Review by Mike
Excite Ballpark
San Jose, CA
Excite Ballpark is the home of the San Jose Giants of the California League. This ballpark, which opened in 1942, is as simple as it gets, with a single concrete grandstand that runs from 1st base to 3rd base, no roof and very little space in which to expand as it is wedged between a fire department training center and the NHL San Jose Sharks training facility. What management has done with the space it does have is remarkable.
The Giants have created a carnival-like atmosphere that celebrates all things Giants, with whom they have been affiliated for nearly 40 years. Every square inch of interior and exterior space is covered in billboards, placards, murals and pennants that celebrate Giants history and San Jose baseball history. There are vintage pennants of former California League teams along the narrow corridors under the grandstand and booths and tables outside with games and concessions and food alternatives.
A large outdoor food and picnic area takes up all of the space down the left field line, with a bar and cantina with smokers for BBQ and picnic tables. The right field line is reserved for private parties with a large, tented area and a small grandstand. A small press box sits at the top of the stands behind home plate and features the current standings of the California League by way of moveable team logos.
There is no roof, but along the 1st base side, a metal sunscreen rises up about six feet behind the last row to shade fans from the setting sun. The main grandstand itself seems barely changed from the day it opened over 80 years ago. A mix of benches and fixed-back seats make up the 4,200 capacity, but with so many little nooks to explore along the foul lines, about a third of the folks watched from places other than their seats.
Excite Ballpark finds synergy with its corporate name through the efforts of team and stadium management to create energy and excitement at a ballpark that could very easily be very bland indeed. The game presentation and between inning entertainment was lively without being annoying and the variety of color and history all around was endlessly interesting.
At the center of it all was the baseball game, which none of the other stuff detracted from, what with the seats being right on top of the field. Excite Ballpark is an intimate, visually stimulating place to enjoy a game with a lively, engaged crowd that never lets you forget that the big club, with all of that history, plays just up coast a bit.