Ultimate Baseball Road Trip (19 page)

In 1983 the Major League players, or at least one of them, struck back against this unwelcoming lakeside environment when Yankees right fielder Dave Winfield beaned a seagull with a warm-up toss that was intended for a ball boy. Canadians and environmentalists were furious but Winfield escaped the country without doing hard time. And a decade later he fully buried the hatchet with Torontonians, returning to play for the 1992 World Championship Jays.

The Ex was finally demolished at age fifty in 1998, shortly after the Blue Jays threatened to return to it if a new lease couldn’t be hashed out with the dome’s ownership. Later, to solidify the team’s presence indoors (sort of),
Rogers Communications, which already owned the Blue Jays, bought the dome from Sportsco International. The deal went down in 2005, pricing the dome at a meager $25 million. To put that in perspective: The original cost of building the facility was $578 million.

Kevin:
Well, that explains why my carved turkey sandwich cost $12.

Josh:
Kevin, Kevin, Kevin … you still don’t understand how the exchange rate works…

Kevin:
You mind explaining it again?

Josh:
Or I could just hold your wallet, like we did last time we visited Toronto.

As for memorable dates in SkyDome/Rogers Centre history, the 1991 All-Star Game was played in Toronto, and, fittingly, for the first time ever, two Canadian pitchers went home with decisions. Toronto’s Jimmy Key got the win and Montreal’s Dennis Martinez took the loss, as the American League prevailed 4–2. Of course, neither was
really
a Canadian, but then again, don’t we think of Neil Young as an American? So, we’ll let them have those two. It’s a pretty fair trade-off.

The very next year the dome hosted the first World Series games played outside the United States and the Jays claimed their first title, beating Atlanta four games to two. Key and reliever Duane Ward earned two wins apiece in the Series.

In 1993 Toronto made it back-to-back titles, beating Philadelphia in six games. Joe Carter ended that Series with a memorable walk-off homer against Mitch Williams.

The Canadian Football League’s Argonauts have won four Grey Cups since moving to the dome (1991, 1996, 1997, and 2004). To facilitate an easy conversion from baseball to football, the field-level seats are on tracks, allowing them to be rolled away. And the pitcher’s mound is on a hydraulic lift, allowing it to be lowered beneath the field. And there are never any of those unsightly football lines lingering on the baseball field, since the baseball turf is unzipped and replaced with football turf when conversion takes place.

NFL football has found a home in Toronto too, albeit through a backdoor. Since 2008, the Buffalo Bills have played two regular season “home” games at Rogers per season, in a testament to how crappy the facilities are at the Bills’ Ralph Wilson Stadium. It remains to be seen whether the Bills will move to Toronto permanently, but it will not surprise us if they do when their current two-games-a-year deal with Rogers Communications expires in 2013.

The NBA’s Toronto Raptors played their home games at the dome from 1995 to 1998, before moving to the Air Canada Centre.

Many musical groups have also played the dome, ranging from Kevin’s beloved Three Tenors to Josh’s hometown favorites, the New Kids on the Block. Other, more currently relevant acts that have packed the dome include Madonna, U2, Radiohead, Bon Jovi, the Rolling Stones, Sting, and Canada’s own Avril Lavigne.

Visiting the dome today, it’s hard to believe the Jays set single-season attendance records four years running from 1990 through 1993. Back then they were averaging fifty thousand fans per game. But the last time they averaged even thirty thousand was 1998. So, until the Jays get good again and Torontonians suddenly rediscover their love of baseball, there’s no need to order tickets in advance. Even if you’re angling for primo seats, you’ll be better off haggling with the scalpers than paying full price for tickets.

The first level offers Rogers’ only concourse from which fans can watch the game while waiting in line for food. There are forty-two rows of seats beneath this concourse, and the ushers check tickets rather frequently in this lower bowl to thwart seat-hoppers. The best lower-level infield seats reside in Sections 115 (at first base) through 127 (at third). If you’re angling for a plate-view then shoot for Sections 119–124 of the so-called Premium Dugout Boxes. These seats are a good value. A comparably close-to-the-plate seat costs more than twice as much in Boston (and that’s twice
face
value; the real price on the scalper market in Boston is much higher) and more than five times as much in New York. The Field Level Base seats are also a good deal, especially if you aim for Section 114 or 128.

Farther down the lines, we preferred the Field Level seats on the left-field side (129, 130a, 130b, 130C) to the ones in shallow right, since they offered views of the roof and CN Tower.

Be careful to avoid the back rows of Sections 119 through 121 on the first-base side, as the overhanging second deck presents an obstruction. As long as you stay in Rows 1 through 30 this is not a problem.

The first level outfield seats are quite a bit higher up than the infield ones and are plagued by their own overhang. Avoid Rows 7–13 of Sections 101–108 in right and of Sections 135–142 in left. The good news is that the foul poles won’t block your view since they’re made of see-through yellow mesh.

If you thought the overhang was bad on the first level, wait until you get upstairs where the third deck creates a grievously low overhang and the deck beneath your feet creates an equally unpalatable obstruction. The effect is almost like watching a game on TV.

Kevin:
Hey, at least it’s wide-screen.

Josh:
We drove seven hundred miles to sit where we can’t even see the trademark roof.

Kevin:
Umm … I think the roof’s retracted.

Josh:
Are you sure?

Kevin:
Well, no.

Josh:
My point, exactly.

From the outfield seats on this level we couldn’t see the warning track on our side of the field. And from the back rows we couldn’t see much of anything due to the support structures at the rear of the level. In Sections 204–206 and 242–246, especially, stay in Rows 1–6 to avoid this lousy design flaw.

Behind the plate, the 200 Level houses club seating in Sections 222–226, while along the baseline seats are available for purchase by non-VIPs or Not Very Important Persons, if you will. These seats cost just a few dollars less than ones on the first level where the views are much better. If you’re going to travel all the way to Toronto to watch a ballgame, buy yourself a first level seat. You can walk upstairs before the game to check out the view, and then thank us later.

Because the 300 and 400 Levels consist of private boxes, hotel rooms, and restaurants, the third seating level is the 500 Level. Yes, we know, this is a bit confusing. What’s more, each section has a separate entrance ramp on this level, and each ramp creates an obstruction. But take heart, this level is so sparsely populated that should you choose to sit up here, simply for the sake of gaining entrance for the meager price of $11, you’ll be able to relocate to a seat with a better view.

Every row in the 500 Level has its own railing in front of it. This minimizes the still-lingering feeling that you may, at any moment, stand up out of your seat to get a hot dog or visit the bathroom and suddenly lose your balance and plummet to your death from this exceptionally high and steep ballpark seating area. The personal railings allow the Blue Jays to take the concept of “stadium seating” to the extreme. Once seated, your feet will be down around the shoulders of the fans directly in front of you. The incline keeps all of the seats relatively close to the airspace above the field. But, man, are these seats high up. And the only ones that allow a full view of fair territory are in Sections 518–533. Avoid entirely Sections 504–508 in right, due to the underhang that blocks much of right field. In left, avoid all seats beyond Section 538. All the way around the upper tier, beware of seats higher than Row 22 because they may be obstructed by the light supports.

Josh:
Is it me, or do the lights here seem really low?

Kevin:
I think we’re just up really high.

Because there were so few fans in the upper level when we visited, we found very few open concession stands on the concourse. Those that were open only offered the basics. Making matters worse, a 500 Level ticket does not allow access to the field level concourse, with its more expansive menu.

If nothing else, the fifth deck provides a landing spot for what are automatically deemed epic home runs. About ten players have reached the fifth deck as of this book’s press time. Oakland’s Jose Canseco was the first, doing so in Game 4 of the 1989 American League Championship Series. Later sluggers to accomplish the feat have included Shawn Green, Joe Carter, Mark McGwire, Manny Ramirez, and Jayson Werth.

Scalpers present a drain on revenues for the Jays since they dole out extras and leftovers below face value. Hey, when the park’s two-thirds empty, what does a team expect? With just a small amount of haggling, we scored two 200 Level tickets for the price of one. Then, once inside, we seat-hopped down in the first level. The ushers were pretty sly but we were slier.