A Tour of Chase Park, Home to the Arizona Diamondbacks

Chase Park in Phoenix, Arizona opened ten years ago and is the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball franchise. It is a "modern-traditional" ball park, a style that became popular after the success of Camden Yards in Baltimore. Chase Park, however, is unique because of the special challenges posed by playing baseball in the Arizona summer. And the best way to learn about it is to take a tour of the ballpark. They are given daily, year round.

The tour begins in the rotunda at the main entrance to the ball park, where the Diamondbacks keep their World Series Championship trophy from 2001 and other memorabilia from that year. The jerseys of Randy Johnson and Luis Gonzalez are on display, as is the championship ring that was presented to the people of Arizona.

It is then explained that the Diamondbacks changed their colors this season at the request of major league baseball. Apparently, their old colors were too similar to those of the Colorado Rockies, and the colors didn't show up well on a television screen. The new primary color is Sedona red, which is more reflective of the environment in Arizona. Changing the color scheme of the ballpark cost the team $3 million.

The turf on the field is a Bermudagrass called Bob-Sod, and it is especially well suited to the Arizona summer in that it needs a lot of sun, which is why they keep the retractable roof open as much as possible. And where shadows are cast on the field, special lighting is focused onto the grass. It needs to be cut twice a day. Three hours before game time, the roof is closed and the air-conditioning is turned on. In three hours, they can reduce the temperature in the ball park thirty degrees. The roof is then re-opened before the game begins.

The Arizona Diamondbacks management agonized for several years before coming up with a mascot. A man dressed in a snake outfit simply didn't make sense, and it would probably frighten the kids. It was actually one of the ballplayer's sons who came up with idea of using a bobcat. At the time, Chase Field was called Bank One Ballpark, or for short, BOB. And bobcats are native to Arizona, so everyone liked the idea. Because the team is frequently referred to as the D-Backs, the mascot was named D. Baxter Bobcat. Baxter usually takes three innings off to sign autographs and play with children in the children's play area.

One of the unique parts of Chase Field is their center field swimming pool. The pool area costs a whopping $6000 per game, and it comes with an adjacent seating area for thirty-two. Mark Grace, a color commentator for the Arizona Diamondbacks was the first player to hit a home run into the pool back when he was playing for the Chicago Cubs.

There are seventy-one luxury suites at Chase Field. Apparently, the nicest one is the Lexus one, but it obviously was not shown on the tour. But there are three Lexus cars on display in the lobby shared by all the luxury suite owners. The suite shown on tour is owned by Maricopa County (which owns the ball park), and it was quite modest. Really, nothing to write about.

Interestingly, the one area where the new color scheme has not been updated is in the Visitor's Clubhouse. It seems comfortable, but still very simple. There are televisions for watching games in progress in the East, and there's a big screen television with a VCR/DVD player. There are several large chairs for relaxing which look quite comfortable, but guests of the tour are not permitted to sit in them.

The tour does not go into the Diamondbacks' clubhouse, but there is a five minute video presentation which describes it, the dressing area, weight room, batting cages, whirlpool room, medical room. Needless to say, the home team's facilities are far superior to those of the visiting team's.

The tour ends with a visit to the third base dugout. There is nothing special about it, except for the fact that the benches have been purposely placed too high for the players to put their feet on the ground while seated. The idea is to make the players sit up properly and not permit their backs to stiffen up. Most interestingly, however, were two items located in the tunnel just outside the dugout. One is a car tire that has been bolted into the wall. It's a frustration tire that can be hit anytime a player feels like hitting something. (Also, the walls are padded so the players don't break a hand if they decide they need to hit them.) The second unique thing is the bar that has been installed specifically for pitcher Randy Johnson. When the Diamondbacks are hitting, he will disappear into this tunnel and hang from the bar to keep his back loose.

The tour costs $6 and includes a complimentary copy of the monthly magazine D-backs Insider, which retails for $3. All proceeds from the tour go to a charitable fund that builds baseball and softball fields for children throughout Arizona.