The view at Pacific Bell Park was simply beautiful - and that was still from the outside.
Pulling into the parking lot at Pac Bell, located in the China Basin just south of Market Street in downtown San Francisco, my eyes were immediately drawn to the brick-lined structure that sits right on the edge of the Bay. I could see the Bay Bridge almost directly behind the park, seemingly no further than a Barry Bonds bomb away. Then, while strolling with friends toward the park, I tried to catch all the surrounding sights - the skyline of the city, the shipyard, the bridge, the bay, even the ticket scalpers ...
Then we crossed the Lefty O'Doul Bridge, a historic working drawbridge that dates back to 1933 (designed by Joseph Strauss, who also designed the Golden Gate Bridge), and passed through the park's Lefty O'Doul Plaza entrance.
To lend some historical background, both the bridge and plaza are named for O'Doul, the former San Francisco Seals star who went on to become a .349 career hitter in the majors between 1919 and '34. He set a National League record with 254 hits, plus he batted .398 for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1929 and later managed the Seals from 1935-51.
There was little time to dwell on trivia at this time, though.
Upon entering the park, I caught a glimpse of the field and the irregularly designed outfield fences - 307 feet down the right field line, 420 in the right-center field corner, 404 feet to straightaway center, 364 feet to left-center and 335 feet down the left field line. I glanced toward the right field wall and saw the "Splash Hits" counter that keeps track of blasts into the Bay. There have been four so far, all by Bonds (the Giants Community Fund receives a donation from Old Navy for each watery home run).
And the field was so, well, natural. Real turf that was green. No checkerboard pattern - good, now I know I won't have trouble following where the ball is.
Next comes the upward climb to find the seat, one of 40,800 at Pac Bell. I settle into my $15 priced seat, located in section 312, row 16, seat 13, in the next-to-last row at the very top of the first base side - a.ka. "The Nose Bleeds."
Then I look down on the field. This was no ordinary nose bleed view. First of all, I could actually see the field. The players looked life-sized; they didn't resemble little ants like at some parks where the back row seats seem to be a mile away from the playing field.
The seats are very close together, part of the designer's intention to give Pac Bell flavor from baseball's past. It was a little cramped, but that didn't really matter.
Nor did sitting in the shade in a city where I can remember freezing on mid-July afternoons (remember Candlestick).
The view was still beautiful.
Oh, by the way, the Giants and Cubs put on a good show. San Francisco's Russ Ortiz struck out 11 batters. Despite walking seven and throwing 120 pitches before being lifted with a 2-0 lead after six innings, Ortiz deserved a better fate than what was to come.
The Cubs tied it with two solo home runs off reliever John Johnstone in the eighth, including Julio Zuleta's first major league shot, and then won it 3-2 in the 11th on a Jose Nieves sacrifice fly.
I only noticed one problem. The game seemed to get in the way of the panoramic view of the Bay and its latest jewel.
Dave Price is a sports writer for the Nevada Appeal.
