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Talk about luck!! As part of a business deal we were doing to get new space for the company, I was given tickets to the Mariners game. Being new to the area, I knew nothing about the implications of these tickets. Kathleen and I have been to a few baseball games, but never when we had "premium" seats. When we got to the park, we discovered that the seats were directly behind home base in what is called the "Diamond Club". The Diamond Club is for season ticket holders and has a nice resturant and bar area as well as in-your-seat service for food and drinks. And a buffet with great BBQ. And free drinks.
It was a beautiful day in Seattle and the game was co-incident with the Seafair festival, so we were also treated to the Navy's precision flying team the Blue Angels. Since it was sunny and clear, we slathered on the sunblock and headed to Safeco Field (along with most of Seattle). The park was nearly full to capacity with the total attendees counted at 41K.
It was not until we got to the park did we fully understand what had transpired. With a little questioning, we determined that these season's tickets were a minimum of $35K/seat per year and to get them you had to pay for multiple seats and multiple years. These were clearly the best seats in the house, the only drawback being that we were sitting behind netting to prevent errant baseballs from attacking our faces. Later in the day, the presence of the netting would be greatly appriciated as there were many stray balls that would have spoiled what was otherwise a perfect game. While the Mariners lost to Oakland 5-2, it was a great time.
There were several fly-bys as part of the Navy's Blue Angels demonstration. This group is not the Angels since they are in a different type of aircraft.
I brought my long lens for my 1Ds and the shutter speed was fast enough to freeze the props on this C130. I shot this through the netting, and it was not until I could get the photo onto a bigger screen that I saw that the cargo door of the plane was open and there was a guy sitting on the ramp. Look carefully and you can see his foot and his face in the cargo bay door area. And I thought that I had the best seats in the place!
Here is a shot of the Blue Angels. Sadly, they did not fly directly over the stadium and I could only partially see them. And, they were fast, so I only got a couple of shots. This is the best one of the whole group and it was through the nameplate.
Here, one of the Angels executes a power dive with smoke on.
We also had a fly-by of this helo. At first, I thought it was a Coast Guard helo, but upon inspection of the photo on a bigger screen, it is a private EMS medivac unit. Again, notice the frozen rotors.
Unlike a recent NY game that we attended, the demographics here were quite different.
Here, one of the Mariners scores a hit against Oakland .
Scutaro engages the ball, resulting in a hit for Oakland.
During inning changes, the grounds crew appeared en-masse, like ants raking and smoothing the field.
One of the Oakland players hit the ball so hard that he broke the bat.
Ah, baseball players as social role models. Here, the Mariner's First Baseman "adjusts" himself in front of 41,000 fans.
While sitting in my seat, I was accosted by one of the ball park personnel and told that I could only use my photos for personal use. They targeted me because I had a "long lens". Ha! This fellow has a long lens. But, he also has a badge to ward off abuse. To their credit, they only engaged me once and then left me alone.
The umpire with a big wad of chew in his cheek
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He passed on this pitch.
Kendall of the A's engages the ball.
This whole scene had be laughing. As the mascot rounded the field on a quad, the video board was saying that he was promoting "helmet safety week". He circled the field twice, first in this photo and then again with one of the Mariner support gals on the seat behind him. You should never ride double on a quad. In fact, it will get you a ticket if you ride double on any BLM lands. And, she did not have a helmet. Finally, I am sure this was due to the costume, but his helmet is for bikes, not quads. All in all, a flawed execution of a good concept.
He swung, but missed because he is late.
Scutaro executes a bunt, but was thrown out anyway.
He was declared safe resulting in yet another run for Oakland
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Interesting signage near our place in Belltown. I will report back as to whether it is "real good" later.
Later that night, I got this shot of the domes at Seattle center. The lighting changes all the time, here it appears red but the domes are white.
A view of downtown Seatte looking north from our temporary apartment.
This was a fantastic day and the location of the seats in the ballpark were off the chart. We were extremely luck to be able to attend the game.