Sunken Pressbox

[pressboxer]

Got sent to cover one of our last remaining area schools in the baseball playoffs at a ballpark with a sunken pressbox.

Field level is about 2 1/2 feet above the pressbox floor. When seated, my line of sight is maybe three feet above the playing surface.

It's definitely a different perspective, but it makes it tough to judge how well a fly ball is hit.

Are there any other ballparks out there with this kind of setup? It's kind of like being in the dugout seats they used to have at Dodger Stadium.

 

[slappy4428]

Was there a man with a big hat, bigger mustache and a radar gun next to you?

 

[pressboxer]

No, just mee in a little 6-by-4 cubicle with a radio guy on the other side of a divider.

 

[John]

Is the field located on an old bombing range or something?

 

[Double Down]

Sunken Pressbox Live is my favorite Jeff Tweedy album.

 

[fishwrapper]

Was there a man with a big hat, bigger mustache and a radar gun next to you?

Don't forget the cigar.

 

[GB-Hack]

I know of one that's at field level with the stand on top of it. Makes it a pain to see the near corners of the field when they play soccer there.

 

[Write-brained]

Was there a man with a big hat, bigger mustache and a radar gun next to you?

Don't forget the cigar.

The guy at the Dodgers' games right? What is his story? I don't cover sports so I don't know, but I did grow up watching the games on TV with Vin Scully and always wondered ...

 

[pressboxer]

Is the field located on an old bombing range or something?

I'm pretty sure it's not, but the surrounding terrain (that vast cultural wasteland known as West Texas, as my English IV teacher would call it) makes it kind of hard to tell.

The facility is only about four years old and is on the same lot as the host high school.

However, there are a lot of pumpjacks nearby. Maybe they thought they'd hit another well if they dug deep enough.

 

[write then drink]

Got sent to cover one of our last remaining area schools in the baseball playoffs at a ballpark with a sunken pressbox.

Field level is about 2 1/2 feet above the pressbox floor. When seated, my line of sight is maybe three feet above the playing surface.

It's definitely a different perspective, but it makes it tough to judge how well a fly ball is hit.

soooo ... why not watch the game from somewhere else?

 

[Hustle]

Was there a man with a big hat, bigger mustache and a radar gun next to you?

Don't forget the cigar.

The guy at the Dodgers' games right? What is his story? I don't cover sports so I don't know, but I did grow up watching the games on TV with Vin Scully and always wondered ...

I always thought that guy was the inspiration for the Panama Jack logo.

 

[shotglass]

For anybody who has watched a Dodgers game on television, the sight of radar gun-toting Mike Brito is locked in memory. Brito is always standing behind home plate, clocking pitches, in the dugout-level boxes that wrap behind home plate, giving fans a field-level view of the game.

 

[MileHigh]

There's a 7,000-seat Little League stadium in SoCal that has sunken dugouts and is connected behind home plate where the official scorer sits. I covered (too many) games there but there's also a press box but watched a couple of games down there before and hated it, could not see into the left-field corner, or hear the crowd that much.

 

[expendable]

Was there a man with a big hat, bigger mustache and a radar gun next to you?

Don't forget the cigar.

The guy at the Dodgers' games right? What is his story? I don't cover sports so I don't know, but I did grow up watching the games on TV with Vin Scully and always wondered ...

I always thought that guy was the inspiration for the Panama Jack logo.

When I was a kid, I always thought "Panama Jack" guy had the coolest job. Except he had to watch the Dodgers.

 

[expendable]

There's a 7,000-seat Little League stadium in SoCal that has sunken dugouts and is connected behind home plate where the official scorer sits. I covered (too many) games there but there's also a press box but watched a couple of games down there before and hated it, could not see into the left-field corner, or hear the crowd that much.

There is NO reason for a little league "stadium" to have 7,000 seats unless its in Williamsport, Pa.

 

[MileHigh]

There's a 7,000-seat Little League stadium in SoCal that has sunken dugouts and is connected behind home plate where the official scorer sits. I covered (too many) games there but there's also a press box but watched a couple of games down there before and hated it, could not see into the left-field corner, or hear the crowd that much.

There is NO reason for a little league "stadium" to have 7,000 seats unless its in Williamsport, Pa.

Used to be 8,000 until they added permanent seats about 10 years ago.
It's used for the Western Regional and routinely is packed for the tournament when the Southern California team plays, especially in the title game.
Saw a game there once with about 14,000 in the park. 30-40 deep in the outfield. Cars parked a mile away.

 

[buckweaver]

There's a 7,000-seat Little League stadium in SoCal that has sunken dugouts and is connected behind home plate where the official scorer sits. I covered (too many) games there but there's also a press box but watched a couple of games down there before and hated it, could not see into the left-field corner, or hear the crowd that much.

There is NO reason for a little league "stadium" to have 7,000 seats unless its in Williamsport, Pa.

It plays host to the West and Northwest U.S. regionals -- two of the eight(?) tournaments that determine who goes to Williamsport every summer.

Routinely draws 5K per game, and I've seen it at capacity, too. So yeah ... there is a reason.

 

[SoCalDude]

The guy who used to be at Dodger Stadium was Mike Brito. He was a Dodgers scout for Mexico and held the radar gun at Dodger Stadium. He was a really nice guy, but he did get and take credit for signing Fernando Valenzuela. It actually was another scout named Corito Verona who discovered Valenzuela. He had him locked up and ready to sign when Brito was sent down to finish off the signing. Brito had a handicapped child that had to be institutionalized and he visited him every day.

 

[Angola!]

Got sent to cover one of our last remaining area schools in the baseball playoffs at a ballpark with a sunken pressbox.

Field level is about 2 1/2 feet above the pressbox floor. When seated, my line of sight is maybe three feet above the playing surface.

It's definitely a different perspective, but it makes it tough to judge how well a fly ball is hit.

Are there any other ballparks out there with this kind of setup? It's kind of like being in the dugout seats they used to have at Dodger Stadium.

I've covered a couple of games in sunken press boxes and I always dug it, just because it feels like you are on the field.

 

[expendable]

There's a 7,000-seat Little League stadium in SoCal that has sunken dugouts and is connected behind home plate where the official scorer sits. I covered (too many) games there but there's also a press box but watched a couple of games down there before and hated it, could not see into the left-field corner, or hear the crowd that much.

There is NO reason for a little league "stadium" to have 7,000 seats unless its in Williamsport, Pa.

Used to be 8,000 until they added permanent seats about 10 years ago.
It's used for the Western Regional and routinely is packed for the tournament when the Southern California team plays, especially in the title game.
Saw a game there once with about 14,000 in the park. 30-40 deep in the outfield. Cars parked a mile away.

Fourteen thousand to watch little league baseball. And we wonder why parents have inflated views of their kids' abilities.