San Francisco Giants - Stadium #1

 

The Giants game was the first game on our bucket list trip (well, the first we were acknowledging as we’ve been to a bunch of Mariners games already and one Padres game).  We took the short hop ferry (free) from the ferry terminal to the park.  Not only was it amazing to just pull up right outside of the stadium via boat, but it was so much better than looking for parking and paying way too much money to walk a quarter of a mile. The first stop in the stadium is the team store for my souvenirs.  I assumed it would be somewhere around home plate, but how to actually get around the concourse took some effort.  As we wandered around, we did see a game area which was dubbed “the arcade” by the locals.  It had cornhole, skee-ball and probably something else I missed while on my mission.  The concourse ended up being one of the more crowded stadiums that we went to.  We never did actually find the real team store, we just ended up at a rogue store.  After we got done at the team store, it was time to figure out how to get to our seats.  We eventually found our way to the third level and made the appropriate stop at concessions before we headed in.  It was an afternoon game and even though it was only about 78 outside, the sun was beating down on us.  It was HOT!  But the view from our seats was pretty spectacular.  Being able to watch a baseball game and lift your head ever so slightly to see the bay right behind it was a beautiful thing.  The game went into extra innings and since we weren’t sure how to navigate back to the ferry efficiently (and did I mention it was hot?), we left at the middle of the 10th inning.   According to the book Jeremy bought me for my birthday, the 8th inning is when the seagulls were supposed to show up in droves.  I saw one seagull the entire game.  There was a definite lack of seagulls when I was told there would be seagulls.  As far as the overall fan “experience”, it seemed like it was lacking.  They’d show some players answering various questions, but I don’t really recall much other fan engagement type things or things to make the game “fun” such as sound effects.  Though, I will say I am judging the fan experience based on what I’ve seen at Mariners’ games, so take it with a grain or two of salt. I know you’ve been waiting all post to hear my opinion of their hotdog, so wait no longer.  It was mediocre.  It had a nice and soft bun and was a good ratio of thickness to length, but flavor wise was just sort of meh. The Giants played the Boston Red Sox on July 30, 2023 at 1:05 pm and we sat in section 310, row 3.  The price I paid for the tickets to this game was $60 and it seemed slightly overpriced.  The view was amazing, but I think we were paying for the team they played, which was dumb. If you want to see the box score, here’s a link