Author's Blog

 July 31, 2010

Northwest Stadiums - Day 6 Safeco Field


Seattle Mariners - Seattle, Washington - American League


Saturday, August 2, 2008

I kept hearing Safeco was a great stadium.  I have also been hearing that about AT&T Park, but I know better.  True, AT&T has some great features, but the negatives are too numerous to call it a great place to watch a game.  Safeco, on the other hand, did not disappoint. 

The weather improved and the roof was open, allowing for a great view of the city.  The food had plenty of selections, and was generally good.  Prices were steep, but not off the charts.  In all, one could enjoy the comforts of a newer stadium built for baseball, and with a classic design, combined with pleasant service, decent food, and a beautiful view. 

The only drawback to Safeco, if one needs to be found, is in the scoreboards.  The most obvious, and brightest, is used mostly for display of scores around the league.  A hand-placed scoreboard in not easily noticed, especially when the larger electronic board in right center field is just as easy to read and faster to respond.  Yet this larger electronic board also displays batting orders, individual statistics, tonight’s individual statistics, strike count, etc.  Maybe it was because of information overload, or maybe because my vantage point drew my eyes to the brighter left centerfield sign, but I found myself looking around for the score on a few occasions.  Only after someone above me leaned over and asked me what the score was did I feel it wasn’t just me.

There are no “go out of our way to make this look like a historic stadium” touches.  Safeco doesn’t need it.  In many ways, the stadium was a tribute to the Mariners.  A number of team history murals, photos, and player profiles dot the stadium throughout.  It’s been over 30 years since the Mariners joined the American League as an expansion team, long enough to build childhood memories in grown men, these are no Dodgers or Giants in terms of tradition.  The images on display must conjure a connection to these tributes in ways that images of Babe Ruth and Willie Mays couldn’t.

The tributes to Ichiro are also numerous.  From the Ichirolls (sushi) to the dedicated tables at the pro shop, reminders abound as to who the star of this team is.  They also stood as a constant reminder that this is not just the Northwest’s team, this is a Pacific team.  The stadium stands prepared to accommodate its Japanese visitors, and they do not disappoint their American hosts.

One last note, the stadium looks very similar to Jacobs Field in Cleveland.  That makes me want to research it a bit more.  Was that by design?  Where they drawn from the same plans?  Are they indeed, true sister stadiums?

 


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