Trips to Raley Field in Sacramento are always one of my favorite stops in the Pacific Coast League. Since I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is about 90 minutes away, the trips into my own personal family reunion and friend reunions.
Since opening in 2000, Raley Field and the River Cats staff have consistently been one of the model triple-A franchises. They're annually either first or second in attendance, and run a first-class operation. It's always interesting to see how they incorporate their corporate sponsorships into making their ballpark unique and fan-friendly.
One of the newer additions is an enormous Coors Light beer refrigerator, billed as "the coolest place in the park." Fans walks inside, select their beer, and pay as they exit.
The River Cats were affiliated with the Oakland Athletics from 2000 until the end of last season. Now they are triple-A partner of the San Francisco Giants. It's understandable why the River Cats made the switch. There's more Giants fans than A's fans in Sacramento, and all over Northern California. They've won three of the last five World Series championships. Their TV and radio ratings are dominant.
It'll take a few more trips to get used to the Giants affiliation. My mind still thinks A's-Sacramento and Giants-Fresno. Instinctively, I think I called them "Fresno" or "the A's" once during the season by accident. The River Cats are still honoring their past with the Wall of Fame, featuring players like Barry Zito, Mark Ellis, Eric Byrnes, Nick Swisher and Gio Gonzalez.
Giants outfielder Hunter Pence, a huge fan favorite, was on rehab assignment over the weekend. He played in three of the four games. The turnout was enormous. The River Cats announced sellouts for two of the four games (over 14,000 fans), went over 12,000 fans for the first game, and over 9,000 for a AAA Kids Day.
On Friday night, it was Breast Cancer Awareness night and the ballpark was decorated with pink everywhere. "Mike on the Mic" is the best dressed, on-field announcer in the league. He's so big time, he's even got a deal with a local clothing company.
There's not much to critique at Raley Field. My only nitpick is the small videoboard and scoreboard. When the ballpark was built in 2000, the videoboard was probably considered pretty big.
Now we're so spoiled, even in the minor leagues, that something this size underwhelms you. I wouldn't be surprised if they add a massive High Def Videoboard in the next couple years. If they put it above the clubhouses in left-center, Raley Field would look amazing.
Raley Field is one of the top pitchers parks in the PCL. Sacramento is situated roughly 30 miles above sea level, so there's no extreme elevation and dry air that causes baseballs to travel further. The other reason is a yellow building to the right of the scoreboard. The sun reflects off the scoreboard and can be very difficult on hitters, especially in the 7 pm hour. If a left-hander is on the mound, it's like the ball disappears in that building.
Finally, a trip to Sacramento is always a blast because of River Cats announcers Johnny Doskow and Leon Lee. I always laugh hysterically around Johnny D. We get each other's sense of humor. It's a fun challenge to keep up with Johnny D's wit. Leon is the father of former all-star first baseman Derrek Lee and also enjoyed an 18-year professional career, primarily in Japan, where he was a huge star.
No comments:
Post a Comment