Happy Birthday, Skydome aka Rogers Centre

It opened twenty years ago today and for some of us, it will always be Skydome.

The retractable roof is still an engineering marvel but it was the last of the all-purpose stadiums, built just before the age of retroparks. Camden Yards made the Dome look immediately outdated.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gzya02NvkD0jZym0nmPp68zb9hMQ

On a sunny day with the roof open and 40,000 people, it's still a pretty good place to watch a ball game.

With 20,000 and the roof closed, it has all the charm of a mausoleum.

 

But if you're lucky, you can catch a show from the windows of the Skydome hotel.

 

Last June, I went to a Cubs/Jays game on a Sunday afternoon. The game started with the roof open, but area storms forced it to actually be closed during the game. I have the video saved on my computer. It was pretty amazing to watch.

And it did COMPLETELY change the atmosphere.

Anyway, a couple months later I was at a Cubs/Astros game at Wrigley and randomly found myself sitting next to a baseball fan from Toronto making his first trip to Wrigley. Talk turned to how I was at that game earlier in the year when the roof closed....and so was he. He said he'd been to literally hundreds of Jays games and had never seen the place close in the middle of the game.

So, Happy Birthday and I'm glad I saw you on a stormy day.

 

I've been to a couple of games where they've closed the roof during the game. After the game starts, it's the ump's call. First time it happened, people were cheering and the players were gawking.

 

That's a change in policy. When I took a tour of SkyDome (always SkyDome) in the early '90s, we were told that it was management's decision whether or not the roof would be open or closed and that they weren't changing during the game because too much attention would be paid to that instead of activity on the field.

Happy 20th, SkyDome ... a pioneer to this era of big-league facilities.

 

My baseball-insane friend and I stayed in the hotel for a game. She decided the view was too far away and bought tickets behind the dugout instead.

However, she watched the field all night long, just so she could see what happened at major league parks at night. She said the cleaning crew had a game in the wee hours of the morning.

Later on in the morning someone filmed a commercial or something with some player.

She said it was worth every overpriced Canadian dollar she paid.

 

They open the roof at Minute Maid Park during late innings all the time, once the temperature gets cool enough.

 

I saw a game there about 10 years ago. Very cool. I stayed in the hotel, but not in one of the weenie-wanker rooms. Very cool. The Senior PGA must've been in town because when I went to breakfast the next morning, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Charlie Sifford and a bunch of other old farts were down there eating their oatmeal.

Happy birthday, Skydome!

 

I was informed of this on the SkyDome tour a few years ago.

Also, you can eat there. In the Hard Rock Cafe and watch the game from a window seat. Pretty cool.

 

Best Skydome memory (besides sitting 11 rows behind home plate watching Doc pitch on opening day for the last six or seven years) was the first year of interleague play.

Montreal played the Jays in the Dome on Canada Day (Jays had special jerseys for the day), it was gorgeous and sunny, the roof was open, attendance was about 50,000, flags were everywhere and in the 500 level some guy had a huge sign that said, "Where's the puck?"

 

My first MLB game was at the Skydome. The A's were in town and I must have been ten or 11, can't really remember. But gosh, it was amazing.

 

My best memory of Skydome is getting to stand on second base during pre-game festivities with Robbie Alomar. There were a bunch of kids who were in on it as part of a diabetes awareness campaign.

Was back there last summer and while there were a lot more empty seats, it's still a wonderful place to watch a game, IMO.