly don't go for the knicks.

Going to a major league baseball game in NYC for under $100 next season will be entirely pointless. With the stadium changes and price increases, alongside bad beer for $9, the seat will by seriously crap for the money.

The nice change would be that Yankee stadium will in no way be able to be as awful as it used to be, but - before the move - first base seats were around $250 (I ligged them from a family member working on the stadiums). Considering that the Yankees were looking to quadruple ticket prices, $100 would involve binoculars.