Critic's Review
Something new and exciting for South Floridians is that Grapefruit League baseball has come to South Florida. They built a ballpark in West Palm Beach which acts as the spring training home of the Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros. It's a little bit closer than Port St Lucie, and it gives us 2 additional opportunities to see a game, as the teams usually play each team at least once.
Two years ago I made the trip up to Tradition Field in Port St Lucie to catch a Yankees vs Mets game. I was able to get a much better seat on stub hub for this game on Wednesday, just a few days before the game, after I'd checked that the weather would be good.
For a 1:05pm game, I left at 11:20am, a bit later that I'd planned. It's about an hour with no traffic; and there shouldn't be much on a Sunday morning, but I wanted more of a cushion.
There was a huge traffic jam southbound, but generally uneventful almost all the way up to WPB. Lots of people in SUVs driving 60mph in the left lane which slowed me down a bit, but north of Boca it was clear sailing.
The Ball Park is just under 2 miles from exit 74 (45th Street). There's a sign indicating that there was parking for the ballpark on N Military, but I wasn't sure which entrance was better; the main entrance is on Haverhill Road. I opt'd for Haverhill, which was probably a mistake.
First, there's no appropriate signage. There was a long line of cars; intuitively you'd just get on the end. I noticed that there was another entrance where cars were just flowing in; I thought I'd take a chance. That turned out to be the valet, but I was able to as a dude there where to go. There was another line just to the south that was the correct line to get on.
This was kind of a sick joke with cars coming from 2 directions to get into a single file entrance. So attendants were directing traffic. It didn't take as long as I thought it would. Once inside you can tell that The Ball Park was hastily completed; it was like driving through a dump.
After the dump there's a dirt road. I'm thinking to myself. They build a ballpark but they can't pave a parking lot?
And into a field to park. Surprisingly smooth considering the lack of direction and not 1 sign telling you anything.
The field was obviously hastily sodded. With no sprinkler system this grass will be dead by mid April. Maybe they plan on paving it or building a garage before next year?
Just because you've parked doesn't mean you're near the stadium; this parking field is 300 yards long. If you're out of shape you might be winded before you even get out of the parking lot.
If you didn't know that this ballpark was shared by the Nationals and the Astros you might think you were at the wrong game. The Nationals got a sign, but nothing for the Astros.
Still quite a haul to get to the park. This place is more like a golf club than a baseball park.
At the top of the hill, a little perspective on the distance.
The disaster continues as you get to the entrance. They have metal detectors, and "security" people who looked like the kind of people who work in Target. Clearly not security people. And they're going through purses and bags with a stick. What exactly are they looking for? You either have a gun, or you don't. This took a very long time. One guy with a penny in his pocket had to go through 4 times. No bomb sniffing dogs though.
No pat downs. Apparently you can't bring a nail file or a full sized shaving cream can into the ballpark either.
Finally I'm inside at 12:48. One hour and twenty eight minutes door to door.
A lof of concrete. The slow trickle at the entrance keeps the place from feeling too crowded. I only had 10 minutes to look around. The concession stand by the entrance is 15 deep. Heading towards home plate, I see there's no-one at another stand.
They have one section for drinks only which allows you to get alcohol a bit faster. Watching the food coming out, this is the lowest form of fast food. Absolute garbage. And even though this is an exhibition game venue, the prices are as high as Yankee Stadium or Marlins Park.
The specialty offerings here are very weak also. The food here doesn't measure up to what they have up in Port St Lucie in any way.
While behind the plate I stood just behind the last row; not a bad seat in the house. The park is all on 1 level, except for special boxes.
Out in right field they have some mobile venues; they don't even open up the outfield seats or The Lawn for most games. Probably only the Yankees and the Mets. They've been drawing about 2,500 for other teams; about 4-6,000 for the Mets and Over 7,000 for the Yankees. The Mets play 40 minutes up 95 so there are more opportunities to see them. The Yankees are based in Tampa so they only hit the East Coast a couple of times.
The Palm Beach Bistro / Truck has a menu with beer, but after waiting on line they tell you that they don't have any beer. This isn't their first day open. Fix the sign.
They play the National Anthem at 1pm sharp, so there's some time to get to your seats. I didn't see anyone take a knee during the anthem.
I headed over to my seat; there's nobody checking tickets. My seat was 4 rows behind the Yankee's dugout; 5 seats in. Add the smallish foul territory and I was as close as you can be to a professional game.
The newer parks all have the cup holders, which are badly needed. For just $10.50 you can get a Houston Astros souvenir cup.
The game was fairly enjoyable despite the unfriendly witch sitting next to me. Loosen up people, you're at a ball game. The dude on the other side was more friendly.
One major faux pas is the scoreboard; much of the lettering is too small. Maybe a bunch of 22yos designed the stadium, but much of the scoreboard was difficult to read. This is like a scoreboard from 1970.
Seats by the dugout get entertainment from the Mascot; the Yankees don't have a mascot but the Astros have a big ugly green thing. The kids seems to like him.
The stadium is totally mal-designed for South Florida. It's too low, so there's not enough shade. 90% of the seats are exposed to direct sunlight; the entire left field is totally exposed to the sun for the entire game.
By the 5th inning it was becoming really uncomfortable and I had to get out of the sun. I'd finished my beer but the lines were too long to wait near my seats. The people working here are blatantly incompetent. It took them way too long to sell a beer; 4 taps but only 1 server; they really should have 2 people so everyone doesn't have to wait for drafts. And then one guy mocked a women for not tipping. Really? $10.50 for a beer from a bumbling server and she gets mocked for not tipping?
I decided to take a tour out into the concrete jungle also known as left field. It starts off as a big area that reminded me of Jones Beach. They have a bar and a bunch of concession stands as well as some picnic tables.
The platform goes all around the stadium; in most stadiums they have separate entries for lawn or bleacher seats so you can't buy a cheap seat and then watch from behind the plate. No such restrictions here.
I don't get the pull of the lawn, other than the cheaper price. Quite a few babies. Is it good for a baby to be in the sun for 3 hours? No shade anywhere out here.
The line wasn't too bad so I decided to get a "Jumbo" hot dog.
Look at this pathetic thing. And the sauerkraut looked like it was put out at 11am and just left there for 4 hours. Only the big tub of yellow mustard. A real gourmet experience.
I headed back to the shade, with no interest in going back to my seat. I just watched another inning from the shade, where there was one really enthusiastic fan who was yelling at the players like a mom at a little league game.
I'd had enough by the 7th inning stretch as nobody cares who wins these games and I didn't want to get caught in any kind of traffic.
The gates were open so getting out was easy.
They have these nice lots with fake lakes near the stadium with empty spots that kind of insult you as you make the trek to your car. Still no sign of an Astros logo.
There were only a few people leaving yet, so I was able to get right out of the lot. I'd hate to see that thing after the game.
Conclusion
While it's nice to have a spring training venue within an hour of Fort Lauderdale where you can catch your favorite team at least once a season, the current venue is a rather unpleasant experience. Terrible parking, disorganized security, bad food, absurd prices and not enough shade are difficult to overlook. Aside from being a good place to watch a game, there are very few positives at all.
My elderly relative (74) gave me grief for the walk, which was the longest I ever made at a spring training facility and this is with getting front-row handicapped parking . The designers blew it by making fans walk through the practice fields to get to the stadium.
My seats were behind the first base dugout, so that was good and we were not beaten by the sun that bad. We stayed for the entire game.
It looks like there are remote-control cameras for TV coverage The white domes are in the dugouts and behind Home Plate.
The concession stands were a disaster. It appears that there is only one stand per side that sells the usual ballpark food. The others are kiosks or limited items. The lines were very long and not organized as a single line queue to have the customer go the next available slot. I passed on losing an inning or more by waiting on the very deep individual lines.
Ironically, on Friday March 10th, my relative and I went to St. Lucie to see the Mets at home playing the Astros. There are significantly more concession stands and much shorter lines at the newly renamed First Data Field.
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