People who reserved season tickets for the new ballpark for the new Reno Aces are getting to go in and pick where, exactly, they want to be:“Everyone’s got their own criteria,” Aces general manager Rick Parr said. It’s true. Getting the “best seat,” as Hubert was looking for, does not top everyone’s list. Finances come into play, with tickets for the 72 home games ranging from $1,800 to $576. But securing an aisle seat, or the proximity to restrooms and concessions, can be top concerns. Others want to be behind the screen, either for the safety of themselves or their children, while still others want to be in the foul-ball hot spot.This is a subject that fascinates me, because just about everyone I know feels differently about where, generally speaking, the "best" seats are. I'm a behind home plate guy, but I have a good friend who insists on being down the lines and up a bit. When going cheaper, some people I know enjoy the hell out of a bleacher seat, while others will willingly go up 25 stories as long as they're behind the action in foul territory.
Earlier this week, Mario Domini secured four seats, which he said will often be used for business purposes, in the home-plate premium section in part because of the in-seat wait service. Some fans don’t care how far down the first- or third-base line they sit as long as they’re in the front row. But that’s not for Hubert. “I’ve gone to a number of major league parks, and the best seats always were the ones behind home plate,” he said . . .
. . . Terri Knutson did not take much longer than the Huberts to select her seats. She pounced when she saw that two seats 12 rows up on the aisle behind the Aces’ third-base dugout were available. “I got exactly what I wanted,” said Knutson of Carson City. “It’s a good place to view the baseball game. It’s where I sit when I go to Giants games.”
All things being equal, where do you like to be?
20 comments:
First row behind home plate of the upper deck for me.
5 rows back behind home plate. I'm too old for foul balls, and I like to watch the movement of the pitch.
I'm very fond of the upper deck behind home plate. I think it, generally speaking, has the best combination of good view and enthusiastic fandom. If I just wanna watch the game, as low as possible, behind home plate, thank you much.
at shortstop.
First, Jason is cheating. If he's watching from SS, he's clogging the basepaths.
Secondly, my favorite spot is the mezzanine level between home and first. Close enough to see everything at a good angle to see the infield and outfield. Plus fewer seats, so fewer people. Better service from the vendors and shorter lines at the toilet.
It's right behind home plate. When I did game logging for Baseball Info Solutions here in Altoona, they put us about eight rows up, just to the right of the visiting dugout*, and it was kind of an awkward angle, I thought, for tracking fly balls (we needed to mark the spot where each fly ball landed).
* In Altoona, for whatever reason, the home dugout is along the first base line, contrary to the norm.
Anyway, for doing that and for just watching myself, I prefer home plate. My favorite viewpoint to watch the game is the second deck behind home plate; it's just the perfect sightline. But I weigh 230 pounds, and the seats are wider down on field level (and include cupholders), so that's where I prefer to go.
I've always been sort of backwards on that home-dugout-is-on-third-base thing. That's because the Braves -- whose games I've been watching since I was 11 or 12 -- have their dugout on the first base line in Atlanta, and I've always just kind of thought of that as "right."
If forced to justify it, I'll say that there's something satisfying about a guy coming home and scoring a run and then being able to keep on running or walking straight towards the dugout as opposed to having to stop, turn, and trot towards the third base dugout.
If I'm buying my own ticket, I like sitting in the mezzanine as close as I can get to home plate. But, it's hard to beat sitting behind home plate on the lower level.
Ron:
If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'!
If I can't be out there playing, I'd love to be right behind the dugout, assuming it's elevated, to get the same POV that the manager gets. I love that.
I've never liked sitting behind the screen. I find it distracting.
I like sitting about 5-15 rows behind or nearly behind either dugout; if there's a preference, it is to be out of the sun. Some elevation but not second-deck high if feasible (logistically or economically). The notion of having a chance at a foul ball is appealing, but I also know the odds are minute. (The only foul ball I've ever gotten was after a long rain delay, when over 2/3 of the fans had departed.)
Or left field is good.
Right behind home plate is my seat of choice.
Shea's dugouts had the home dugout down the first base line also.
The Reds' dugout is also on the first base side at GABP. And, isn't the home dugout at Fenway on the first base side?
Yanks dugout on 1B line.
I have very fond memories of the 300 level behind home plate at the Kingdom. I would sit in the front row and pretend like I was playing Nintendo Baseball. Good times.
This year though, our copy supply company kicked us down tickets to their field level suites at PGE park in Portland. Being the only real baseball fan at my office, they wound up in my lap. Apart from the absurd concession prices ($38 for a 6-pack ISYN) they were the best seats I've ever had- right next to the on deck circle. I told a guy to hit a home run AND HE DID. Sweet.
I guess I'm the only one here who's never sat behind home plate. I've sat a little up and to the side of the plate, but never right behind.
If I'm going with good seats, I love the ones about midway up the lower level even with first base.
If I'm buying the seats myself, give me the left field bleachers. Nothing beats the bleachers for a great atmosphere and (usually) pretty good view.
I echo bgaw, first row behind home plate in the upper deck. You can see everything.
Sometimes though, economics get in the way. As my second choice, and as a Cubs fan, I'll take one of the first few rows of the bleachers in LF at Wrigley. The view of home plate isn't great, there are no vendors, the bathrooms are far away, etc. etc. But, there is no more entertaining player to see up close than Alfonso Soriano. He's an adventure in good ways and bad on balls hit to left, and he's ALWAYS hamming it up with the crowd between pitches/plays/innings. You have to experience it for yourself...
For me, this isn't such an easy choice as it is totally ballpark dependent. All things equal, behind home plate about 15 rows back is ideal.
That said, isn't part of the beauty of baseball that all things (related to the field of play) are not equal?
For example, Camden Yards is probably my favorite , and my favorite seats there are out in right field just in front of the warehouse. Its a small section so all the seats are close to the field, AND its a great place to hang out. On a nice summer Baltimore night, grabbing one of the microbrews available along the warehouse to wash down some Boog's BBQ is just about the best way to watch a baseball game. Especially when you're a Masshole like me down in Baltimore as part of the invading hordes of Sox fans.
I fully object to the assertion that "normal" is having your home dugout on the 3B side. Phillies, Yankees, and Red Sox all are this way, I am certain. I believe St Louis has the home dugout on the 1B side, but I'm not positive. Home dugout by third base is for namby-pambies.
Upper deck cheap seats right behind home plate. These were the best seats in the house at Qualcomm and they were only $6 per ticket. Now the same seats at Petco are like $22 and the sight lines aren't as good. Still, I prefer that to base-side seats.
Smack in the middle of the first base line, five to ten rows back.
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