T-Mobile Park / Safeco Field

[Seattle1]

Ok, everybody post your favorite things about Seattle's Safeco Field. I'll start:

It's an open-air stadium and it has a grass field.

[xtimx]

ichiro plays there!

you can hear freight trains beyond right field.

the view of the city/mt rainier

the open concourses.

[jimmyjimjimz]

Wrestlemania XIX was there

Nintendo owns it (I think)

[Astros]

No air-conditioning or heating system needed there!

The roof slides over the stadium but it does not enclose it as there is no moving wall like the glass wall that moves with the Minute Maid Park roof. The breeze can still blow through the ballpark from left field even in the roof closed.

I remember hearing some tremors in the Seattle area set the roof slightly off it's track (not derailed) and it jammed for a little bit.

[nymdan]

It has an open air look and feel when the roof is open... and it's really the only retractable domed stadium to be that way. As opposed to places like Milwaukee and Arizona that are like indoor stadiums with giant skylights.

[Astros]

No one had posted photos yet...so here are some!

[HollandsComet]

I've been there--it doesn't suck! Oh, one other feature I loved was the garlic fries! :bowdown:

[Seattle1]

The roof slides over the stadium but it does not enclose it as there is no moving wall like the glass wall that moves with the Minute Maid Park roof. The breeze can still blow through the ballpark from left field even in the roof closed.

Yeah, it's sort of like a big umbrella instead of a roof!

[baseballman1243]

What do the concourses look like?

[marlins739]

I remember the concourses being pretty standard for a new park, which is to say, very nice. I had an Ichi-Roll from some sushi stand. That was fun

I never really thought about this before, but I guess the people in the left field bleachers could get pretty wet if it rains with a little bit of wind

[Great One]

I guess I'll form an opinion on the ballpark when I get there in August.

[Lafferty Daniel]

It has an open air look and feel when the roof is open... and it's really the only retractable domed stadium to be that way. As opposed to places like Milwaukee and Arizona that are like indoor stadiums with giant skylights.

Agreed, Safeco has the most baseball friendly retractable roof.

Can't wait to finally see it in person this summer.

[Kentucky Bomber]

The garlic fries were the worst thing I've ever eaten at a major league ballpark. Truly awful.

But it's a very pretty park, lots of room to walk around and never lose sight of the field, and the roof is magnificently designed to not intrude on the feel of the ballpark when it's opened. To do that they footprint of the stadium is almost half again what it would normally be to accomodate the folded up roof pieces. We walked past that portion of the building on the way out of the park. Arizona's roof is so intrusive that it was a waste of time to put a opening mechanism in it. I wasn't as bothered by the roof in Milwaukee. I haven't seen Houston, yet, but will this summer.

And another positive for SAFECO: it replaced an ugly mausoleum, the Kingdome.

[skobabe8]

Judging from the pictures, it looks like the best way to do a retractable roof in baseball. Ive been to Chase Field, Minute Maid, and Miller Park, and none of them seems to have nailed it like safeco did.

[baseballman1243]

What's the difference b/w minute maid and safeco? I have never been to any of these places so I wouldn't know