Schellhase 2018-2019 Gulf Coast and Southwest Trip: 12 Mar 2019 - Chase Field Tour, Cubs vs Reds Night Game

12 Mar 2019

I dropped the proverbial ball again on reservations. Whodathunk we would have needed to make reservations to tour Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks Baseball Club way in advance. I guess it makes sense with the tens or hundreds of thousands of snowbirds and other tourists down here during Spring Training. I tried to purchase tickets online this morning and none of the selections for this week worked. So I called the stadium and the reason why the web site did not work is that they are sold out through the week, except for a certain tour time on Thursday and we already have ballgame tickets for then. Oh well. We headed down to Chase Field anyway to check out the outside of the stadium, have a look at the team store and to get Doreen's MLB Stadum Passport stamped.

We quickly found on-street parking but it was very expensive. We walked a block or so to Chase Field and found the ticket office. They reiterated they were sold out. OK, got it. We processed through headed into the team store and Doreen found the desk to get her passport stamped.

We waited around there for a few minutes until the tour guide for the 1100 hrs tour showed up as he gathered everyone to start the tour. I greeted him and asked if he would consider making an exception to the "full tour" to add a couple of baseball fans from Iowa. He agreed and sent me quickly back to the ticket office to get a couple tickets. The lady there said "I have nothing to sell you." i.e. we are sold out. I explained what the tour guide said, and she kind of huffed and puffed a bit and went to her supervisor but they quickly got it sorted out and soon we have two $7 tickets! Thanks Chase Field for your great customer service!

I hustled back through security to the tour group who appeared to be impatient waiting for the slug that was holding them up. Oops, sorry folks... Anyway away we went. The tour guide was knowledgeable but spoke very softly and was difficult to hear. We started in the atrium and he explained the history of the team. On March 9, 1995, the Arizona Diamondbacks were awarded an expansion franchise to begin play for the 1998 season. On January 16, 1997, the Diamondbacks were officially voted into the National League.

A mural in the atrium overhead

The Team logo and team colors have gone through several transformations. The colors now are Sedona Red, Sonoran Sand, Black, Teal and White.

A history of the logos and colors

We passed through the atrium into the field level and there was the field. Wow, what a mess. Well the white panels in the outfield and infield was due to a Billy Joel concert there a couple days ago and it was being disassembled. I bet the grounds crew just cringes each time they have one of these non-baseball events in there and there are people traipsing around on their field! But, the field looks like crap! The grass looks terrible, and opening day is April 5th.

So the story on the grass. The tour guide said they have played around over the years with several different varieties of grass and just could not find the right variety that would hold up and look good. The roof retracts here so the temperature swings widely. Bottom line is they are in the process of ripping it all out and replacing it with artificial turf. Wow, we go full circle!! The infield is done:

The tour continued. There is a small 'museum' here and we were able to stroll through there quickly..

2001 World Series trophy and memorabilia when they beat the New York Yankees

Diampndbacks Golden Glove awards

Baseballs signed by everyone who has played for the Diamondbacks

Diamondbacks Hall of Famers

We departed the museum and continued touring.

Hot tub area available. I think he said $8000 per game, but that includes tickets, food, etc

Several paintings in the hallways by a local artist

Our tour guide briefing us from one of the suites.

The press lounge and dining area

The press area. The windows are retracted during games. They are there now to keep the birds out

The dugout area

The huge HD scoreboard being cleaned prior to season start.

Again, we are very thankful we were allowed to take the tour. It is hard to judge the stadium and field in this condition. We are looking forward to coming back and attending a regular season game some time.

We departed Chase Field and it was raining hard. Back to the KOA as the rain continued all afternoon but did not impact the night game at Sloan Park we attended. It was cold and drizzly though.