Whenever somebody asks me to name my favorite ballparks, I spend most of my time trying to talk myself out of the most boring possible answer.
Sure, Dodger Stadium is a personal favorite. There’s something about the way a SoCal dusk blends with Dodger Blue and the peaceful rise of the San Gabriel Mountains in the distance beyond center field.
And, yeah, you won’t find a more distinctive setting than Oracle Park in San Francisco, where Mission Bay laps against the outfield walls and the lack of a second deck gives you the sense that you are watching a baseball game on a barge. The counterintuitive microclimate only adds to the surreal vibe. Half the winter coats I own were purchased in July in San Francisco.
I can name a half dozen other stadiums that are worth a special trip. Each is unique in its own way. Yet they all have one thing in common. They aren’t Citizens Bank Park.
I don’t know if the whole world saw it on Tuesday night. But anybody who attended sure did. The 68 players. The two coaching staffs. The nearly 50,000 fans who packed the rows and the aisles and seemingly every square inch of concourse.
“Philly was awesome,” said Blue Jays infielder Ernie Clement. “What a great sports city.”
On a competitive level, South Philly’s first All-Star Game in 30 years was a ho-hum affair. The American League scored three first-inning runs off Phillies lefty Cristopher Sánchez and then engaged in an eight-inning sprint for the exit. The two sides finished with 10 hits, only one for extra bases. Kyle Schwarber, Brandon Marsh and Bryce Harper combined to go 0-for-6.
On every other level, it was a triumph.
It was a triumph for the city, whose splendid skyline first gleamed and then glowed in the summer haze. It was a triumph for the Phillies organization, in particular a grounds crew and game day operations staff that has long powered one of the sport’s best extracurricular environments. Most of all, it was a triumph for the setting and its people: for a ballpark that doesn’t get the respect it deserves as one of the sport’s Crown Jewels, and for a fan base that consistently shows that a household is only as strong as its inhabitants.
For years, it seemed like a glaring oversight that 22 ballparks would host an All-Star Game before Citizens Bank Park got its turn. As it turned out, the wait was more of a feature than a bug. The bright lights and national television cameras only served to accentuate the glow of a ballpark that somehow looks even better than it did when it opened in 2004. Similar to the red brick rowhouses in the city proper, the outfield’s masonry facades have an age-defying property, especially when contrasted with the industrial steel and wide-open concrete of the concourses and seating decks. You won’t find a stadium or arena in any sport that has aged as gracefully as the house that David Montgomery (and others) built.
Earlier this spring, with the Eagles beginning their due diligence on a potential replacement for Lincoln Financial Field, Phillies owner John Middleton said he sees no reason why Citizens Bank Park shouldn’t last another 100 years.
Tuesday night was a triumph for him, then, too.
Of course, Middleton would be the first one to tell you that the people make the place. So it was on All-Star Weekend. The real star of the show on Monday and Tuesday night was the home crowd, whose caustic electricity provided a much-needed edge for an over-corporatized event that most years feels emptier than a bowl of sugar cereal.
You saw it in the smiles that appeared on the faces of players as the crowd booed its lengthy list of civic enemies. From Yankees starting pitcher Cam Schlittler to Mets outfielder Juan Soto to anybody in a Braves or Red Sox jersey, those targeted grinned and waved in appreciation. By the end of the proceedings, it felt like an insult to be ignored.
“Like they always say,” said Soto, “if they boo you, then you’re doing things right.”
The heckling was mostly good-natured, save for an appearance by Mr. and Mrs. Met.
This was a celebration first and foremost. The event’s organizers and executors were aided by a number of ready-made story lines. They included the All-Star debut of Catholic League standout Kevin McGonigle and the homecoming of Mike Trout in his career’s twilight, in addition to Sánchez on the mound and Schwarber and Marsh in the starting lineup. But MLB also did its part. With a devastating labor stoppage potentially looming in a sport that increasingly feels anachronistic in the swirl of a country’s division and distraction, baseball managed to summon a lot of its friendlier ghosts on Tuesday night.
The climactic moment was curiously timed and even more curiously powerful. In the fifth inning, with the stadium lights dimming and Ray Charles’ famous playing on the oversized videoboard in left field, Citizens Bank Park erupted with a fireworks display complete with players holding sparklers and Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman playing catch with one of the local kids who rode their bikes onto the field as part of the program.
“Like I’ve been saying the last two days, since I came up with the Braves, this is my favorite place to play,” Freeman said after the game. “I love the Bank. It wasn’t fun to play because it was Halladay, Hamels, Lee every time, but it was packed every night. It’s a great place to play. Great city.”
Sounds like a win in our book.
